Point of sale is ’more influential’ than tv, radio and press advertising, a new TKM consultants report finds. The retail environment remains challenging and TKM Consultant’s 2017 POS survey, sponsored by Creo, aims to better understand how marketers responsible for POS, are adapting to the changing market landscape and their consumers’ needs. The report helps us understand marketers’ opinions on how well they are executing campaigns across territories, building shopper insight and strategy into their campaigns, measuring ROI and using technology to help manage campaigns. Further information can also be seen on the retail times website at: http://www.retailtimes.co.uk/point-sale-influential-tv-radio-press-advertising-new-report-finds/

1. 1
PUBLISHED BYSPONSORED BY
2017 POINT OF SALE INDUSTRY REPORT
AN EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
‘Whoever understands the customer best, wins.’
Mike Gospe

2. Don’t miss out on the
wealth of insight in our 2017
POS Industry Survey Report.
Please contact
joy.lees@creo-pos.com
for a copy of the full report
or to discuss the findings.

3. 3
INTRODUCTION
More than ever Brands and Retailers strive to exert their influence over the customers’
purchase journey. This sentiment is reinforced by the CMO’s agenda for 2017 which
prioritises:
• a better understanding of the customer experience
• a need to develop a personalised brand strategy
• an agile technology roadmap
• on-going digital transformation
• an effective coming together of traditional media with data led marketing
The trigger for TKM Consultants’ 2017 Point of Sale Industry Report, sponsored by Creo,
was to generate new and unique insight to better understand how marketers responsible for
Point of Sale, a traditional, yet valuable channel leading up to the point of purchase in-store,
were adapting to the changing marketing landscape and their Customers’ needs.
We wanted to get to grips with how Brands and Retailers were utilising the influence of
shopper marketing, campaign software, global markets and measurable data to both stay
relevant and re-frame the value of POS as part of the multi-channel shopper journey.
Reaching out to 210 Marketers across brands and retailers, we asked for opinions and
insight in relation to:
• POS and shopper marketing budgets
• POS procurement & measurement
• International POS effectiveness
• Shopper insight, behaviour & strategy
• POS data and ROI
• Campaign software
• Marketing Trends for 2017

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THE INSIGHT
THE INFLUENCE OF POS
Our results indicate that POS continues to be critical and ultimately the most influential
channel in driving a shopper to purchase in-store. This is reflected by the on-going
commitment by the majority of marketers to keep similar (to 2016) or increase POS and
shopper marketing budgets in 2017.
THE HUGE DATA HOLE
Our survey demonstrates that Brands and Retailers are largely struggling in their quest to
measure “spend against a shopper’s path to purchase”, unable to define the right marketing
mix to generate sales. This is compounded by the marketers challenge to access relevant
data to effectively measure “Point of Sale ROI”. This is a concern for many advocates of
POS, as they aim to thrive in an industry governed by sales metrics. This must be a priority
for marketing teams in 2017.
SHOPPER MARKETING, CREATIVE & ROI WILL PREVENT A RACE TO THE
BOTTOM
Surprisingly, a quarter of campaigns are still being executed without any shopper marketing
strategy. Whilst many of these campaigns may be wasted effort, exposing them is a
challenge due to a lack of ROI data, despite most marketers stating that ‘sales uplift’ is the
single greatest factor against which they measure success.
Agencies that offer POS with market leading creative, agility to turn work around quickly,
strong customer service and a mature shopper marketing footprint will be best placed to win
contracts in 2017. Marketers expressed these as the most important factors (excluding cost
and quality) when selecting an agency in order to prevent POS procurement becoming a
race to the bottom. The vast number of marketers using multiple agencies to manage both
their ‘shopper marketing strategy & creative’ and ‘POS design & activation’ is contributing
to the data access challenge and inefficient supply chains. The opportunity to make the leap
to single supplier should be a key consideration for 2017, in order to optimise their supply
chain and efficiently aggregate services and data.

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GETTING READY FOR INTERNATIONAL POS
International Point of Sale is still in it’s infancy, as many brands struggle to react to local
market needs resulting in cross territory POS that is, at best, average. Agencies able to
invest in local teams with a central project office to coordinate strategy and creative will be
well placed to succeed in 2017.
TRANSPARENCY & VISUALISATION
Whilst the majority of marketers recognised the importance of technology and software in
delivering effective Point of Sale, more than half of all marketers were less than satisfied
with their current campaign management technology. This presents a clear opportunity
to revisit and upgrade current implementations as well as providing visual dashboards and
rigorous reporting capabilities to drive continuous improvement.
AND FINALLY, THE TRENDS……
Personalised digital display, The Internet of Things and Virtual Reality were the trends most
likely to stay the course and make an impact in the world of retail marketing in 2017.
Surprisingly, Drone Based Delivery, despite Amazon’s very recent trials was largely
considered to be a flash in the pan along with Interactive Mannequins.
THE INSIGHT

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A SNAPSHOT OF KEY FINDINGS
76% of all marketers stated their POS and Shopper Marketing Budgets would increase or
stay the same in 2017.
Close to two thirds of all marketers said at least 30% of the total marketing budget was
being spent on POS and Shopper Marketing.
When selecting a POS agency, other than cost and quality, the 3 most important
differentiating factors are Market Leading Creative, Swift Turnaround Times & Customer
Service.
44% of marketers do not measure the “spend against a shoppers path to purchase”.
75% of marketers claimed their cross territory POS was poor to average.
67% of marketers cited “Reacting to Local Market Needs” as their main overseas
challenge.
POS & SHOPPER MARKETING BUDGETS
PROCUREMENT
INTERNATIONAL
82% of marketers consider Point of Sale Marketing as the most relevant and influential
channel leading up to the point of purchase for customers in today’s omni-channel world.
Only 20% of marketers utilise a single agency to manage shopper marketing (strategy &
creative) and POS (design & activation).
SHOPPER MARKETING

7. 7
A SNAPSHOT OF KEY FINDINGS
A huge 82% of marketers claimed they were failing to measure marketing ROI in an
effective way. The main challenges to effective measurement included Access to Data,
Time Pressure and Complexity of campaigns.
DATA & ROI
75% of Brands and Retailers indicated that between half and all their campaigns are now
clearly defined by a shopper strategy.
25% are applying shopper marketing to only a small proportion of their campaigns or not
at all. Sales uplift, with compliance are the 2 main criteria for POS success.
SHOPPER MARKETING
61% of marketers were less than satisfied with their current campaign technology.
42% of marketers wanted to see more effective reporting and better dashboards
in their current software.
‘Personalised digital display’, the ‘internet of things’ & ‘virtual reality’ were considered
to be the big 3 trends making their mark in 2017.
CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
FUTURE TRENDS

8. 8
OUR METHODOLOGY
26%
Marketing Director/Manager
Trade Marketing Manager
22%
16%
Brand Manager
12%
Procurement/Buyer
10%
Product Manager
8%
Campaign Manager
6%
Shopper Activation Manager
TKM Consultants work with leading brands
and agencies around the globe to better
understand the latest consumer trends
and business insights impacting on the
marketing and advertising industry. We
saw a need for fresh industry data to help
our clients better understand the market
forces that are driving transformation
within the Point of Sale & Shopper
Marketing industries.
Our intent is to provide a snapshot of the
POS industry today and observations into
both the challenges and opportunities that
marketers and procurement teams will
Don’t miss out on the
wealth of insight in our 2017
POS Industry Survey Report.
Please contact
joy.lees@creo-pos.com
for a copy of the full report
or to discuss the findings.
We reached out to a diverse
selection of industries
including FMCG,
Entertainment, Health &
Beauty, Cosmetics,
Pharmaceutical,
Automotive, Energy, Travel
Retail and Food & Drink.
Our participants came from
a variety of Marketing roles
as shown here.
encounter over the coming 12 months. To achieve our goals we partnered with Creo, a
leader in Point of Sale, Shopper Marketing & Campaign Technology, to create a survey
designed to gather insight, attitudes, opinions and data from 210 top executives at leading
Brands and Retailers on the state of the industry.

9. TKM Consultants advise on which marketing services & technologies best suit your
business and support their implementation. We provide Industry Leading Reports on
both Marketing Technology and the wider Marketing Services & Operations Landscape.
PUBLISHED BY TKM CONSULTANTS
AUTHOR: ANIL NOORANI
SPONSORED BY CREO
CONTRIBUTORS: RICHARD SAYSELL,
MATT PICKERING & JOY LEES
The Partner of Choice for POS display.
We build true partnerships and deliver exceptional point of sale campaigns.
We achieve this through delivering outstanding service and quality, driving innovation
and best practice, deploying the latest technology and applying data intelligence.
Disclaimer
This report is published by TKM Consultants and as such, all original IP contained within remains the sole property of TKM Consultants. Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written
permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. TKM Consultants disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of
such information. TKM Consultants shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The opinions expressed herein are subject to
change without notice.
www.creo-pos.com
www.tkm-consultants.com

10. PUBLISHED BYSPONSORED BY
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We have to be great every time or we’ll lose them.”
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