One Blog |March 14, 2018 | POS Tracking Software

Point of-Sale (POS) Marketing — Why Measurement and Management Matters

Mark Fullerton

Why Point-of Sale (POS) Advertising is About to Matter So Much More

Point of-Sale (POS) Marketing — Why Measurement and Management Matters Our blogs represent our primary research learnings from dozens of our beverage-alcohol distribution customers. Our secondary research findings come from a wide range of organizations who are engaged in research and reporting.

Recently, our learnings are pointing to the fact that a "Sea Change" in the marketing of consumer packaged goods, including beverage-alcohol, is coming — and coming soon.

Currently, some 67% of advertising buys are for TV spots. But, according to Magna Global (magnaglobal.com) for the past two years, digital advertising spending was greater than TV advertising spending.

In fact, TV advertising, according to Barclays Research (barclays.com) is heading for a cliff.

Nothing Lasts Forever

Underlying this shift away from TV advertising, according to eMarketer (emarketer.com), is the basic fact that TV audience size has been declining for years. At the same time the Internet attracts more and more of the total market — your “customers.”

Eventually, the Internet will, undeniably, replace TV — and the tipping point is on the horizon.

According to Barclays, there are other changes looming that are based on the differences in the markets targeted by TV and Internet advertising.

TV advertising attempts to build brand and product “awareness” to a very large audience. TV provides, today at least, unparalleled “reach.”

Internet advertising is focused on individual consumers who are making buying decisions.

POS is King!

Likewise, POS advertising focuses on consumers making buying decisions at the location where they can buy.

90% of sales are made at a retail location.

When you compare building awareness vs. a persuasive message delivered as the shopper is in the position to be converted to a buyer, POS outperforms.

POS delivers buyers at the retail location where virtually all beer, wine, and spirits are sold.

Now before you conclude we’re mixing the Internet with POS, wait.

We want to clarify that with the coming rapid decline in television advertising revenues, advertisers will continue to shift their advertising spending to the “media” that will likely deliver the biggest bang for the buck.

In the case or beverage-alcohol, that choice will most likely be point-of-sale (POS) advertising.

Some brand and product awareness marketing will most certainly shift away from TV to the Internet, but again, virtually all beverage-alcohol is sold at-retail locations and not online.

The Post-TV Advertising World

Although the tipping point that is likely to gobble up TV’s share of advertising is fast approaching, there are possible triggers that — depending on when they occur — could accelerate or delay the shift in ad revenue.

Analysts from Magna Globa, eMarketer, Advertising Age, and Barclays have concluded the rapid shift away from TV to digital, and at the point-of-sale is likely to happen suddenly.

Radio and print saw a sharp decline in revenues in just five years after the introduction of TV.

Print — most notably newspapers — took another hit ten years ago during the Great Recession of 2008-2009. Print advertising went into free-fall then, and unlike previous downturns has never recovered. Print circulation and advertising revenues were falling prior to the recession and they show no signs of stabilizing.

That the shift to digital and at the point-of-sale is likely to accelerate at the first sign of another downturn is a relatively safe conclusion.

TV Advertising is concentrated on sports — even with some politically induced pauses — especially football. Yet, NFL rights expire in 2021 and the proliferation of digital platforms including Amazon, Facebook, Google, Hulu, YouTube, and others will put TV , including cable, at increased jeopardy as new competition likely disrupts advertisers’ behavior.

Perhaps one of the most notable differences that will strike a blow to TV advertising is something that formerly was one of its strengths: TV advertising has always been about building brand and product awareness, not specifically about a measurable impact on sales.

Data to Help You Convert Individual Shoppers into Buyers

The Internet and point-of-sale advertising can deliver individual customers.

Currently, Internet companies have not devised a way to standardize their measurement approaches. But with POS tracking software you can now measure the impact of your investment in POS marketing.

Beverage-alcohol advertising initiatives that are produced and placed by distributors can be tracked, measured, and managed with OnTrak solutions. The company has a suite of product that were designed by distributors. We have developed and delivered this software to the beverage-alcohol market for more than 10 years.

The data that is collected from our POS tracking, line cleaning and tap handle survey software, when correlated with the sales data collected by your business systems, can help you increase sales, while lowering costs and improving efficiencies.

With that data, you can now determine which POS campaigns provide the greatest bang for the buck.

Finally, as advertisers, including your suppliers, shift their advertising further and further away from TV and toward POS, the pressure to “account” for your POS campaigns’ effectiveness will increase sharply.

Beverage-alcohol suppliers already are already data-driven.

Armed with our POS tools, we’re betting the industry is about to give new meaning to the phrase: “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

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