Buyer psychology is an integral part of the retail experience.

Retailers place every product in a specific location and display it in a specific way based on evidence proving that this will help get the product into the hands of the consumer.

This is why companies spend so much time and energy on a product’s POP display.

In this day and age, when you can purchase nearly anything online and ship it to your doorstep overnight, having effective POP (or Point-Of-Purchase) displays is more important than ever.

The good news is that even in key demographics, consumers still prefer to shop in stores than online.

Check out these current POP display trends that’ll optimize the in-store experience for your customers and boost sales in 2018:

Impulse Still Holds Sway

We’re all familiar with the “impulse buy”. It often happens at the cash register. You’re about to pay for your groceries and realize you simply must have that light jazz CD.

Now, does this customer really need this last-minute purchase? Chances are it’s unlikely. But it felt right in the moment.

And most of the time a moment is all the time we’re given in order to convince someone of the merits of a product.

Impulse is responsible for 40-60% of all purchasing choices. And there’s stronger impulse during in-person retail scenarios than online ones.

That’s all the more reason why POP displays need to harness the power of impulse.

There are a few ways to do this:

Find the Right Balance

First, know that if your displays aren’t eye-catching, the consumer is going to walk right past the product.

Conversely, if your displays are too eye-catching (for instance if they’re bright neon colours) or are inappropriate for the product, it will turn off the consumer and reduce impulse.

Remember Buyer Psychology

This is one trend that will never go away. It will, however, continue to get more in-depth. Take color psychology, for instance.

We’ve known for a long time that colours like red and yellow make consumers think of food. That’s why most fast food restaurants use this colour scheme in their logos.

All colours evoke feelings in people. There’s a reason every single logo that exists contains the colour scheme that it does.

What’s important is that you have an understanding of the product, paired with the way the buyer thinks. This will heavily inform whether or not your POP Display will stop buyers in their tracks.

Location Location Location

The placement of products is a product of countless studies. This is meant in two different ways:

First, specific products should always be in specific locations. An example of this is kids cereal, which is always placed at an average child’s eye-level.

And second, research has demonstrated clear buyer patterns. For instance, most customers look to their left when entering a store and then swing their focus over to the right side as they proceed.

This means that more eyes will spend more time on displays that are to the right of the entrance.

Additionally, you’ll want to address frequent customers. Your POP display can be eye-catching and exciting but if a customer walks past it every other day they will lose the impulse to buy the product.

So, change its location from time to time. Yes, it was just said that all locations are carefully thought out based on many factors.

But if you’re trying to maintain those impulse buys, you’ll want to throw in the element of surprise.

Have the POP Display Tell the Product’s Story

Trends have demonstrated a marked turn toward a narrative direction. This is because consumers like to feel taken care of.

They like to know that we know them and we know how they fit into the “story” of this product.

This is perhaps one of the greatest assets of a successful display.

Great storytelling includes powerfully written and efficient copy. It includes relatable and disarming graphics. And it includes you, the shopper.

Take a look at some examples of successful displays. What do they all have in common?

They all feature a logo that you know, even if it’s subconsciously. In doing this it makes you the main character in the story.

Like any good story, they feature immense creativity, in the design of the product housing, for instance.

And like any good story, they make it fun.

They’ve come up with ways of taking something as mundane as buying OTC pain medicine and giving the consumer a fresh experience.

Perhaps this is their first time taking something out of a giant cardboard square, rather than simply picking something up from the shelf.

Create an Experience

Bouncing off of the notion of making your customer the main character in their own story, these days consumers are looking for an experience when they shop.

This is one of the biggest advantages that in-person retail has to online shopping.

Take the case of a promotion Pfizer ran in Canada during the recession of 2008 called the “Spin U Win Contest”.

The premise was simple: Come into a store, buy one of four products, and automatically receive an entry code for a contest to receive one of a myriad of prizes.

The best part: everyone was a winner.

This meant custom signage and displays, strategically deployed to stores across the country, which meant heightened impulse and incentivization.

Even cooler was it meant stores were able to gather enormous lists of customer contact information to tell them about future promotions.

Give Your Sales the Boost They Deserve

The right POP display can work wonders for retail businesses.

Shoppers are so inundated with stores to choose from, and once they’re inside the stores they’re inundated with products to choose from.

An innovative, eye-catching, fun display will make all the difference. It will increase the already high impulse buy statistic.

It will invite your customers to be part of the story.

And it will create a reason to go shopping in the first place. Of course, this is business so there’s a catch: you have to do it right.

Follow these trends, reach out if you need a hand, and watch your sales go through the roof.