Point of sale seems to just add clutter to my store. How can I make it work harder for me?

The adage that less is more couldn’t be more appropriate for point of sale. Shoppers are increasingly time poor and their ability to read and react to messaging changes according to their environment and needs.

Gordon Bethell, managing partner at advertising agency Gratterpalm, says retailers must be clear on the role of point of sale to allow the best use of space. He says retailers need to be able to react to changing markets, promotional opportunities and communicate quickly with shoppers, but questions whether the mechanics are in place to do this.

One surprisingly overlooked essential is an approved promotional toolkit. “Graphical templates and guidelines reduce variation and cluttered message styles,” he says.

Shopfloor staff are often challenged daily with new point of sale requirements. Bethell says in these instances several questions must be asked: are there guidelines to what is expected? Are staff incentivised against implementation standards? Is there a straightforward process for changing the point of sale regularly?

To avoid lots of messages appearing in store at once, Bethell says there must be one point of control - often in the form of a ‘gatekeeper’ - who has an understanding of the promotional activity and templates that have been planned. “This person can engender a sense of promotional competitiveness for the limited communication spaces available in store. Letting everyone communicate everything at every level will lead to pointless clutter,” says Bethell.