Study on the importance of point-of-sale and its implications to marketing strategy

Abstract

Various communication vehicles, including displays, packaging, sales promotions, instore advertising and sales people can be used at the point of purchase (POP) to influence the customer’s buying decision (Quelch and Cannon-Bonventre, 1983).. Unplanned purchases are higher in some cultures as opposed to some others, but the importance of in-store stimuli holds true across cultures (Abratt and Goodey, 1990). Instore displays and feature advertisements serve to reduce the impact of price in the purchase decision. They also serve to move the aggregate competitive structure away from a product orientation, to one based more on brand names (Allenby and Ginter, 1995). A kirana store, considered to be only a point-of-purchase earlier has a strong communication potential. The observation units had high interaction with the retail outlet, which gives them an opportunity to touch and feel the brand (Kumar, Sinha and Krishna, 2003). Impulse buying occurs when a consumer experiences a sudden, often powerful and persistent urge to buy something immediately. Impulse buying is prone to occur with diminished regard for consequences (Rook, 1987). There are four types of impulse buying. Pure impulse is novelty or escape buying. Suggestion impulse involves buying an item by a shopper, who has never seen the offering before. Reminder impulse deals with the recall of an out of stock item or the recall of an advertisement concerning the item before it is bought on impulse and planned impulse deals with the shopper's expectation and intention of buying some items on price discount (Loudon and Bitta, 1988). Impulse buying is not always viewed negatively by consumers, but represents a rational alternative to more time-consuming search behaviors. Consumers buy products for a variety of non-economic reasons, explaining the above phenomenon (Hausman, 2000). People with high levels of control (low impulsivity) were the ones who were most likely to respond to sales and bargains, in other words, to reduction in prices (Youn and Faber, 2000).