This is where POS marketing steps in. A survey by retailers for Progressive Grocer magazine showed that the average waiting time at checkout lanes in a grocery store is about 2 minutes and 52 seconds. Customers may perceive this time period as much longer. There’s an immense opportunity here for the savvy entrepreneur.

Remember, you can ramp up your sales at the last point of contact with your customer too. It’s the area that every paying customer compulsorily visits and last-moment sales could potentially represent nearly 2% of your total profits.

What Is POS Marketing?

• Point Of Sale (POS) refers to the system that handles the sale of products or services in a brick-n-mortar store or online.
• It is the point at which other customer-product interactions can be planned and made to occur.
• When the shopper waits in line at the checkout counter, you can grab their attention by a colorful display of low-cost products, promos, signage, information etc.
• Typical POS marketing products are low-cost, represent the impulse purchase category, have universal appeal and are targeted at customers who are attracted by “new” items.
• These products generally don’t cost much, certainly not enough to make a significant difference to the customer’s bill.
• POS marketing is commonly used by grocery stores where spaces at the exit, entrance and cash register are used to display batteries, candy, magazines etc.
• Retail businesses can place low-cost items in strategic locations.
• Big brands may often buy exclusive display space at POS locations.

7 Great POS Marketing Ideas You Can Achieve With Shopify

You can maximize sales by training your checkout staff. Give them enough product information, so that they can motivate the customer to add a couple of items more to the cart at the last point of sale. Friendly, interested checkout staff can often steer customers the right way at physical checkout counters, while intelligent cross/up selling strategies work with online customers.

1. The Sale Is Not Over Till The Last moment

Never underestimate the power of the emotional impulse. You may think that the customer has mentally stopped purchasing when they enter the checkout line, but a creditcard.com poll reveals that five out of six shoppers in the US confess to impulse buying. Load your POS area with quick-grab items like candy, stationery, soda, small packages of nutritious eats etc.

2. Lure The Early Birds And Novelty Enthusiasts

Many people enjoy trying new products, technologies and innovative services. Position your current offering at the checkout and make sure your staff has enough information to sell them effectively. This is also the location where you can keep customers engaged with digital displays, short video promos, messaging etc and use the power of suggestion.

3. Use The Cashier Line

This is another great location to place easy-grab items to add to the cart. Customers often abandon their carts if they feel the line is too long but you can continue to engage with them by giving them something to look at, pick up, examine, read the labels and finally decide that they want. Another winning strategy is to add LED monitors near checkout counters that display information that customers can use about new products, last-moment deals, promos, discounts, in-store ads, etc.

4. Keep Abreast Of Current Buzzwords

Some words enter popular culture and social media and give your business the impression that it’s in sync, trendy, modern and innovative. Typical examples include “organic” “all-natural” “probiotic” “multi-experience” “mobile first” etc. Use them judiciously in your promos and displays at the POS.

5. Loyalty Programs

Customers tend to form purchasing habits at local supermarkets or other stores. Adding a loyalty program, rewards points, gift coupons and punch cards is a great way to ensure repeated patronage. Contests, extra-care reward points in pharmacies, bundled items and other good deals help to net customers at POS. You can sustain loyalty by offering seasonal discounts for customers who purchase above a certain value.

Some big stores have successfully launched programs like Quiet Hour for Autism where they encourage persons with disability to shop in curated environments, where point of sale staff are specially sensitized and trained to deal with them.

6. End-Cap Displays, Signage And Cut-Outs

Use the available range of POS marketing materials to boost sales. In POS marketing jargon, they’re called “wobblers” “shelf-talkers” “danglers” and “mobiles” that simply call out to be grabbed at POS.

7. POS Apps

Consider using apps that offer extra functionality at POS. You can also update your online cash register to a cloud server based one that helps to drive sales and run your business more efficiently.