Instore communications must not be overlooked, warns retail publishing and production software specialist

Instore communications must not be overlooked, warns retail publishing and production software specialist

With so much attention on the challenges of multichannel retailing there is a risk of not spending enough time on the instore basics that customers need to know every day.

An 82-store survey by Pierhouse showed that over 90% of stores had a significant number of missing price tickets and point-of-sale (PoS) materials.

Malcolm Wicks, Pierhouse marketing director, said: “When customers visit any store they want to easily see all prices, offers and appropriate product information. If these are not easy visible sales are lost.”

In experiments with several retailers the software provider also discovered that sales of specific high-end furniture and technology products dropped by up to 30% if the price, offer or product information was missing.

Store sales are just the ticket

It pointed out that these missed revenue opportunities can be particularly frustrating if a customer simply scans the barcode on your product box to get the information they want and buys on-line from another retailer while they are in the competitor’s store.

When Pierhouse investigated why price tickets, offers and product information were not available instore the reasons ranged from not being delivered from head office, to customers walking off with the PoS information.

Whatever the reason, getting tickets or product information sheets replaced quickly emerged as a major challenge that took days. Or, for a couple of retailers, they simply had no mechanisms in place to do it at all.

Wicks added that fixing these issues with process improvements, instore printers and appropriate software could have immediate revenue impact with fewer lost sales.