Product placement is an essential marketing element for any retail business, but this is especially true for convenience stores. Studies indicate that the right placement of a product influences buying choices and can supercharge sales. Convenience stores can utilize the best product placement strategies to help their store grow.
Numerous elements need to be considered when planning product placements, including the demographics of the target market, customer behaviors, company promotions, store sizes, lighting quality, and more. The way products are shelved can also affect shopping behaviors. It is important to take each of these factors into account when using product placement to grow your C-store.
Common C-Store Product Placement Techniques
In convenience stores, beer and other alcoholic beverages are usually placed in well-lit glass refrigerators either at the back of the store or along a side wall closest to food items that pair well with them.
This forces customers who visit the store to purchase beer to walk through aisles of complementary products. These customers can then (hopefully) make additional purchases that supplement their drink of choice. This could be snacks like peanuts, pretzels, chips, and more products that are typically bought on impulse.
This technique is usually quite successful because customers visiting the store to purchase beer probably already know what they want. Placing the product at the back of the store keeps it easily accessible, but once the desired product is in the customer’s hand, he or she is more likely to browse on the way to the cash register.
Using Product Placement in C-Store Business
Product placement strategy in a convenience store setting usually involves ways to optimize physical space within the store. Like the example above, this may include placing certain items toward the back of the store to encourage more shopping. Another popular product placement technique involves placing the items customers usually forget (chapstick, batteries, aspirin, etc.) close to the cashier’s station.
However, there is more to product placement than where items are shelved in the store itself.
Convenience store owners can, and should, take advantage of additional product placement opportunities outside the store. Displaying products via social media accounts can draw more customers to a local store. Further, an active social media presence may result in greater exposure for the store itself, and media professionals may reach out to c-store owners who advertise regularly through social media.
Additionally, convenience store marketing techniques can be beneficial when it comes to showcasing certain products.
Contacting local media outlets, preparing press kits, and connecting with influencers in the specific product’s industry can help a product that usually sells only a few units suddenly sell hundreds or thousands. When audiences see someone they respect using a specific product, they’re far more likely to trust the brand and try it out for themselves.
By exploring modern product placement strategies and incorporating them into a c-store’s marketing plan, owners and marketers alike can increase sales and attract more customers.
