Crunching the Numbers

POPAI’s new measurement study gives P-O-P a leg to stand on.

P-O-P is coming out from behind the ROI eight-ball.

Though vital to the marketing strategies of consumer packaged goods makers and, increasingly, marketers in other retail channels, the tactic has always been handicapped by a lack of efficient measurement tools and logistical standards. Where broadcast and print media have cost-per-thousand impressions data and audience tracking abilities that prove their effectiveness (or, at least, their reach), P-O-P has relied largely on anecdotal evidence and blind faith.

Not any more, perhaps.

Point-of-Purchase Advertising International (POPAI), Washington, DC, in March released results from its first measurement study tracking P-O-P in supermarkets. (Similar studies on mass merchandise and convenience stores are planned.) Hard numbers will serve as the platform for industry standards, which POPAI hopes to set over the next three to five years.

The measurement study gives P-O-P its first-ever cost-per-thousand (CPM): $6 to $8 for supermarket displays. That’s comparable to radio advertising and half the cost of TV. The CPM is based on findings that a grocery display makes an average 2,300 to 8,000 impressions per week, depending on store size and volume. Displays in 69 stores, therefore, would generate an average one million impressions per week.

Proof of cost-effectiveness, in a format comparable to media advertising, will be the study’s long-term value, says POPAI president Dick Blatt. “The fundamental difference keeping P-O-P from being on the same plateau as mass media was the proof-of-placement element, and we’re starting to provide that.”

Compliance Complacency

Retailers currently aren’t exactly bending over backwards to use manufacturer P-O-P. While the supermarket study found signage on more than 90 percent of secondary displays, only 13 to 15 percent of displays used manufacturers’ pre-printed signs. The rest were retailers’ own hand-written signs.

Secondary displays get occasional in-aisle support: Signage tied to an out-of-aisle display appeared on a product’s main shelf 22 percent to 35 percent of the time, depending on product category and supermarket size.

In releasing results at its annual POP Marketplace conference, POPAI gave retailer-specific compliance data only on Wal-Mart Supercenters (which was measured as a grocery chain), since manufacturers strive to get display support from the retail giant. The report pegs Wal-Mart as far and away the most consistent retailer in executing secondary display and main-shelf advertising, with an average 67 percent display rate.

The study gives marketers ammunition to improve compliance among grocers. Properly displayed P-O-P boosted sales two percent to 65 percent, depending on brand size and P-O-P mix. Signs (such as header or riser cards) increased weekly store sales six percent for one brand and two percent for another in a different product category. Base or case wraps boosted total sales 12 percent, while standees increased sales 27 percent. Inflatable or mobile P-O-P improved sales 40 percent. Signs that convey a brand’s sports, movie, or charity tie-in boosted sales a whopping 65 percent. (POPAI would not disclose brands or product categories.)

The supermarket study sampled 250 stores in 22 markets, including the top 15 chains and independent grocers. It tracked 23 kinds of signage and collateral for 90 brands in eight product categories: beer, cereal, salty snacks, cough/cold products, dog food, carbonated soft drinks, laundry detergent, and hair care products.

For now, full results are available only to the studies’ six packaged goods sponsors: Procter & Gamble, Anheuser-Busch, Frito-Lay, Pepsi Cola, Pfizer/Warner-Lambert, and Ralston Purina. POPAI will issue monthly updates to the public.

The supermarket study was the first to be conducted. Results from the mass merch and c-store studies are not yet scheduled.