Does In-Store Marketing Work?

CHALLENGE:
The “first moment of truth,” a concept created and popularized by P&G has been the focus of many CPG firms in recent years. Do factors like shelf facings or shelf position have any impact? And impact on what? Attention? Brand evaluation? Interestingly, an experimental study suggests that facings have an impact on attention and brand evaluation, but the optimal impact depends on such factors as usage frequency, brand share, and consumer characteristics. And that top and middle shelf positions generate more attention than lower shelf positions, but shelf position does not reinforce brand evaluation.
HOW THEY RESEARCHED IT:
Marketing researchers, with assistance from Perception Research Services Inc., created an eye-tracking study to observe the impact of both in-store and out-of-store factors on consumer purchasing behavior. The study divided purchasing behavior into five primary categories, including noting, reexamination, recall, consideration, and choice. Participants included 384 adults, resulting in a total of 8,304 observations. Shoppers were asked to review images of traditional supermarket shelves filled with twelve different products. The product placement, prices, and shelf facings varied so as to discover their effects on consumer attention and evaluation. The two sets of product categories used were soaps and pain relievers and the shoppers were divided into two groups – choice versus consideration oriented. During the initial part of the survey eye-tracking technology monitored and recorded the time each shopper spent looking at specific products and during the later customers answered questions regarding previous brand usage, shopping habits, and individual characteristics.

WHAT HAPPENED?
Increased shelf facings significantly influence consumer attention, and through attention, effect brand evaluation. For the average brand and consumer, doubling the number of shelf facings raised noting by 28%, reexamination by 35%, and both choice and consideration by 10%. Brands with low-market share are more responsive to shelf facing increases because the public is less saturated with outside information about the brand, and thus more likely to be affected by in-store advertising and promotion.
Position of shelf facings influences consumer attention but does not necessarily lead to a specific result in consumer evaluation. Horizontal placement has an effect on customer attention with a raised awareness only of products placed in the center of a shelf. This increase is partially attributable to the fact that customers are likely to look over the center of the aisle more often while viewing products on both the left and right sides. Additionally, products in the center of the shelf are viewed more often but for less time. Products placed in the center increased noting by 22% and choice by 17%, however all evaluation gains came from attention and direct effects on evaluation were negative. Vertical placement has a more substantial effect on brand evaluation; brands placed on the top shelf versus the bottom increased noting by 17% and choice by 20%, with 36% of gains from brand evaluation coming from attention. The results support the findings of earlier studies that items with more value and prestige are placed on higher shelves. The takeaway is the significant distinction between attention and brand evaluation, especially in the case of vertical placement where higher or lower placement helps influence the ensuing brand evaluation either positively or negatively
In-Store marketing has a noticeable effect on visual attention but a significantly smaller impact on higher-order stages of the decision-making process such as recall, consideration, and ultimately choice. However the positive impact in-store marketing has on evaluation is highly reliable. Out-of-store factors such as consumer brand usage, shopping traits, and market share have a much higher effect on evaluation.
Price did not play a significant role amongst most consumers; discounted and standard prices were viewed and recalled approximately the same amount of times. Price had a small affect on the two foreign products, in that without being discounted they were never recalled by consumers.
Who to target: In-store marketing is much more effective on younger, better educated, and “opportunistic” shoppers. Past studies concur that these shoppers are more prone to impulse buys and so have a greater susceptibility to in-store advertising. The shoppers were also divided based on questions at the end of the survey into the categories “brand shopper”, “value shopper”, and “price shopper”. “Value shoppers”, or rather those most willing to exchange brand names for price, are the most easily influenced by in-store marketing.
WHY MANAGERS SHOULD CARE?
The research findings suggest that in-store sampling is not the most effective way for businesses to blow the competition out of the water, however over time it can play an important role in marginal increases. Paying attention to product placement, especially in terms of shelf-height, and increasing the number shelf facings will eventually lead to gains. Products with low market share especially should focus on increasing shelf facings and premier placement as those are the products likely to gain the most from added in-store exposure.
On the other hand, managers should increase emphasis on out-of-store factors such as consumer brand usage, shopping habits, and market share as much as possible knowing that those are what really affect purchase decision making.
CAN YOU HELP?
Comment back on your REAL experiences. Is your actual sales consistent with these results?
This research is based on “Does In-Store Marketing Work? Effects of the Number and Position of Shelf Facings on Brand Attention and Evaluation at the Point of Purchase” by Pierre Chandon, J. Wesley Hutchinson, Eric T. Bradlow, and Scott H. Young in Journal of Marketing. Nov 2009. Vol. 73, Iss. 6; p. 1