Advertising tries to catch the consumer anywhere, and the design of points of sale is of particular importance in influencing the behavior of the buyer. Advertising equipment for store spaces is called pos-materials. We answer the questions: POS materials - what is it and how are they made? Decide on the main types and functions of these carriers.
POS materials: what is it and why are they needed?
The development of advertising media leads to the emergence of a variety of forms and names. Literally, the term "POS materials" means point of sale - a point of sale, and everything that is an element of the design of trading floors belongs to this kind of advertising. They can be found in large shopping centers and in small shops, they are designed to influence consumer behavior at the place of purchase.
History of POS materials
The design of the in-store spaces appears almost together with the shops themselves. Already in the deep Middle Ages, you can see the design of entrance groups to stores in the most uncomplicated ways. Initially, these were signs, price tags, but gradually the opportunities and needs of advertising increased, the production of POS materials became widespread. The boom in point-of-sale advertising coincides with the advent of self-service stores in the early 20th century. And from the end of the 21st century manufacturing of POS materials is becoming a ubiquitous advertising practice.
Features of the perception of POS materials
Point-of-sale advertising is most often perceived as a natural element of the interior and navigation. Therefore, the buyer does not appear rejection or negative reaction to various advertising messages inside the store. And original and informative media even meet the favor of the consumer, as they help him make a choice.
Functions
POS advertising materials have numerous functions:
- Attracting customer attention to a specific product. The bright form and placement in particularly prominent places allow POS materials to highlight a specific product among many others on store shelves.
- Reminder about the need to buy: advertising in the checkout areas or on the trading floor allows you to increase sales due to the fact that the buyer acquires things that he has forgotten about.
- The motivation to make a purchase right now: information about discounts and promotions encourages the buyer to purchase goods at this very moment.
- Customer navigation on the trading floor: product category indexes allow visitors not to get lost in the store, help them find the right product and create a comfortable environment.
- Zoning of retail space: dividing the space of shelves and departments into parts makes the perception of space more comfortable.
- Management of the buyer’s route through the store: special advertising helps bring the buyer directly to the product.
- And purely advertising functions: awareness and information about the product, work on the memorability and brand recognition.
The main advantages
The advantages of POS materials are their brightness, they attract attention, as well as the fact that the consumer needs additional information when making a purchase. He needs an additional motivator to choose a particular product from a variety of alternatives. Therefore, such advertising does not cause irritation and rejection (if used wisely) and is gratefully accepted by the buyer, he does not even realize that these bright signs, flags, wobblers, etc. are advertising.
Accommodation areas
Now that we have answered the question “POS materials - what is it?”, It’s worth looking at the places where they can appear. There are several such zones:
- The outdoor group. That is, everything that signals the buyer about the existence of a point of sale. It can be shop windows, placing signs on roads and sidewalks, as well as original designs, roof installations, signboards here. Although some researchers attribute the latter to types of outdoor advertising.
- Entry group. This includes all the design of the entrance to the store, these are plates, stickers on doors, urns and ashtrays near the entrance, pillars.
- Shopping room. This includes navigation, mobiles, floor graphics, light panels.
- The checkout area. This is a “hot” area that stimulates impulsive purchases; racks, displays, coin boxes are located here.
- The calculation area. Designing product placement is very important for sales, so there should be a lot of information to help the consumer, in these places price tags, wobblers, shelftalkers, stands and racks can be placed.
Traditional types of POS materials
Now it's time to consider the types of advertising at points of sale. Since this ad has many functions, there are various types of POS materials. And the developers all continue to invent new options, only to catch the attention of the buyer.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the production of POS materials has been associated with the formation of traditional varieties of such advertising. These types include price tags, posters, stands, shelves and signs. Today, carriers of this type are undergoing changes, new materials are appearing, the principles of fastening are improving, so the question is: "POS materials: what is it?" arises again, because it is not always possible to understand whether the phenomenon relates to advertising. Thus, the consumer does not recognize branded racks and shelves, advertising tabs in trolleys and shopping baskets or coin boxes as advertising, and this is an excellent technique for distinguishing goods from competitors.
Modern varieties
Today, the development of POS materials is an entire advertising industry. Innovation is actively influencing this advertising field. Technology allows you to create unique POS materials. What is it and how to apply it on the trading floor, even experts can not always answer. For example, unique animated or 3D floor stickers can remind consumers of the product at the point of sale.
The following POS advertising materials can be attributed to modern varieties:
- Jumby. These are inflatable product samples on an enlarged scale. Such designs look very impressive, attract attention, easy to assemble and transport.
- Mobiles. The production of POS materials of this type is quite economical, and the effect is quite high. The suspended design allows you to push the product closer to the eyes of the buyer.
- Hard posters. They are also called growth figures, because they are figures of characters or stars from advertising to human growth.
- Lightboxes. This medium came from outdoor advertising; it is a luminous panel with an advertising message.
- Pillars. This is a rectangular rotating design with advertising planes on 4 sides.
- Acrylics. These are illuminated planes with an engraved brand name. They can be placed on shelves and racks.
In search of new opportunities, advertisers are coming up with new ways of introducing advertising into the trading floor, such media as nekhengers - paper rings with an advertising message put on the neck of bottles, ai-stoppers - various images, dividers, signs placed on shelves with goods appear , stickers, various stickers that can be placed anywhere.
Materials
The advertising industry is in constant search of effective and the cheapest materials for advertising media. The manufacturing technology of POS materials is constantly being complicated and improved; the goal of this evolution is to achieve maximum efficiency. Advertising is trying to become more effective and economical. The most affordable material is all types of paper and cardboard. Price tags, posters, leaflets, flags can be made of paper of different thicknesses. Cardboard makes dispensers for leaflets, advertising racks, stands, growth figures. Printing methods may vary depending on the specific media. To increase the life of such media, lamination is used.
Plastic is another very common material. Almost everything can be made of it: shelves, racks, mobiles, wobblers, etc. The manufacture of POS materials from this material is the most economical. Plastic media are more expensive than paper, but their service life is many times longer.
The newest materials are acrylic, LED backlighting, LED panels and backlighting, neon designs and even “electronic paper”.
These materials can significantly increase the brightness of structures, which means to increase the effectiveness of advertising at points of sale.