Brands and retailers know the value of strategic marketing at point of purchase. Great levels of customer service coupled with targeted POS and promotional offers can make the difference between sales in-store, online or not at all. iD In-store have therefore developed this five point guide to help ensure you get the most out of your in-store team at tactical gifting occasions such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Easter, as well as non-seasonal events like Bar Mitzvahs, weddings and birthdays.

1. www.iDinstore.com

2. Brands and retailers know the value of
slick marketing at point of purchase. Great
levels of customer service coupled with
targeted POS and promotional offers can
make the difference between sales instore, online or not at all. However with
the UK gifting market worth over £110bn
a year there are several opportunities that
brands could be missing out on due to
poorly optimised in-store campaigns.
iD In-store have therefore developed this
five point guide to help ensure you get
the most out of your in-store team at
tactical gifting occasions such as
Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Easter,
as well as non-seasonal events like Bar
Mitzvahs, weddings and birthdays.

3. Selling to a gift buyer can be very different to
selling to the end user – your target audience.
It doesn’t matter how much you know about
your target audience if you don’t win over
their parent or partner you could miss the
opportunity to gain a new loyal customer. You
are essentially selling to two different people.
It’s worth remembering a consumer will rarely
purchase a product or brand that they don’t
like themselves – regardless of whether they
are going to be the one using it. Think about
the profile of a consumer who is likely to
purchase for the occasion and ensure your
entire strategy is just as relevant to them as it
is to the end user. For example a wife
purchasing aftershave for her husband on
Valentine’s Day. You may need to adjust the
design of your stand or tweak your
promotional offer to be more in-tune with a
female even though she will not be using the
product herself.

4. Every campaign needs a demonstrator to
deliver an experience which engages the
consumer they are selling to. However,
knowing from the outset that there are two
consumers to please, means brand
ambassadors have double the challenge on
their hands and will undoubtedly need to
tailor their approach.
For example at strategic points throughout the
year, your staff should be on the look-out not
only for the target audience but also actively
approaching shoppers who look like they
might be buying for a son, daughter or
husband. Ensure your network of brand
demonstrators are not just product experts
but are also effectively trained on how to ‘get
to know’ the end consumer in order to advise
on the right product. By becoming a helpful
source of information they are more likely to,
connect and relate to the buyer who holds the
purse strings.

5. Everyone loves an easy life. So in a time where
armchair online purchases are seen as the
time-saving, easier option, you need to give
every consumer a reason to buy at the shelf and this doesn’t have to mean money off
coupons. In fact with some more premium
products promotional offers can actually
reduce the buyer’s perceived value of your
product.
Instead, enhance your consumers’ brand
experience by offering a free gift wrapping
service or for larger gifts, implement a homedelivery service which eliminates the need for
the customer to carry their heavy purchases
home. This way the consumer really does
receive added value without diminishing the
intrinsic value of your brand.

6. With retailers such as Selfridges and Harrods
launching their Christmas departments as
early as August each year, when exactly is the
right time to start your seasonal
demonstration programmes? Identifying key
trends in gender shopping behaviour will give
you a steer as to how the different sexes plan
for seasonal occasions. This will be of
particular importance around Christmas,
Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s
Day.
Combine this approach with a thorough store
selection process (something iD has
considerable experience in supporting our
clients with). Understand the benefits of
increased demonstration activity in different
regions as well as the days of the week and
times of day that provide most footfall; this
will help maximise your in-store budget and
ensure your campaigns are hitting key
purchase timings down to the very hour.

7. With the continued rise of mobile technology
(particularly in the adoption by the over 50’s)
it is important to understand how you can
harness this power effectively in-store.
Technology can not only act as an attractor to
your demonstration area, but also serve as an
additional layer of customer service.
When selling to an end consumer,
demonstrators can encourage them to like the
brands Facebook page or download an in-store
app – this won’t work with those buying gifts
as the extended conversation is irrelevant to
them. Instead brand ambassadors could direct
gift purchasing consumers to online product
reviews via a tablet, thus positioning
themselves as a trusted and impartial source
of information. This will allow the consumer to
feel like they’ve made an informed decision
giving them peace-of-mind when making their
final purchasing decision.

8. These are just some of the techniques
iD In-store use to harness effective
product demonstration programmes
for brands across the UK and Ireland
every year.
If you would like to find out more
about how you can make the most of
your in-store marketing please call iD
In-store on 0207 428 1482 or visit
www.iDinstore.com