Blog.
Whether you are a retailer, a brand, or a grocer, in-store media is a staple of your marketing campaigns. But in the growing ether of online and e-commerce, you may question its place and whether it’s a sound investment. Before you rush to rip it out of your stores, here’s a breakdown of in-store media and how it drives revenues in your stores.
In-store media refers to all the displays within your physical retail environment. It serves one of 3 primary functions: wayfinding, promotion or branding. The type of media used can vary from printed signage to digital displays and pop-up experiences.
With the increase of retail media networks, grocers and large retailers are increasingly looking for ways to drive revenues from their physical stores as much as their online stores. So, can in-store media still compete?
For any company operating a physical store, in-store media is critical to your in-store marketing strategy. Any piece of in-store media should serve one of three functions:
All three functions are necessary if you operate a physical space. Indeed, a study from POPAI found that 82% of shoppers made purchasing decisions in-store, meaning that effective signage has the potential to dramatically increase your revenues.
Additionally, since the recent pandemic, shoppers want more space, one-way systems and an enjoyable shopping experience. So wayfinding signage is arguably more important than ever.
Retailers can use a wide range of types of signage to attract shoppers. Primarily, these include digital signage and print media. While there is a recent trend toward digital signage, print media still plays a crucial role for retailers.
One of the significant benefits of Digital Signage is that it is more cost-effective in the long term. However, the upfront costs to install these devices are incredibly high. Sometimes, it could take decades to pay off the initial expense. Additionally, while digital signs allow retailers to utilise a variety of more engaging content, including animation, video and moving images, these media types are more expensive and complex to create. If you need to communicate different messages daily, it may be easier for you to stick to print media or more static displays.
However, digital signage can be incredibly effective. As mentioned, moving images are far more engaging and are, therefore, likely to catch the attention of passers-by. And, if you have a simple static image display, you can simply edit the design to update them instantly.
For brands promoting their products in retail outlets, pop-ups are incredibly effective at grabbing shoppers’ attention.
Whether you use print media, digital signage, or taste-testing experiences, evaluating its effectiveness is one of the greatest challenges for in-store media. And given all the tools within your in-store marketing mix, it’s difficult to measure its impact. However, the data supports that it works.
In-store media drives revenues by directing your customers through the store and promoting relevant products and services to them at the moment of purchase. On average, 82% of shoppers make purchase decisions in stores, so effective in-store media can significantly impact revenues.
Measuring the exact impact of in-store media is challenging. However, the method we advocate for is to compare the sales performance during campaign periods vs non-campaign periods. If sales increased during this period, then it had a positive effect. And the degree to which sales increased and how effective it was. You can use this method to compare campaigns to explore which has the biggest impact.
We’ve written another article that goes into greater detail about running effective in-store campaigns, so I’ll just summarise some of the key points here.
An in-store display needs to make people take notice. On average, moving images are the best way to grab attention. In addition, designers should utilise vibrant colours, a clear message hierarchy and prominent placement to maximise effectiveness.
Additionally, targeting the right audience with the right promotion is essential. For example, suppose you run a nationwide campaign promoting your drinks brand in association with the world-cup. In that case, you will want to customise the message in England, Wales and Scotland to highlight the the relevant team to each location By tailoring your ads to your customers and delivering them to the right place, your in-store promotions will have a greater impact.
However, one of the challenges to running effective in-store campaigns is ensuring that signage is installed correctly. You might create stunning designs and plan them meticulously, but if none of the signs are installed, there will be no impact. This is where display compliance is incredibly important. By creating dynamic store profiles, allocating stock accurately and measuring your display compliance, you can ensure that your campaigns are executed flawlessly. (Here’s an article we wrote explaining how to measure display compliance).
This enables you to accurately monitor which campaigns are running in each store, measure the effectiveness of your campaigns, and implement improvements that will boost your revenues.
At Colateral, we help marketers produce in-store marketing campaigns that drive revenues by helping them plan, manage and analyse their campaigns from a single system.
Whether using digital signage, print or any other in-store media, you can manage the artworking process from briefing to execution, localise designs to different audiences and allocate the materials to the right stores to reach the right audience at the right time.
Learn how Colateral can help you get more from your in-store media by speaking to a member of our team.
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