Displaying products at cash registers is a popular way to advertise.
False or misleading promotions and dumb commercials give the advertising industry a bad name. Despite this, advertising is essential to doing business. Advertising raises awareness of different products. Customers find out about better deals through commercials on television, in newspapers or online. Techniques for successful advertising vary considerably.
Price Promotions
Cutting prices provides an incentive for customers to buy more products. This can be done two ways. Lowering prices without changing the amount of the product or having more of the product in stock at the same price. The downside of increased sales is lost profit. This method must be used sparingly; the objective is to get customers interested for repeat business. Cutting prices too often can result in losses no matter how many sales are made.
Point-of-Sale Advertising
Display advertisements are made at the point of sale, such as a cash register. Informative and tasteful displays can result in increased sales without having to engage in price promotions. For example, a customer ordering a morning coffee from a cafe suddenly notices a picture of a croissant that displays on a computer screen next to the counter. When purchasing a book, another customer sees some suggested titles on another computer screen. The idea behind point-of-sale advertising is to display products where customers will notice them.
Coupons
Send out coupon books for new products or existing products that are failing to sell. Coupons suffer from similar disadvantages as price promotions. Often customers use coupons to buy products they would have bought without them, cutting into profits. Or businesses can hold insufficient inventory to meet unexpected demand, which results in losing customers. Either way means potentially severe losses. Coupons should be used only for products without established support.
Loyalty Rewards
Give customers rewards for loyalty. Every business knows that brand loyalty is the best sign of success. Maintain that loyalty to the business as a whole by rewarding customers who continue to buy products. These rewards can take the form of gift cards or cash back on regular purchases. With the use of the internet, some businesses allow customers to earn points that they can accrue and redeem towards free items and future purchases.
Tags: computer screen, Cutting prices, increased sales, price promotions