If you’re looking to position your commodity products to sell in a retail space, then, believe it or not, you’re already in a better position than most e-tailers. According to a study from A.T. Kearney, 40 percent of consumers spend more money than they had planned in stores, while only 25 percent reported online impulse shopping. Most impulse purchases happen at the counter where few people can resist the perfectly positioned, reasonably priced commodity items. The same study also found that 61% of shoppers still make most of their purchases in a store, compared to 31% who make the majority of purchases online. What does that mean for you? That there is much opportunity!
Visibility
How visible a product is can dramatically influence consumer behavior. In an interview with Specialty Retail, Lars Perner, a professor at the University of California at Riverside, says that “visibility is the most important factor” when it comes to influencing purchasing behavior and driving impulse buys at the counter. The first step in capturing a sale, is making sure your product is visible.
Display
Paco Underhill, a psychologist and author of the book, Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, noted that in his research he found that consumers begin to interact with your display long before they’re even close enough to know what you’re selling. “From 50 yards, [your display can] get their curiosity up; from 25 yards, make them focus on what you’re selling; and from 10 yards, make them want to stop … It comes down to sight lines and signage,” he says.
Using brightly colored signs with distinct calls to action can not only increase the visibility of your brand, they can grab a shopper’s attention from a farther distance and increase your chances of landing a sale.
Avoid the Bidding Wars and Try Anchor Pricing
Sure you can drop your price to set you product at a more attractive price point than your competitors’ – but this approach can turn into a biding war that compromises the earnings for both brands. Instead, take a note from the now-famous study published in the Journal of Marketing Research which described a successful experiment by William Sonoma. The retailer was trying to sell a bread maker priced $275, with little success. But when they displayed a bread maker next to it priced at $429, sales of the $275 unit nearly doubled.
Packaging
At some point in our lives we’re all guilty of purchasing a product based solely on its awesome packaging. But cool and unique packaging can do so much more than draw a shopper’s eye – it can comminucate your brand’s messaging and identity.
“Color can draw them in and keep them focused on the product”, says Leatrice Eiseman, author of The Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color. And strong contrast, like black and yellow, is key. “Bright yellow has been proven to be the most visible [color],” she says. “When humans see those colors together, they usually have an instinctive reaction.”
