According to a survey by HIM only 12% of shoppers plan to buy their Christmas food and drinks in one big shop this year, Traditionally at Christmas, people have traded up – they have tended to go to the slightly more premium retailers. They want to treat themselves, their friends and their families well.
But, this year things are changing as discounters like Aldi and Lidl continue to introduce and heavily promote more upmarket premium products.  Will existing AldLid shoppers stay with them for Christmas instead of going elsewhere? Even worse will regular shoppers of the other supermarkets actually regard AldLid as a better provider of premium products this Christmas?

Getting shoppers to spend Christmas with you

Many retailers already have ranges of premium Christmas products on their shelves but is it easy for shoppers to spot which ones they are? Counting on product packaging helps but shoppers use one method more than any other when quickly comparing different products. The signage and shelf edge labels. It’s the consistent reference point no matter what the product is. However, some retailers are not capitalising on signage and shelf edge labels as key marketing tools. As a result if shoppers find it “too hard” to spot the really interesting and different premium product for Christmas they might just go elsewhere to retailers like Aldi and Lidl.

Premium products are not just for Christmas

Shoppers make the choice to buy premium products for many occasions during the year.  Birthdays, anniversaries and a whole range of celebrations as well as simply because they want too. Therefore they have to be able to identify the premium products easily and also see appropriate reasons to buy on the signage. Smart signage can be changed quickly. It can tell shoppers that a premium product is great to eat while watching the X Factor final tonight and the next day change it to  “It’s Friday you deserve this”. This flexibility of marketing messages helps retailers grow sales of premium products and avoids customers feeling the need to check out other retailers.
We’ve been talking to lots of retailers about what they can do with smart signage. Perhaps we should be talking to you too?