Olfactory allurement

Even those 70 to 80 per cent of customers who have carefully selected their purchases before coming to the store actually make their final decision at the POS. This is the conclusion reached by CPM, a field marketing agency from Austria. It follows from this that the design of the point of sale, as well as the sales and promotion staff in the store, have a substantial part to play in their customers’ purchasing decisions. “The POS offers manufacturers the chance to successfully position brand messages in the place where purchasing decisions are made,” explains Horst Untermoser, managing director of CPM Austria. Accordingly, product presentations that are attractive and easy to understand play an essential role in spontaneous buying decisions. Untermoser believes that “POS marketing offers an efficient way out of the pricing spiral in times of aggressive price offensives.” As an expert in the field he confirms that the employment of efficient personnel on the spot has an especially strong impact. On this subject he refers to the POS marketing reports that are regularly carried out by the Lebensmittelzeitung (a food trade publication) and UGW Communication. “The POS Marketing Report confirms that personal promotions have a particularly high purchasing relevance of nearly 50 per cent,” says Untermoser. “This means that promotions with trained staff are the most successful in a comparison with other POS activities.” The tendency here, especially when it comes to premium-priced articles, is increasingly moving towards manufacturers themselves offering retailers the use of their own trained sales personnel in order to achieve the best possible results. For example, CPM Austria and Switzerland is involved with the planning, recruiting and coaching of Bosch technical consultants in several dozen shops. “Bosch operates shop-in-shop customer advisory units in Jumbo, Obi and Coop DIY stores in Austria and Switzerland, each of them serviced by a Bosch-trained consultant on the part of CPM,” says Untermoser. The focus here is on personal advice and the availability of both products and accessories. As he goes on to explain, “Sales figures can be increased by an average of 20 per cent through the carefully targeted use of in-store sales techniques and specially trained promotional staff.” The POS Marketing Report also reveals that the length of time spent by customers in outlets is on the decline. “The art here is to appeal specifically to all five senses of the…