Preening their feathers

In spite of the increase in online shopping opportunities, millions of people in the UK physically go out shopping every week; around 90 percent of sales are still store based. However, an increasing number of consumers are using the internet to research products, prices and available retail outlets.

Shoppers are, therefore, likely to visit fewer outlets and are frequently well-informed about the product they want to buy before they come into the store. So what impact has this had on the point-of-sale (POS) signage sector?

Clinching the deal

Like a peacock preening its feathers to attract its chosen peahen, innovative and eye-catching in-store display is now, more than ever, the key to making a sale.

Recent developments within the POS industry include an increasing use of new technology, with digital displays becoming more commonplace, adding interest for shoppers and providing more in-depth information about products and ranges.

So far the digital signage market has focussed on large screens positioned in key areas of a store or near the check-out. However, like traditional POS, digital screens can have much more impact if they are positioned closer to the products they are promoting.

“For this reason we recently launched our Ad’Pulse compact LCD display screen in the UK market,” says Duncan Hill, managing director at HL UK.

Available in standard and touch screen formats, the concept has been developed with leading retailers and brands and is installed where it matters most—in close vicinity to the product being promoted.

“Compact screens such as this are making digital signage more accessible and also more effective for retailers and brands of all kinds and we anticipate that the trend for digital POS will continue to gather momentum,” adds Hill

Simpson Group says that its long-standing experience with the retail industry, as a print and POS specialist, has enabled the company to grow and develop its in-store marketing skills to provide both retailers and brands with the appropriate tools to achieve sales success.
 
Business development and marketing manager, Annette Christie emphasises the importance of engaging quickly with the shopper: “With consumers’ disposable incomes dwindling in recent years, it has become even more important to grab their attention whilst in-store with the use of POS.”

The company has found that there is more leeway in the Cash and Carry environment, and has been able to push the POS boundaries a little further with the assistance of one of their key clients.

“In the highly competitive soft drinks industry, AG Barr likes to promote their many brands through a variety of display materials that grab the consumer with their unique marketing strategies. Using the staple material for large format POP displays, EB Flute corrugate, we’ve stretched it to the limit to meet their demand for a ‘show-stopping’ display,” says Christie.

In order to create a dramatic statement that was in keeping with the image of AG Barr’s KA brand of Caribbean soft drinks and would also showcase the products, Simpson Group designed an internal box structure with die-cut side cladding shaped as the cab and the rear of the truck.

Constructed in EB Flute corrugate and digitally printed, the truck standee was complemented with reflective foil mounted to E Flute to represent the wing mirrors of the truck. However, it is not always the brightly lit or large-scale display that is required to attract the consumer.

With the popularity of local and organic foods continuing to grow, and consumer demand for local, organic, British produce on the increase, UK Point of Sale has seen a rise in the popularity of more traditional POS products.

“Over the past six months we have seen a trend emerge among our supermarket customers, including the ‘Big Four’, for chalkboards to promote fresh produce,” explains Debra Jamieson, sales and marketing director at UK POS, “and point of sale design has evolved to reflect the consumer interest. Supermarkets are now looking for a traditional feel when it comes to visual merchandising, and the small chalkboards previously only found in restaurants, pubs and cafés are now being used in the shopping environment to create the feel of a market street.”

Creating this environment is a way to influence the shopper and position products as fresh, good quality and traditional, whilst also giving the consumer information about the product, price and any special offers.

Value for money

In the current economic downturn, with increasing concerns about energy savings and waste, as well as costs, it is not only shoppers but businesses, brands and retailers who are being driven to ensure that they are getting real value for money—including their POS displays.

“One of the most significant trends we have noticed is a shift by clients towards products that help to reduce energy consumption, lower maintenance requirements and therefore minimise running costs,” says Katie Severn, marketing manager at Arken P-O-P, specialists in point-of-purchase (POP) display and signage.

As a result, the company has seen a considerable interest and increased sales for its lightbox products, particularly the Purelite LED lightbox range that was launched three years ago.

For example, in partnership with English Architectural Glazing, Arken designed, developed and manufactured new LED glazed lighting panels for the new Westfield Shopping Centre in Stratford.

The design brief was to provide a product with minimal visible structure whilst providing ambient lighting. Over 200 LED light panels were installed at various locations around the shopping centre (main picture).

This project, plus interest from other clients, led Arken to develop a new addition to its Purelite product range—the Purelite LED Panel, launched at the recent In-Store show.  With its bright white, warm white, cool white and coloured LED light sources, with optional dimmer the Purelite LED Panel provides a contemporary light source that is different to traditional ‘light boxes’ that house graphics, making it especially suited for retail use.

Signwaves marketing manager Martin Downing echoes this viewpoint: “A significant current trend in the POS signage industry is a move towards ‘real’ sustainability—a genuine respect for the need to change and improve how we reduce, re-use and recycle materials.

"LEDs provide perhaps the most immediate example of a new technology bringing environmental benefit.”

One such example is Signwaves’ LED-illuminated poster frame, Edgelit XT. At just 19mm thick, it is half the depth of its fluorescent-powered predecessor, and the use of LEDs has reduced material content, transport weight and volume, improved energy efficiency and given a much longer service life.

“A key opportunity also lies in the options now coming forward from suppliers. Materials that use reclaimed and recycled content, which may also be further recycled at ‘end of life’, will become a first choice in achieving long-term sustainability,” continues Downing.

Many of Signwaves’ pavement sign bases, including Eco Swinger, Swinger 2000 and Ecoflex, are made from reclaimed PVC—sourced from electrical cable sleeving and floor surface production waste, which is both recycled and recyclable.

The development of new materials in the POS market has also resulted in some transitions over recent years. Traditionally there have been two types of POS stands—temporary units that are usually cheaper and made out of cardboard, and permanent units that are more durable, long-lasting and often expensive, which typically use MDF. The short life-span of a temporary stand means that it needs to be cost effective. Historically, this has driven printers to use thinner, cheaper cardboard and display board, enabling them to produce stands at cheaper rates.

However, the emergence of rigid paper-based substrates has seen an increase in suppliers switching from more traditional materials and specifying products such as the recycled paper-based honeycomb-structured Dufaylite Ultra Board. This is due to a combination of its durability and longer life span over paper-based materials, while being more cost effective than MDF.

As Tony Moscrop, chief executive officer of Dufaylite Group explains the further appeal of Ultraboard: “We have seen suppliers also requesting our substrate for temporary stands as it is not only cost effective but provides a unit which is higher quality, lasts longer in-store and although it may cost slightly more to manufacture one unit, it overall reduces a brand’s annual spend on POS.”

“POS display units have already come a long way over the last few years and we are always looking at ways to improve our products to meet customer demands and challenges. Materials such as Ultra Board are carving their own position within the POS market and are responding to customers’ expectations of high quality products at a lower cost. We predict growth in demand in the coming year.” 

Moscrop adds: “We have also seen an increase in our customers designing interchangeable headers so a promotional message can be changed while the main unit stays in.”

Fair enough

Fairfield Displays and Lighting says flexible customisation is one of the chief demands from their sign trade customers. Their flagship POS range utilises robust circular bases with a 450mm diameter and uprights are supplied with either a two- or four-way profile so that each can achieve ‘maximum impact’ with projecting posters.  The posts themselves are available in either 1500 or 1980mm versions and the whole unit then has a range of display options such as the LED Light Pocket.

“We are seeing a high level of demand for products which incorporate lighting elements such as our LED Light Pockets. It is an old story in the industry, but one that is supported by a very substantial body of evidence, that if something is illuminated it simply attracts more attention,” says Fairfield.

She adds: “Previously lighting solutions for POS was very cumbersome and you could not simply just change over graphics or even move the sighting of the display without difficulty.

The Light Pocket solution comes from A0 to A4 sizes, and feature LED diodes—which have recently been upgraded across the product range— integrated into panels which have been specially screen printed. Fairfield stresses that this range of products is designed with quality and longevity in-mind, as she explains: “This is quite an art form as it is highly complex to get the light to reflect and refract perfectly. We had to throw out hundreds of prototypes, but we now have created something that can truthfully be said to be ‘ultra bright’, with an absolutely uniform spread of light and free from any LED shadows due to the screen printing techniques employed. This also means we can do custom branding on the panels to any specification.”

Fairfield Displays specifies that if these units are run 24 hours a day then they will last five years at full brightness and when used with a timer to turn them off after trading hours, will last ten years plus. The company has also just launched a new comprehensive catalogue for the trade, designed so that sign-makers can actively use it as a sales tool when talking to customers.

Fairfield concludes: “From a trade point of view, and this is the key, lots of people want to do point-of-sale signage, but it is traditionally only really cost-effective if you are doing large runs. This is why we have come up with a system that enables long- or shorter-runs, but as the pieces are all standard they can then customise and add value to the sign themselves to attain those higher margins.”

Pointing the way

POS is no longer a case of online sales vs traditional high street; it is about a whole range of media formats complementing each other.

The growing trend towards multichannel convergence within marketing communications, such as social marketing, QR codes, augmented reality and bringing the internet in-store, is already becoming a distinct industry issue for everyone connected with in-store marketing.

“By its very nature, it is complex and multifaceted, expanding the traditional path to purchase models to any number of different channels. Understanding the growing influence of multichannel on shopper behaviour is critical to reaching out and engaging them in a more targeted, effective way than ever before,” Martin Kingdon, director general of Point of Purchase Advertising International  UK and Ireland (POPAI) emphasises.

He continues: “With shoppers increasingly carrying their own digital devices with them as they shop, the traditional path of purchase is changing, and the battle to reach the next generation of shoppers has begun. It is, therefore, important to understand how different elements engage and interact with each other.”

As the trade association for the retail marketing industry, POPAI recently published its Multichannel Research Report and Guide to Mobile Marketing to provide a ‘first look’ analysis into the impact of new multichannel communication on traditional in-store decision-making. This seeks to understand what shoppers think, how routes to purchase are evolving and may continue to evolve in the future, as well as assessing what it all means for the industry.

In the race to secure their share of consumers’ increasingly tightly monitored disposable income, it is clear that retailers must keep pace with an ever more sophisticated buying public and adapt their POS techniques accordingly.