76% of Buying Decisions Are Made At The Point of Purchase - POPAI

On May 9, 2012, POPAI’s* eagerly anticipated Shopper Engagement Study was released to all in-store marketers, sales representative, and POPAI members.

I urge you to click on the link at the bottom of this blog to download the 8-page PDF. I’m not going to spend much time summarizing the report here. POPAI’s document is succinct and is a fascinating and easy read — even for non-statisticians.

The Results

The study’s key takeaway (which is of great importance to our customers, prospects, and all of us at OnTrak, is that the percentage of buying decisions now made in the store has risen from 70% to 76%.

This means that the influence and power of “In-Store Marketing” has grown by nearly 9% since 1995. If the economy or the stock market or even an individual stock were to grow or shrink by 9%, that would be huge news. Likewise, this study informs us that point-of-purchase promotions, such as signs, floor-stands, and displays create a better chance of providing a sales lift than any other marketing activities.

The Categories of Shoppers

For beverage marketers, as well as other Consumer Goods marketers, we learn from the POPAI study that today’s shoppers fall into one or more of the following four categories:

• Time-stressed
• Explorer
• Trip-planner
• Bargain-hunter

All categories with the exception of trip-planner are heavily influenced by P.O.P. promotions. Indeed the remaining three shopper categories, accounting for 71% of shoppers, actively seek in-store marketing materials to help them make their buying decisions. And, even trip-planners will switch brands or make substitutions based on new information and cues gleaned from in-store marketing materials.

Talk about big news. The POPAI study is perhaps the biggest news beverage suppliers, consumer goods manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers have had in decades. There can be little doubt that the reasons point-of-purchase marketing is your second highest expense are sound.

OnTrak's Perspective

Our perspective regarding the POPAI shopper study is this:

Now, more than ever, you need to engage in effective tracking, measurement and management of point-of-purchase marketing activity. Doing so is perhaps the most critical component of your marketing plan when it comes to building brands, capturing market share and maintaining your competitive advantage.

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* Point-of-Purchase Association International