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January 1991 |
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| Point-of-Education Displays Respond to Consumer Needs |
Article for "SEMA News"
The Official News Magazine of the Specialty Equipment Market Association.
by Stephen J. Alexander
President, Automotive In-Store Marketing |
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| Stephen J. Alexander |
P-0-E – point-of-education merchandising is a much stronger concept than the old P-O-S, a.k.a. P-O-P. Ordinary traditional forms of in-store merchandising tend to deal with presenting facts and features, and too often seem like reprints from the vendor's catalogs or trade advertising.
The focus of modern P-O-E is on providing facts and related information to consumers in an easy to understand, enjoyable and believable fashion, such that the experience elevates the accumulated information above that of separate facts into a dimension that causes the consumer to feel comfortable, secure and thus educated.
For starters, P-O-E is not a new euphemism conjured up by some marketing gurus to put a fresh spin on in-store merchandising technologies. To the contrary, the evolution of P-O-E is in direct response to the demands of the marketplace for actionable approaches to in-store merchandising problems.
For years, Syms Clothing Company has tagged all its advertising and in-store promotion with the expression, "An Educated Consumer Is Our Best Customer." This company readily understood in-store merchandising principles that easily translate into the automotive aftermarket.
By and large, the merchandising problems in the aftermarket are caused by crowded shelves, largely due to overwhelming product duplication and proliferation. P-0-E as an in-store merchandising solution evolved from struggling with the inherent concerns raised by the old refrain: too many products, limited real estate and information confusion.
The question facing vendors is how to create better in-store "push media" by developing approaches designed to "tell, to push your story, your way, in the best way, every day," thereby educating consumers more effectively. A vendor's goal must be to translate powerful P-O-E into generating strong impulse buying and simultaneously supporting other advertising and promotional efforts that drove the consumer into the store in the first place. The solution is keyed to clearly understanding the aftermarket consumer's product selection process – often without any assistance from in-store personnel.
Research clearly establishes the fact that, in the absences of effective in-store educational merchandising, consumers suffer from confusion which is directly translated into frustration, anxiety and, of course, lost sales. Consumer purchasing observations clearly show that they want information that helps select products more easily. Putting this in other words: today's time-sensitive consumers demand friendly information that helps differentiate both among competing products in the same category, as well as products that are non-competitive with other products in the same store.
Clearly, in densely stocked automotive parts and accessories stores, ordinary printed information-either on the package or adjacent to the merchandise-has become an alphabetical blur. In simple terms, P-O-E gives consumers "20/20 shopping vision."
The essential facts to bear in mind are twofold: First, nearly 70% of all aftermarket buying decisions are made in the store. Secondly, approximately 65% of those consumers will make an unplanned additional purchase, measured directly against the pulling power of in-store merchandising displays. The amount of business lost through the absence of in-store merchandising, or correspondingly the amount of volume to be gained as a result of effective P-O-E, should be sufficient to get any vendor's attention.
Who will dispute the belief that consumers want to buy with confidence? Accepting that premise leads to the logical conclusion that states that confidence is derived from the quality of information imparted. So, if information quality is a direct function of the strength of the educational effort, then aftermarket vendors may conclude that the execution of P-O-E becomes the critical issue worth exploring. The key is to know how the information should be 11 served up" to the consumer. The idea is to do as Mary Poppins suggests-with a spoonful of sugar.
If a vendor can effectively control the mind set" of the consumer, controlling the impact and effectiveness of the message will follow. Achieving that goal requires a thorough understanding of an important principal: Effective P-O-E is derived only through coming to terms with the realities of consumer purchasing habits and desires, not perceptions.
Developing powerful P-O-E begins by understanding that the process of learning consumer educational needs means foregoing the all-too-common practice of "internalizing" the development process. Thus, vendors will avoid "preaching to the converted." The answer lies in using professional people, skilled in the art of reaching into the minds of consumers, to determine what educational information consumers truly require in order to stimulate a purchase decision.
It's time to retire the famous four "Ps," the Rosetta Stone of marketing and merchandising education for 20 years. "The trouble with some of our marketing guys," a marketing executive recently said, "is that they're wonderfully well-prepared for a world that no longer exists."
When the alliterative litany-product, price, place and promotion-was created, the marketing world was very different. Roaring out of World War 11 with a cranked-up production system ready to feed a lust for better living, American business linked management science to the art of mass marketing and rocketed to the moon. In the days of "Father Knows Best" it all seemed so simple. The aftermarket vendor developed a product, priced it to make a profit, placed it on the retail shelf, and promoted it to a pliant, even eager consumer.
Mass media simultaneously taught consumptive culture and provided vendors with efficient access to an audience which would behave perfectly predictably, given the proper stimulation.
That was then. This is now.
Desperately, most aftermarket marketers still try to make the formula work. They throw thousands of new products across the shelves in a single year (80% are stillborn). Retailers declare their independence. Consumers don't listen, can't be found and even talk back. What's going on here?
In-store merchandising research shows that it's time for a new formula: the four "Cs." Forget product. Study consumer wants and needs. You can't sell whatever you can make any more. You can only sell what someone specifically wants to buy. The feeding frenzy is over; the fish are out of school. Now you need to lure 'em one by one with something each particularly wants.
Forget price. Understand the consumer's cost to satisfy that want or need. Price is almost irrelevant; dollars are only one part of cost. What you're selling against if you're selling replacement wheels is not just another wheel for a few more dollars more or less. It's the cost of time to drive to the retailer's store, the cost of conscience to spend discretionary income versus perhaps the cost of guilt for not buying the kids a new bicycle. Value is no longer the biggest burger for the cheapest price; it's a complex equation with as many different correct solutions as there are subsets of customers.
Forget place. Think convenience to buy. People don't have to go anyplace any more, in the era of catalogs, credit cards and phones in every room. On the other hand, when they do decide to go somewhere, it's no longer only to the closest store. What's a poor 'marketer to do? Think beyond those nice, neat distribution channels you've set up over the years. Know how each subsegment of the market prefers to buy, and be ubiquitous.
Forget rebate promotions. The word is communications that educate. All good in-store merchandising creates a dialogue. Promotion is manipulative-the 1960s. In-store merchandising communication that educates is a direct stimulus-response reaction from the buyer (cooperative)-it's the 1990s. That contrast is in the fact that the fundamental difference between the four "Ps" (product, price, place and promotion), which served so well for so long, and the four "Cs," is that the former group has inherent functional and executional rigidity. It talks at consumers, not necessarily with them.
Category leadership is not entirely defined by consumer perceptions, as suggested by a major recent national survey. Because retailers exert critical influence over brand success today, it is equally (if not more) important to track the trade's opinion of which brands are the category leaders before developing an in-store merchandising program.
To retailers, category leadership may have little to do with the quality of the brand's advertising and promotion or market-share ratings. Retailers instead identify the category leader as the vendor who shows mastery of the skills and knowledge needed to deliver superior business "results" in a particular category by educating consumers properly.
Aftermarket retailers are now defining the leader as a reliable source on innovative in-store merchandising programs that expand category usage, volume and profits. Importantly, retailers identify the category leader as the one who understands the business from the retailer's point of view, tailoring in-store merchandising systems consistent with the retailer's long-term strategy and develops in-store programs that simultaneously benefit vendor, retailer and consumer.
The point is: Vendors who make the effort to develop point-of-education in-store merchandising displays that address consumer wants and needs, costs to satisfy, convenience to purchase and communicates by educating will generate more volume and profits and are the winners for the 90s.
Stephen J. Alexander is an aftermarket consultant, speaker and monthly columnist for SEMA News. To learn more about other in-store merchandising and marketing issues, contact Stephen Alexander, Automotive In-Store Marketing at 239-395-9203 or e-mail him at salexander@autoinstore.com.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE:"Reprinted with permission from SEMA News, January, 1991, page 14. Copyright by Specialty Equipment Market Association . Specialty Equipment Market Association retains all rights to this material." To subscribe to SEMA News, visit www.sema.org, call 909-396-0289, or email member@sema.org.
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