The Legend of P-O-P

Research available on our web site this month includes a statistic you might find surprising: roughly 35% of brand purchase decisions, and 25% of category decisions, are made inside the supermarket, according to shopper surveys.Some marketing professionals may find this statistic disturbing, since it has long been accepted as fact that "70% of purchase decisions" are made within the store. Conference presentations, sales pitches, and even marketing plans have been based on this proposition alone. (Do a Yahoo! search on the phrase and see how many hits you get.)This overly quoted piece of data comes from the 1995 Consumer Buying Habits Study, which was commissioned by Point-of-Purchase Advertising International and conducted by Meyers Research Center. Through entrance interviews and exit follow-ups with 4,200 supermarket shoppers, the study found that as much as 70% of all purchase decisions were made within the store.Meyers has conducted hundreds of studies and interviewed tens of thousands of shoppers over the years. This month, the company mined its data archives to provide Institute members with proprietary insights (see more about that below). Aggregated, these studies find that shoppers consider about two-thirds of their purchases to be planned.There are some methodological differences involved here. Meyers' usual practice is to observe shoppers as they make their decisions, interview them afterward and let the subjects themselves decide if the purchases are "planned" or "impulse." The Consumer Buying Habits Study used a standard set of parameters to assess "planned" vs. "impulse." (Meyers also generally examines one category per study; Buying Habits covered the entire store.)While some marketers might be alarmed by what, on the surface, could be viewed as a reduction in the potential effectiveness of in-store marketing, more-learned industry practitioners won't worry too much about it. They know that you should never rely on one statistic, no matter how popular that statistic becomes. The level of unplanned purchases varies significantly depending on the product category, the channel and a host of other factors. The effectiveness of P-O-P displays and signage is just as complex. Research finds that some programs can increase sales by astronomical levels, while others don't provide any lift at all. Results from one campaign -- or a single research study -- are never conclusive.That's what makes effective in-store marketing such a challenging enterprise, and what makes a deeper understanding of both consumer behavior and retail environments so imperative. Deepening that understanding is why we're here. We encourage you to join our effort.By the way, 35% of supermarket purchase decisions translate into about $170 billion in sales. That's a pretty impressive statistic on its own.Sincerely,Peter BreenManaging Director, Contentpeter_breen@instoremarketer.org

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