Customer Perceptions has spent two decades working with clients across a wide range of sectors – now we’ve asked some questions about in-store advertising.
Retail has always been a highly competitive sector, and it’s only getting more so. So what’s the best way to inform customers of your offers, guide them to best value and bring them into your shop again and again? This time around, we’re looking at one specific method and analysing how effective it is, and how to maximise that effectiveness: In-Store Special Offer Advertising. Here’s 5 simple points to help you maximise its effectiveness.
1st – Customers and In-Store Advertising
We asked over 140 customers: Do you think supermarkets use too much in-store advertising to promote special offers? As might be expected in a sector where advertising and salesmanship is so well examined and refined, the most common answer (over 48%) felt supermarkets were using “Just the right amount”. About 28% felt it was used “a little too much”. 17% felt it was not used enough and only 7% felt it was excessive. On the whole then, it seems in-store advertising is something that stores can use very effectively – the vast majority of people like it, with a significant minority (that 17%) who would welcome more of it.
2nd – Who does it best?
In terms of best practice, Tesco comes out way on top, with almost 45% of respondents choosing them as the most effective user of in-store advertising. Super Valu came a distant second with around 18% of the responding customers choosing them. The other contenders – Dunnes Stores, Marks & Spencers, Aldi and Lidl came distant, distant runners up, the lowest being Dunnes, which came in at just under 8%. The others all hovered around 10% each. Tesco is the store to beat, here – retail customers seem really to respond to how they handle in-store advertising.
3rd – The Special Offers Leaflet
Asked if they would pick up a special offers leaflet at the door, overwhelmingly our responding customers agreed that they would, at least some of the time. While only just under 23% suggested that they would make a point of picking up the leaflet every time, almost 54% responded that they would pick it up some of the time, and only just over 23% declared they would never pick one up. Between the “every time” and “some of the time” customer responses, that constitutes almost 77% of customers who have some interest in leaflets which makes it a simple and effective way to reach a very healthy swathe of your customer base.
4th – How effective is it?
Apparently it’s very effective. When asked whether in-store special offer leaflets enticed customers to spend more than they’d intended, almost 71% of respondents answered yes. Most customers find themselves convinced to part with extra cash by the special offers leaflet. It’s perhaps understandable, given the answers from responding customers to question one – people like in-store advertising, therefore when it advises them that something is good value, they tend to trust it.
5th – Why? And how do I maximise?
In-store advertising (especially the special offers leaflet) is a very effective form of communication between you and your customer – with responses like the ones we’ve seen, it seems obvious that it should be an absolute cornerstone of any retail business’s customer communications policy. As we’ve said, people like in-store advertising, so they trust it. Also, in-store advertising by definition is advertising directed to people who have already chosen to engage with your business. They’ve come into the shop! Therefore they’re more likely to be coaxed through to a sale. These facts make it an absolutely crucial element of your sales strategy, and it’s foolish to neglect it.
One thing to think about, however, is who exactly this advertising is aimed at. In-store advertising isn’t some cynical marketing trick aimed at pumping a little more money out of unsuspecting consumers. Rather, it is aimed at the more long-term, sustainable goal of bringing customers back. The in-store advertising should be a way of drawing customers’ attention to new products, new offers – things that might represent genuine value, savings or novelty for them. The special offers leaflet is two things – a treasure map, showing where in your store the best deals are waiting, and also, while it’s in their hands, a reminder to your customers of your own commitment to value.
It is a reminder that you’re working for them, to give them the best value they’ll get anywhere in this crowded and competitive marketplace.
