Friday, February 17, 2012

Super Market Sweep: Product Placements & Mobile Devices Influence on the Point of Purchase


The Point of Purchase, or P-O-P, is the instance a consumer arrives at the shelves to select a product of want or need. This moment is very important to brands as it can either solidify or persuade consumers away from competitors. Most research focuses on the affect advertising has on the P-O-P. Also, traditional P-O-P is often times affected by the product shelf placement due to brand-market negotiations. But, at what point does traditional product placement on the shelf and branding influence on consumers’ P-O-P psychology? Also, how has and will the mobile device culture change the consumer's experience at the P-O-P? 
These questions are what I intend to research for my final project. I believe the psychological implications of the traditional P-O-P are in transition due to the new purchasing and interactive capabilities of mobile devices. I want to pull on best practices of the new mobile campaigns performed from major brands such as Procter & Gamble in order to see how this is affecting and changing the P-O-P experience. I intend to look at how QR-Codes are being integrated into these digital campaigns as well as into the traditional marketing aspects (branding, OOH, & print advertising). Moreover, I hope to research how mobile app designers are utilizing GPS as a means of delivering discounts, advertisements, etc. to consumer the moment they walk through the market door. My intent is to discover the psychological and ethical implications of these new P-O-P mechanisms and how advertisers are finding synergy between the traditional and innovative.
For my final research project, I want to see how P-O-P is negotiated in the business, digital and the psychological spaces. The mobile culture has had an incredible leap due to the smart phone creation and it is time for more research to be done in this area. Also, the intersection of the digital and physical space in the context of mobile culture could not be better observed than at the P-0-P.

2 comments:

  1. Carly, I think this sounds like a really interesting topic. I had never heard of this, so I just did a little research. I think it could be cool to do a large part of your research on the economics behind P-O-P. I think the mobile culture has sky-rocketed with the introduction of the iPhone and all the apps in the past several years, and is P-O-P right for this fast-paced environment in the business, digital, and psychological spaces? I think that advertising is huge for this and has the potential to become something really big.

    Here's an article I just found online, it's pretty interesting and very pertinent to your research:
    http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/sep2008/gb20080922_109810.htm

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  2. Carly, like Claire I hadn't heard of the point of purchase or it's affect on the consumer culture in our society. I really think that it is a valuable thing to consider especially with your point about mobile shopping. When I think about shopping with technology it's hard not to see how easy it is the purchase things and that this accessibility is changing the entire consumer nature of the way which advertisers can sell products. For instance, I am more likely to purchase things using apps on my phone because it feels less like I am spending money but also I can make purchases with quite literally the touch of a button.

    I did some research as well and thought that this might be a good source for you!

    http://csx.sagepub.com/content/34/1/43.full.pdf

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