Advertising and marketing are very important for any business, big or small. Today, with the rise of the Internet and social media, a lot of advertising and marketing is done online, but even so, in-person signs and price tags are still highly effective at conveying a message to customers, such as emphasizing new low prices, temporary discounts, or new items in a grocery store, and marketing budgets in businesses are often dedicated to finding out exactly the best way to go about this. Even limited marketing budgets may find a solution to increasing sales, and items such as retail price tags, shelf tags, and other merchandising solutions can be done with efficiency in mind. Good price tags, in addition to other forms of physical advertisements, can make a product sell better and raise awareness of a new item or special deal. When marketing budgets are dedicated to boosting in-store sales, what might the end result look like?
Signage and Price Tags
Even with the pervasive Internet and social media, physical signs and price tags are still potent, and a business’s marketing budgets can be dedicated to making the most out of this time-tested method of conveying information. Just how effective are signs today, with the Internet to compete with? Very, in fact. Most people still go out into the real world for shopping, going to and from work, or recreation, and this exposes them to the many billboards, posters, signs over stores, and more that are designed to get their attention and send a message. These signs and price tags take advantage of the fact that a lot of shopping is still done in person, despite the rise of e-commerce, and these signs are designed to make use of how customers think.
Ads on billboards, on the walls of buildings, on electronic screens, or even bus ads can make a customer aware of a product, and these customers may end up deciding to visit the store where these products and services are available. Signs may make use of bold colors and appealing images to catch people’s attention, and they can promote a product or advertise a sale, discount, or special deals or promotions. Often, around 85% of a business’s customers live within a five-mile radius of that company, and that means that they may be exposed to ads and signs from that business 50 to 60 times per week, meaning plenty of exposure for the message. This can help draw customers into a store, whether a grocery store or something more specialized such as a fast food restaurant, a computer parts store, or a pet shop.
When customers are inside a store, the advertising is geared more toward showing off new and lower prices and temporary discounts and deals rather than making customers aware that the store and its merchandise exist. Here, marketing budgets will pay off with shelf tags, grocery store signage, and more, and ads will be not for the store as a whole, but for particular brands and products found inside. In a grocery store, for example, many hundreds of brands exist for all sorts of food and other items, and they are all competing with each other with their products’ packaging, as well as prices and deals. Customers will go all about the store and see many competing prices and item packaging, and these signs, labels, and packages are designed to take advantage of how customers think.
How is this done? Marketing budgets are often dedicated to studying how customers think and operate in a store, and price tags and signs can be tailored to fit this. For example, it has been found that 68% of American consumers made a purchase because of a sign that caught their interest, and shoppers make 82% of their spending decisions in the store rather than ahead of time. And not all of these purchases are the result of careful deliberation; often, customers will make impulse buys, and appealing packages and retail tags that stand out can help grab a customer’s attention and encourage them to make an impulse buy. In fact, six out of 10 purchases in a store can be categorized as impulse buys, and one in three consumers makes a sizeable impulse buy every week.