Research OgilvyAction conducted with more than 6,000 shoppers across multiple channels in the United States in February and March indicates far more impulse purchases are driven by tactics like those low-tech cardboard displays found at the end of aisles rather than temporary price reductions, according to a report in Advertising [image-nocss] Age.
And while that survey came before the economy turned much worse in September, research in the past month by the agency for a snack-food brand at convenience stores had similar findings. In fact, display drove nearly twice the number of impulse purchases as price reductions, according to the report.
Specifically, New York-based OgilvyAction's research from the spring indicates that 29% of U.S. shoppers impulsively buy from categories they didn't plan to when they entered the store. Of that group, 24% said they were influenced by secondary displays (away from the product's usual aisle), 18% by in-store demonstrations, and only 17% by price promotion.
The study also found 39% of U.S. shoppers have a category in mind but pick their brand in store, and of those, 31% were influenced by in-store demonstrations-more than the 28% by price promotion and the 27% influenced by some other form of consumer promotion.
In each case, however, more than twice as many consumers said they bought impulsively because of display or some other form of promotion as said they did so because of price.
The convenience-store study found an even larger share of impulse purchases were driven by display- 49% in the case of the snack brand in question-than the broader study taken months earlier, but no additional lift for price-driven decisions.
"We know price promotion will always be in the picture for any shopper," Jeff Froud, senior strategic planner with OgilvyAction, told the magazine. "They will always say they don't want to feel like they're getting ripped off." But he said the research also indicates displays or other in-store promotions without price reductions can work.
Realistically, the two don't often happen in isolation. Especially in a recession, retailers are likely to demand funds for a temporary price reduction in order to authorize a display, Froud said. He just hopes manufacturers can use the data to try to convince retailers that both sides can fare better without as much price promotion.
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