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10 Reasons Your P-O-P Displays Aren’t Converting Shoppers



Your store display might seem like a pretty easy process: We design it, help ship it, you stock it and just like that, shoppers are picking up the product.

Simple, right?
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Not so much…

We understand your project is one of a million happening all at once. There are endless issues, pressure, logistical mishaps, seasonal obligations, evolving budget changes and infinite encounters with road blocks that make the success of your display much less certain.

For some perspective, in an article in Field Agent Blog, they quote: Retailing Today’s annual survey of the supplier community, says “ensuring merchandise initiatives are executed at the store level” is the top challenge CPG companies face with retail partners, a difficulty encountered by 62% of survey respondents.

That said, it’s sometimes hard to pinpoint the exact reason a display isn’t being executed. Without a solid explanation, it can be difficult to even decipher which company will produce the best product for your project, on the right type of budget.

However, we agree with other bloggers who say the same – “it’s often found the failure to deliver and execute a finished display often results from a combination of personnel, managerial, logistical, and informational factors.”

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Below are “real world” reasons your in-store displays we’re producing for you may not be selling more effectively as written by Field Agent Blog.

10 Reasons Your In-Store Displays Aren’t Converting Shoppers

  1. Your point-of-sale materials never arrived at the store

Some displays are doomed from the start, because that fixture, rack, clip strip, sign, or other merchandising material never arrived at the store. It didn’t even get its foot in the door.

Perhaps the display materials never left your company (you know how organizational communication is), or maybe a simple shipping error prevented them from arriving in-store?

  1. Your POP display materials arrived but the product didn’t

Your materials need merchandise to showcase. But display effectiveness is partly dependent on supply chain efficiency—getting the right product to the right place at the right time in the right amounts.

And this opens the door to all kinds of scary what-ifs: What if, for example, the retailer’s inventory/execution management system reduces or cancels your shipment due to apparent high inventory levels? What if the store “turned off” all non-everyday product shipments?

  1. Your display never made it to the store floor (it’s in the backroom)

In the merchandising game, it’s helpful to understand the tension between corporate execution plans and store-level realities. Local managers, contending with everything from surplus inventory to finicky local shoppers, may stray from corporate plans—including those delineating the details of your shopper marketing campaigns.

Your display, frankly, may be a low managerial priority at the store-level. Local management may want to push high inventory out the door, or they may be convinced another display will result in more sales.

  1. Your display is “lost” in the store

It could be lost physically. By way of illustration, high inventory in or poor management of the backroom may block your display materials or product from employees’ view.

  1. Your display is a casualty of inaccurate information

Perhaps even more dangerous, your display could be virtually “lost.” The retailer’s inventory management system, for one reason or another (e.g., human error), reflects that your display is in store and on the floor.

But the reality is: your display is MIA.

  1. Your display is on the floor but in the wrong place

But even if your display makes it to the store floor, who’s to say it’s in the correct place? Many possibilities exist for why a display might end up in the wrong part of the store:

  • Human error
  • Space is at a premium, and store personnel plop displays wherever they can find space
  • Local managers may feel other displays will sell better, and, thus, demote your display to a less visible corner of the store
  • Stores may be eager to unload high or seasonal inventory, even if it means deviating from corporate’s plan
  1. Your display is on the floor but stocked with the wrong product

Perish the thought, right? But it happens.

Maybe the display is stocked with the wrong version of your product? Or, worse—it’s almost hard to write—your display is stocked with competing and substitutable merchandise.

  1. Your display is on the floor but paired with the wrong signage, video, or other aids

The display is largely there but the expensive bells and whistles are missing, leaving you and others wondering why sales are disappointing.

Yes, your product is on that powered endcap, but the digital TV display is missing or playing the wrong ad.

Yes, your four-way display is on the main aisle, but the visually alluring signage is collecting dust in the backroom.

  1. Your display execution is a casualty of budget constraints

Often companies will fork out the funds for in-store displays and other POP materials, yet they don’t, won’t, or can’t budget for their effective execution.

As the problems above make clear, proper display execution is far from given. Consequently, shopper marketing campaigns should be monitored and controlled, which, of course, means proactively making room in the budget for such activities.

  1. Your display execution lacks visibility

You can’t fix what you can’t see.

Consequently, the remedy for many of the problems above is pretty simple: greater in-store visibility.

Thanks to advancements in mobile technology and crowdsourcing, companies can now be with their displays wherever they are—and quickly spot problems with display compliance.

Because we look at the display process as a whole, we understand the importance of seeing everything through beginning to end. It’s one thing to budget for POP projects that shine, but it takes both teams functioning effectively to ensure the display drives results.

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Whatever your concerns, we’re interested in perfecting the process. Share your story with us here and let’s get started!

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