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Why brands should be advertising in stores
In today’s competitive market landscape, brands are increasingly looking for ways to engage and connect with their audiences at the most pivotal points in the customer journey. In-store advertising is one of the most relevant and successful ways to do this – here’s why.
What is in-store advertising?
In-store advertising is a marketing technique used by brands to reach consumers who are already at a store. Advertisements come in a variety of formats that can be placed inside the store or just outside it. These formats include shelf displays, aisle banners, posters, point-of-sale (POS) displays, sampling stations and even in-store radio.
Pretty much all shops have some kind of in-store marketing, even if it’s just signage helping customers navigate the store. Most in-store advertising is designed to promote a specific product, brand or promotion, though.
Unlike other forms of marketing, which focus on getting customers to come to store, in-store advertising takes place further down the funnel and is about engaging customers who are already looking to buy. By advertising to customers who are in a retail environment, brands can capitalise on the buying mindset and influence purchase decisions.
In-store digital advertising
Digital in-store advertising formats are becoming more and more popular, mostly due to the additional flexibility that they provide advertisers when compared with traditional printed formats. Some of the most common types of in-store digital advertising are:
Digital advertising displays
Digital signage
Interactive touchscreens
Self-service tablets
Digital information boards
Digital advertising screens enable advertisers to operate their campaigns with greater flexibility and agility. Promotions can be quickly swapped around, creatives can be updated in real-time to provide more contextual relevance, and changes can easily be made to ensure omnichannel strategies are aligned.
In-store retail media networks
Retail media networks are regularly touted as the future of retail advertising, a trend that’s been driven by growing awareness of their vast potential. Clear Channel’s Asda network alone achieves 21 million impacts every two weeks, reaching a huge proportion of the population.
While running campaigns across multi-store networks allows advertisers to reach large audiences, single-store media networks can be just as beneficial for more targeted campaigns. Utilising multiple touchpoints throughout the customer’s in-store journey builds familiarity and can help nudge buyers in your brand’s direction.
Shopping centre advertising networks can be used in a similar way. While not technically in-store, they operate on the same concept – using the retail environment to highlight a brand, which can then be reinforced once the customer is inside the shop.
The benefits of advertising in stores
In-store advertising is a powerful tool for brands seeking to maximise their visibility, engage consumers and drive sales. Here are just some of the advantages of advertising in stores:
Large and diverse audience reach
– advertising in stores provides regular access to large segments of the population. Shops, and in particular supermarkets, have incredibly high footfall and a broad demographic of customers.
Increased visibility
– strategically placed advertisements help to raise brand awareness at the pivotal moment. They can also be used to introduce new ranges or draw attention to individual products.
Market expansion
– in-store or front-of-store advertising gives brands the opportunity to expand their market share by converting undecided shoppers and capturing their competitors’ customers with timely ad placements.
Contextual relevance
– targeting shoppers in retail environments close to where the product can be bought is a way of ensuring contextual relevance in adverts. When contextually relevant messaging is used, ad effectiveness increases by 17%.
Improved customer loyalty
– brands can drive loyalty with retail advertising by targeting the same consumers regularly at their local store. As familiarity with your brand increases, shoppers begin to turn to it intuitively.
Amplified promotions
– in-store advertising can be used to amplify current promotional activities like discounts and special offers. This can also feed into cross-channel promotion – for example, incentivising audiences to follow your brand on social media in exchange for a discount, which can be accessed via a QR code on the advert.
Strengthened brand recall
– getting your brand in front of audiences is one thing, but making sure that they remember it when they’re scouting the aisles is a different challenge altogether. Adverts close to the point of purchase help to keep your brand front of mind as purchase decisions are being made.
Which brands stand to benefit most from advertising in stores?
In-store advertising can be a useful tool for all different kinds of brands and businesses. The store itself might use digital signage to help customers navigate effectively, reducing friction and contributing to a positive customer experience. Even in non-retail environments; community-focused areas such Healthcare, Education and the Public Sector, ‘in-store’ advertising can almost act as public noticeboards. But the biggest opportunities generally lie with fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands.
FMCGs typically have low profit margins and high-volume sales, which is why gaining a competitive advantage through supermarket advertising can be so effective. CPG brands often rely on visibility and impulse purchases, making in-store advertising one of the most pertinent marketing channels.
But in-store advertising isn’t just for consumer goods brands…
In-store advertising is most obviously linked to consumer goods brands, where the products being advertised can be bought in store. However, it’s also important to recognise the medium’s broader potential.
The sheer volume of people who visit supermarkets or other retail environments each week means that brands that don’t tap into their vast reach are missing out. With a little creativity, brands selling services and experiences can also deliver timely and relevant messages to the right audiences.
For example, families carrying out their weekly shop on a Saturday morning are likely to be thinking about their plans for the weekend. A local experience centre could therefore benefit from advertising their family day out, providing inspiration to those entering and leaving the shop.
Similarly, Friday night visitors to the store might decide upon a last-minute trip to the cinema after seeing an advert for the latest blockbuster release.
If you want to find out more about in-store advertising and the opportunities it presents, please get in touch for a no-obligation chat with one of our experts.
It’s as easy as that!
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