How to Make Packaging & Point-of-Sale Work Together

Each year, Perception Research Services (PRS) pretests several hundred new packaging systems prior to their introduction in the market. Although we’ve long emphasized the shelf context, we’ve recently been encouraging clients to think more holistically about the shopper and store as they develop new packaging. We now begin many projects with in-store studies to observe shoppers’ path-to-purchase and their engagement with point-of-sale (POS) materials, including displays, in-aisle signage and shelf talkers. In this article, we’ll share insights for ensuring that packaging and POS efforts work together to facilitate shopping and drive purchase.

Improving POS Efforts  

A Great deal of POS Investment is Wasted

Packaging and POS Materials Typically have Different Strengths and Roles in the Shopping Process

Improving POS Efforts  

Our in-store research often centers on uncovering the roles of the different touch-points along the path-to-purchase and on documenting shoppers’ engagement with displays, signage and packaging. Across countries, categories and retailers, several patterns have consistently emerged:

A great deal of POS investment is wasted

Often, that’s due to poor store placement. In a recent beverage study in the U.S. and Argentina, PRS Mobile Eye-Tracking revealed that not a single shopper looked upward to engage with overhead promotional signage. This finding is largely consistent with our experience across studies: Shoppers use ceiling-based materials to guide store navigation, but once they are in the aisle, their focus is straight ahead or slightly downward. Thus, point-of-sale materials at eye level or arm level (interspersed with packaging) are far more visually impactful than materials positioned above the products. 

In other cases, we’ve found that excessive in-store merchandising overwhelms shoppers rather than helps them. In a recent study for a technology marketer, we uncovered that over 85 percent of shoppers engaged with product displays and fact tags. However, other materials (including comparison charts and selector guides) were only considered by 10 to 15 percent of shoppers. As a result, the marketer redesigned its critical materials and eliminated others, which led to an easier shopping experience. 

Packaging and POS materials typically have different strengths and roles in the shopping process

These findings suggest that packaging and POS have somewhat different profiles and optimal applications. Specifically, POS materials can be viewed as closer to an extension of advertising, in terms of ability to drive awareness/attention, to create an emotional connection and convey a single key message. On the other hand, packaging, as the embodiment of the product, is somewhat more factual and rational in its nature. As shoppers get closer to their actual purchase decision, they are looking for key information and reassurance (i.e., “Am I buying the right product?”).Displays and signage can be valuable in creating visibility and attention and in helping brands to create a beacon or destination in the aisle. They can also be very effective in driving impulse purchases, particularly when coupled with a price/value message. Additionally, given their size, displays can present an opportunity to connect more emotionally and viscerally with shoppers, often through visual imagery that links to users and usage occasions. However, one very important guideline is to keep it simple, via a compelling image and/or a quick message. When POS gets complex, it is almost always ignored. When we’ve tested POS systems designed to compare products and/or drive trade-up, the results have nearly always been disappointing, because shoppers typically rely on packaging for product comparisons.

Therefore, marketers and retailers can significantly improve their POS efforts by keeping a few simple, tactical principles in mind: 

• Work from the floor up (not the ceiling down)

• Keep it simple

• Connect emotionally

• Surprise and delight (via unique structural design)

• Facilitate shopping (don’t impede it!)

Leveraging Shelf-Ready Packaging (SRP)

From Packaging to Winning at Retail

Building the shopper and store into design briefs

Integrating packaging, SRP and POS design

Using research to assess full in-store solutions

Leveraging Shelf-Ready Packaging (SRP)  

The growth of retail — or shelf-ready packaging (SRP) — highlights the importance of making packaging and POS materials work together. Secondary packaging display cartons are very common in Europe, particularly in fast-growing discount channels, and they’ve been promoted by some retailers in the U.S. because they offer efficiencies in stocking. However, one trip to the store reveals that SRP can significantly impact a brand’s in-store presentation, for better or worse.

If leveraged properly, SRP can effectively serve as a display and help drive visibility, facilitate shopability and/or convey an important brand message. However, if not, SRP can significantly compromise packaging communication, by blocking its visibility and accessibility and/or leading to poor package orientation (i.e., knocked over packages).    

Therefore to maximize positive outcomes, the most important principle is to design the SRP to complement the packaging by focusing on a specific communication objective. For example, if a brand family is relatively large and complex, the SRP may provide an excellent opportunity to facilitate shopability, perhaps via color-coding and/or calling out specific varieties or sub-brands. On the other hand, if small dimensions limit the opportunity for on-pack communication, an SRP may be best utilized to convey a clear, differentiating and motivating brand message (i.e., a reason to believe).

From Packaging to Winning at Retail   

How can marketers ensure that their packaging and POS efforts work together effectively? Here are several best practices we’ve seen that make a difference:

Building the shopper and store into design briefs 

Too often, design briefs are largely excerpts from brand positioning statements and/or advertising efforts focused almost entirely on communication. To shift this mindset, additional inputs/components should be built in that incorporate shopper understanding (most notably, decision-making processes and priorities at the shelf) and retail realities across different key channels (competitive set, lighting, shelving). This information and insight can help ensure that packaging and POS materials are designed with specific retail challenges and shopper-based objectives in mind. 
 

Integrating packaging, SRP and POS design  

Many companies have internal silos (i.e., between sales and marketing, shopper and brand, packaging and POS, etc.) that lead to materials being created in isolation. To move forward, companies need to think, design and ideally organize more broadly when optimizing shopper marketing and winning at retail. At a minimum, design efforts should start with both strategic and tactical understanding of how packaging and POS will work together. Designers need to know the roles of each vehicle and be able to anticipate how the presence of signage and displays will impact packaging presentation. 
 

Using research to assess full in-store solutions     

Finally, marketers must ensure that new packaging and POS systems are working in the larger store context. When actual in-store testing/test markets aren’t feasible, we’ve used new tools (such as PRS Virtual Aisles) to show/assess packaging systems in the full aisle context, including SRP, end-cap displays and in-aisle signage. For example, in a recent virtual study in the lighting category, we simulated several different in-aisle scenarios and measured impact on purchase patterns and shopability. Not surprisingly, we found that the combination of elements — working together and complementing each other — had much stronger positive impact than a packaging change alone. These findings then helped the manufacturer sell in a new merchandising and shelving system to its retail customers.

By integrating the shopper, retail environment and POS within their design efforts, marketers can ensure that their packaging works in store. They can gather insights (and evidence) that will help them collaborate effectively with retailers and develop win-win solutions that drive category growth. Most importantly, they can increase the likelihood that their packaging and POS materials are working together to help their brands win at retail.