The Effects of a Point-of-Purchase Display on Relative Sales: An In-Store Experimental Evaluation

Abstract

An in-store experiment was performed to investigate the effects of a point-of-purchase display on unit sales of dishwashing liquid. The experimental conditions consisted of periodically placing two copies of the same display in convenience stores and supermarkets. The results were unanticipated; point-of-purchase displays did not change relative sales of the target brand. An antecedent intervention such as a point-of-purchase informational display is not sufficient to change consumer choice in the presence of utilitarian reinforcement in the form of a lower-priced competing product.

Keywords:

• in-store advertising
• in-store experiments
• motivating operation
• point-of-purchase displays

Gratitude goes to the executives and store managers of Hagar in Reykjavik for access to the retail outlets used as an experimental setting. Valdimar Sigurdsson acknowledges the support provided by a postdoctoral grant from Rannís, The Icelandic Centre for Research.