Count On It: Numbers in P-O-P Displays Result in More Sales

"Consumers come up with biases that enable them to make decisions fast and easily," says Brian Wansink, Ph.D., professor of marketing at the Champaign-Urbana, Ill.-based campus. "These biases can cause us to purchase too much, and one of the primary mechanisms for triggering that is signs that have numbers in them. If the sign says three for $1, we don't take one, we take three."Wansink and colleagues Robert J. Kent, University of Delaware, and Stephen J. Hoch, University of Pennsylvania, conducted several studies showing how P-O-P with numbers can affect the amount of an item consumers buy. The results were published in February's Journal of Marketing Research.The first study, conducted at Dominick's supermarkets in the Chicago area, showed that multiple-unit pricing promotions such as "On sale, six for $3" resulted in more than a 30 percent increase in sales for 12 of 13 product categories vs. single-unit promotions such as "On sale, 50 cents each." Products in the study included cans of soup and tuna, and dry goods such as bathroom tissue and soap.A second study showed that purchase limits actually increase sales. In three stores in Sioux City, Iowa, the researchers rotated three displays of Campbell's soups discounted 12 percent, from 89 cents to 79 cents per can. Shoppers buying from a "no limit" display bought an average of 3.3 cans; those buying from a "limit of four" display purchased an average of 3.6 cans. But when the limit was 12, consumers purchased seven cans on average."A typical person will go 'Whoa, I'm not going to buy 12,' but they will buy more than twice as much per person, and that's quite a sales lift," Wansink notes.Study number three showed that even irrelevant numeric information such as "shipped to stores in boxes of 28 units" can again increase consumers' buying, because the high number is "an anchor from which they insufficiently adjust downward," according to the professors. But, the fourth study showed when there is a more relevant suggestive numeric anchor, such as "buy 18 Snickers bars for your freezer," the results are better."We went into Wawa's convenience stores in Philadelphia and discovered that this will increase buying even if the item is not on sale," Wansink explains. "If the P-O-P says 'Buy Snickers bars for your freezer at 59 cents each,' the average person will buy 1.2. But if the sign tells consumers to 'Buy 18 for your freezer,' even though it's a ridiculously high number, the average person will buy about three. This worked for juice and oranges, too. Even up to a number like 28, people kept buying more. After that, it starts to backfire."Wansink concluded that numbers on P-O-P increase buying mostly "for low-priced objects under $3 or $4," he says, and for larger products, the quantity suggestion should be smaller. "When things get too big or too expensive, numbers have less of an impact. Who wants three, 30-pound bags of dog food or four, three-packs of paper towels? People just don't have the room."He also cautions retailers and P-O-P producers not to set quantity limits too low on smaller and more inexpensive items "because you don't want to truncate those extra sales you might get. If you say 'purchase limit of two,' that's dumb, because by setting that limit you're preventing a person from buying more. I suggest setting a limit of at least twice as much as what a person would normally buy."Numeric P-O-P works better with higher-income purchasers, Wansink says. "The economically disadvantaged are the least susceptible, because they just don't have the extra discretionary dollars."

Count On It: Numbers in P-O-P Displays Result in More Sales

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