Point of sale marketing – 5 tips for offline and online

Marketing at the point of sale (POS) is one of the most important levers you have for improving the success of your retail business. Continued digitalisation means that when planning concepts for your POS measures, you should not just have your physical store in mind, you should also be designing them for the rapidly growing online retail domain.

[Translate to English:] Einkaufserlebnis im Schreibwarenhandel

Increasing revenue through point of sale marketing

The offer on the market is huge. Merely having good products at fair prices is often no longer enough to motivate customers to make a purchase. So how can retailers stand out of the crowd and increase revenues? This is where so-called point of sale marketing comes into play. POS marketing describes the planning and implementation of measures that promote sales, convince customers about products and should, in an ideal scenario, lead to sales (and impulse buying). A well-known example of it is how checkout areas are arranged. Standing in line at the checkout, customers will happily let their gaze wander. Chocolate bars, chewing gum, batteries and other impulse buys jump out at us from the shelf and end up on the conveyor belt without a second thought. Even if individual items do not account for much income, the concept works well on a large-scale level. The checkout area in a grocery store, while taking up only one percent of the sales floor, can generate up to 5% of takings.

Point of sale marketing isn’t just for brick-and-mortar stores, though – it can also be implemented online. At a time when e-commerce revenues are growing, it is even something that is now urgently required. Ideally, both sales environments would be connected and therefore each would serve as the perfect complement to the other.

Implement POS marketing into your business with these 5 tips

1. Steer attention to your range

Before consumers become customers, they first need to get to know your business and what you offer. Ensure that you implement marketing measures as regularly as possible outside of your shop to raise awareness of it and make sure to present your goods within your shop in a way that appeals to customers. Measures that can increase interest in your business include, for example:

In-store retail: shop window decoration, billboards and outdoor advertising, A-boards on the pavement, ceiling hangers, displays, floor stickers, adverts on shopping trolleys or baskets
Online shop: digital product catalogues, pop-up windows with promotional offers, ad banners, mobile push notifications

2. Ensure you have clear structures

Clear structures in the sales room will orient customers and help them to find their way around your product range. Measures you can use to guide your customers through the point of sale in an optimal way include:

In-store retail: signposts and labels, consistent product presentation according to product groups, secondary displays in retail experience zones or at the checkout itself
Online shop: search and filter functions, structured menu navigation, showing similar or complimentary products, detailed product descriptions, quick views, product reviews

3. Create a feel-good atmosphere

A positive vibe in the shop or on your website will make the customer want to spend time there looking through your products. The more pleasant you make the shopping experience as a whole, the more likely they are to buy from you. Don't just see your shop from the point of view of the retailer, think through the sales process first and foremost from the point of view of a consumer. Some of the adjustments you can make to improve the shopping atmosphere include:

In-store retail: design of the external appearance, modernising the interior design, creating a colour concept, rearranging the sales floor, decorating the sales area, optimising the lighting, playing music
Online shop: attractive website or platform design, logical user interface, simple sales process, choice of different payment options, quick load time, high-quality photos and videos, optimised for mobile devices, quality labels and certificates

[Translate to English:] Workshop mit kreativen Materialien

4. Create an experience around your products

Customers love to experience things and are prepared to spend more money in return. Make the most of this knowledge and use it to engage in some skilled upselling. After all, this is ultimately what you are trying to get out of point of sale marketing. In designing your sales activities around experiences, you can be as creative as you want to. A small financial and time investment is often enough to inspire ideas and inspiration and awaken new needs amongst customers. Some example ideas for sales promotions are:

In-store retail: live demonstrations, hands-on activities, workshops on particular themes, handing out do-it-yourself (DIY) guides, product samples, tastings, gamification, use of virtual or augmented reality
Online shop: customer platforms, virtual workshops, a blog with DIY ideas, calls to joint action, providing free materials to customise products

5. Create incentives with bundle pricing and discounts

Marketing measures like events are not suitable for every product. Take consumable items, for example, which are less of an emotion-driven purchase for customers. These sell well using price incentives like discount campaigns that either relate to a specific item or involve combining more than one item through up-selling or cross-selling.

These two measures are suitable for both POS and online shops. Examples include: discount campaigns and codes for certain product groups or that apply above a certain purchase value, end-of-line or end-of-season clearance sales, multipack offers and set-purchase offers, as well as add-on deals for spare parts and accessories.

With just a few changes, some creative ideas and a good feel for the right timing, point of sale marketing strategies can be put into action and contribute to the success of your business. What is important is to continue to look for potential on an ongoing basis and then take action to implement it – both online and offline.