Enhancing Retail Impact: Innovative POS Solutions for Businesses

This article is about point of sale, otherwise known as POS.

There’s more to it than you may realise. We’ll explain what it is, its various forms, and how organisations like yours could be maximising this critical space in contemporary marketing.
But first, let’s ask a festive question.

At Christmas, which side of the seasonal fence are you on?

Mainly in favour, or something you tend to endure rather than enjoy? As soon as the clocks go back, many of us start looking forward to an abundance of fairy lights, our families’ over-catering, and that unique in-between period when you’re not quite sure what day it is – but you don’t really care.

Others – count down the days until normality returns.

However, opinions meet in the middle about one thing at least. We know this much is true:

Whether online or on the high street, a lot of consumption is going on. People buy things, and quite frankly, they buy quite a lot. According to one study, the average spending PER HEAD during Christmas varies from just below £700 in the North East of England, to just a few pounds shy of £1000 in London*.

And that’s on average; despite the financial squeeze, some super-spenders are still out there.

Point of Sale marketing plays a significant role in retail, not least at Christmas. There’s an excellent reason why you may bring home more than you intended to. Point of sale: guilty as charged.

At this time of year, you’ll see many POS displays maxing out the magic of Christmas.
But, it works well throughout the year, and if you’re involved in retail or hospitality, it could grab your customers’ attention and boost sales. POS supports other sectors, too, including automotive and travel. Also, petrol stations and even in some hospitals.

What Exactly Is Point of Sale?

Point of Sale marketing or advertising is a form of in-store promotion or a campaign that takes place at or near the point at which a transaction occurs.

While merchandising is the physical arrangement and presentation of goods in the shop, point of sale is about the customer seeing and internally reacting to and acting on a display, a hanging sign, a poster, stickers – or any ingenious, cleverly designed marketing materials they may encounter.

They’re already en route to buy; the intention is there, and there’s no need for a start-from-scratch approach. POS encourages them to buy something else they didn’t intend to – as a gift, or a treat for themselves.

The psychology of shopping is intriguing.

You aren’t weak-willed if you’ve ever left a store with more items than you intended to buy. We’ve all done it, and most likely it was a deliberate strategy by a canny marketing person. If we’re in buying mode, we’ll almost certainly be susceptible to a few extra bits and pieces. Humans tend to impulse buy, and POS urges and permits us to do it.

A quick but really quite impressive fact: did you know that globally, the point-of-sale display market was worth around $12.63 billion in 2022 and is predicted to grow to $25.7 billion by 2030?*

Point of Sale Products

Xpress Group can handle the design, print, production and installation of all your POS materials.

In a crowded retail market that’s still feeling the post-Covid and cost-of-living pinch, we recognise your need to offer something different. So, contact us, and we’ll devise a highly visible impactful POS campaign with exceptional presentation and packaging to knock your customers’ socks off.

There are so many different types of POS products, there’s simply not enough room to list them here. Modesty aside, if you need it and Xpress Group can design and print it, then that’s what we’ll do.

Here are the most common kinds – the ones you’ll see most often when you’re out and about.

Displays

Here, creative innovation meets clever functionality. Free-standing displays (FSDUs) can be placed anywhere in a retail environment to showcase your products to the right audience – but do take advice, you only have one chance to get it right.

Countertop display units (CDUs) are, of course, smaller and brilliantly draw attention to newly launched or more modest-size products.

Display units are bigger, heavier and more substantial. They’re an excellent way to display groups of larger products.

Wraps

A cash wrap is the final stop for a customer, and where they go to pay for their goods. In other words, the aisle or route to the checkout counter delivers your last chance to increase sales. Here, you may have display shelves, or baskets attached to a traffic flow system containing impulse-buy products.

Xpress Group has considerable expertise in wraps and we’d be delighted to help you make the most of this powerful point of purchase potential.

Dump Bins

Everyone loves a bargain, and customers may be drawn to something that looks like a discount range – even if it isn’t. POS dump bins are branded floor or counter-standing open-top containers that you can use to display promotional items. Depending on the products they contain and where the bin is placed, they can be made of wood, wire, plastic or cardboard.

Wobblers

Shelf wobblers do just that: they wobble – a bit, anyway.

They’re adhesive strips that stick to a shelf edge to display a sign which sticks out slightly over the edge of the shelving. They’re clever products as they draw people’s attention towards new products or special offers.

Stickers

Anything you can do to make information easier to see and attract attention can help you when you are promoting a product, and stickers can do just that.

Printed products, window or floor stickers can improve brand awareness and are a versatile, cost-effective option to make an impression.

Strut Cards

3-D strut cards transform flat advertising and marketing into vertical promotional materials you can place anywhere. They’re simple, strut-mounted display cards that work like a picture frame. As you can guess, they’re much more visible and infinitely more engaging than a flat pile of flyers. They’re affordable, too, for the cost and impact they deliver.

Point of Sale Pondering – A Few Tips

Xpress Group will work closely with you to achieve your best results. In the meantime, here are a few things worth considering for your most successful Point of Sale displays.

1. 1. Who is your audience? Every project we undertake starts with this question, and it’s extremely important. Think carefully about who buys from you: what’s their profile, what would they like to see and what will encourage them to reach out to put your products in their basket?
   2. Maximise visibility. Visual imagery is everything. Create desire and make that must-have purchase a no-brainer.
   3. Choose the right POS product. Posters, window graphics, stickers – the choice is wide. One size doesn’t fit all, and each promotional product type has a different function. Linked to appealing to your target market, you need to consider carefully what will suit your campaign best to drive sales.
   4. Perfect positioning. The most effective place to put your display is…well, it sounds obvious, but it’s where everyone will see it, ideally more than once as they move around the space. This is an essential strategic decision you do not want to get wrong. The good news is that POS displays can be portable, so you can experiment.Also, ask our advice as part of your engagement with us.

Marketing with (More) Money in Mind – Key Take Aways

POS materials have come of age. Xpress Group has state-of-the-art printers and flexible production processes to enable us to produce displays in Dibond, Foamex, display cards, vinyl and acrylic.

Online shopping is infringing on the high street and is not going away any time soon. There’s no doubt about it, but it’s not just about sales. You want people to remember you. Making the most of today’s retail environment will help consumers become more familiar with your campaign and branding.

Did you know that approximately one-third of UK-based shoppers make impulse purchases when they’re in a store? If you would like a piece of the pie, the right POS marketing will offer your would-be customer the perfect incentive towards a decision – in your favour.