Confessions of a Creative Director: I’m a Sucker for Point-of-Purchase Merchandising

I've spent most of my career helping brands sell things that consumers weren't planning to buy. I've sat in conference rooms arguing over display heights, headline sizes, color palettes, shelf wobblers, danglers, floor clings, endcaps, impulse racks, checkout trays, and whether putting candy three inches to the left would increase sales by 2%. I've helped create hundreds of these campaigns and programs for hundreds of clients the past 30+ years of my career.

Which is why it's particularly humiliating to admit this: I am absolutely defenseless against point-of-purchase merchandising.

Not occasionally. Not once in a while. Pretty much every day.

I can walk into a store with monk-like discipline. I have my list. I know what I need. I have a plan. And then somewhere between the chips and the checkout lane, I suddenly become the proud owner of an orange plastic Grateful Dead mug, a pack of gum, and a some pumpkin-flavored thing I didn't even know existed ten minutes ago.

I know exactly what's happening. And I still fall victim to it.

The Checkout Lane Defeats Decision Fatigue

Retailers understand something profound about human behavior: Decision-making gets weaker the longer you do it. Psychologists call it decision fatigue. Retailers call it Tuesday. 

By the time you've wandered through a store making dozens of choices, you've used up a lot of mental energy. Which cereal? Which detergent? Which car air freshener? Where are the hand towels again?

By the time you finally get to the checkout lane, your brain is basically lying on the bathroom floor in the fetal position. And that is precisely when the retailer unveils the good stuff.

A book I recently heard about. A pack of Star Wars trading cards. A cold drink. (I am a bit thirsty from all that decision fatigue.) There are also small Lego sets, travel-size bottles of this or that. And of course, the seasonal stuff.

Do. Not. Get. Me. Started. On. Seasonal. Stuff.

All these convenient little luxuries that nobody planned to buy but nearly everyone now wants to buy. After all, it’s just a couple bucks. 

In advertising and marketing, this is sometimes known as “reducing friction.” And from the industry that made that possible: You’re welcome. 

The Greatest Sales Pitch Ever Displayed

For me, the real power of POP merchandising and product displays are that they rarely ask you to make big decisions. They rarely ask you to spend big. 

Buying a TV is a commitment. A laptop? That takes research. A couch? More research, more comparison, more decisions. 

But picking up a Kinder Joy with the NBA Mascot toy in the center? That just becomes a “Why not?” See, the best point-of-purchase advertising doesn't really convince you to buy something. It convinces you not to think about it very much, that it’s not a big deal, that it’s fun.

The internal conversation becomes, "I probably shouldn't ..." followed immediately by "... but it's only three bucks."

And just like that, something unnecessary but amazing gets dropped into your cart. And the journey from “I didn’t know it was here to I need it to I bought it” happens so quickly that your rational brain barely gets a chance to file an objection.

I Know Every Strategy, Tactic and Trick

This is what makes this whole thing so funny. I know every trick in the book.

Limited-time offers create urgency. Brand collabs attract attention. Eye-level placement increases visibility. Scarcity drives demand. Convenience leads to sales.

I have literally presented decks explaining these facts to clients. I've approved creative designed around these ideas. I've billed countless hours to projects that do all these things and more.

And yet I still find myself staring at some flashy checkout display thinking: "Wow. That's pretty clever."

Five minutes later I've purchased the thing. It's like being a magician who still gets stumped by magic tricks.

Retailers Aren't Being Evil

It's easy to think of all this as manipulation. But honestly, it's mostly smart retailing. Retailers have one fundamental challenge: getting as much value as possible from every customer visit. Traffic is hard to generate. Getting someone through the door is expensive. The competition is fierce.

So, if a shopper is already standing there, wallet in hand, why wouldn't you show them a few other things they might enjoy?

And the checkout area is some of the most valuable real estate in retail. Every customer passes through it. Every customer pauses. Every customer is waiting. From a business perspective, leaving that space unused would be crazy. That's why brands fight tooth and nail for it.

Prime placement near checkout is basically beachfront property. Everybody wants it.

The Ultimate Lesson 

After all my years in marketing, I've come to a surprising conclusion: Knowing how persuasion works doesn't make you immune to persuasion.

In fact, sometimes it just makes you appreciate it more. When I see a great piece of point-of-purchase merchandising, part of me is annoyed because I wonder how Brand X was able to sell it in. Or I’m frustrated that it’s a really good idea that I could have had but didn’t.

But another part of me is genuinely impressed because I know how hard all this is and how diligently so many great people in my business work to make these programs successful. It’s a miracle that someone figured out the right message. At the right time. In the right package. With the right placement. At the right moment.

It’s another miracle that they were able to create something compelling enough to cut through all the crap in a busy retail environment and make me stop for three seconds. 

It’s also crazy to think that those three seconds are worth billions of dollars in sales every year.

One Last Confession

Despite all my years of experience, the strategy sessions, the concepting, the creative reviews, and all the presentations explaining exactly why it would work, guess what: 

I am going to fall for great POP merchandising again tomorrow. And so are you.