Making more of POS

If you believed the sales fliers offering you merchandising and point-of-sale kits, you’d expect them to reach onto the street and drag in customers holding wads of money, begging you to sell them product X in large quantities. I know because I have written such fliers. Reality is of course different.

It’s easy to take a cynical view of display material, but you dismiss it at your commercial peril. Careful, planned, orderly and, indeed, creative use of POS is a money spinner. It does stop customers in their tracks; it can persuade them to try or remind them to repurchase; it will increase the average purchase. In addition, it’s well produced, it supports manufacturers’ other marketing activities and it’s free. So, what can it deliver and how do you get the best out of it?