Chapter 3: Create Displays for Impulse Buys

Impulse buys play a significant role in the retail industry since many people go into a store and purchase something that they didn’t initially plan to. Creating displays to target impulse purchases is an excellent way to bring attention to your brand and products while generating revenue.

This chapter covers everything you need to know about impulse displays and purchases and how you can create your own displays to target these types of purchases in retail environments.

What Is an Impulse Display?

An impulse display encourages shoppers to make an impulse purchase. Impulse buying is when an individual purchases a product without previous planning. These actions are typically influenced by emotions and feelings rather than planning behaviors.

For example, a person may walk into a retail store like Walmart, planning to buy a few essentials. However, they may see a display with fun knick-knacks, toys for their children or a unique promotional item. Even though they didn’t plan to buy these items when they first came into the store, they may purchase these products after the display sparked their interest.

Impulse displays help pull customers in to compel them to buy something additional that may not have been a part of their original purchase plan. People have impulses to buy all sorts of products, including:

• Toys
• Books
• Clothes
• Jewelry
• Chocolate
• Electronics
• Video games
• Beauty products

Almost anything can be an impulse purchase if someone buys a product on a whim rather than part of a preconceived plan.

Impulse displays are an essential part of driving impulse purchases. These displays help customers quickly identify these items, which can help them decide on impulse to buy a product. Since many people make impulse purchases, it’s essential to include impulse displays to prevent losing out on additional revenue.

How Do Impulse Displays Work?

Displays for impulse purchases help encourage customers to make a split-second decision to purchase a product by:

• Offering a promotional deal on a product
• Reminding the customer of something they needed but forgot to include on their shopping list
• Encouraging add-ons to items they may have already intended to purchase

Impulse displays are often in the line of sight for most shoppers, whether it’s the candy aisle at checkout or pallets of display items along heavily trafficked aisles. Putting these displays in areas where shoppers are likely to notice them helps draw attention to these items, encouraging impulse purchases.

For example, many stores have impulse displays along their main walkways that help shoppers get from one aisle to the next. As shoppers traverse the aisles, they may notice an impulse display, which can help convince them to purchase various items.

Point-of-purchase (POP) displays are an essential part of driving sales. A shopper may not necessarily need a product, but their emotions or feelings are often enough to convince them to make a purchase. Implementing impulse displays for your business can help you increase revenue and should be an essential part of your business strategy.

How Do You Promote Impulse Buying?

Promoting impulse buying help businesses generate revenue. Some ways that you can encourage impulse buying include:

• Cross merchandising: This method refers to placing related products near each other, allowing shoppers to browse various items while they search for the product that initially led them to that part of the store. These displays can remind customers of something they may have forgotten, save them time from walking through multiple aisles and introduce them to new and related products. Examples include having a battery display next to electronic toys or a condiment display bin by hot dogs and buns.
• Offering sales promotions: Promotions are a significant factor in many people’s impulse buys. If they notice a sale, they’re more likely to purchase the product since they believe it may be their only opportunity to get the item at such a deal. You can also show sales promotions on your displays to grab people’s attention as they walk by, making them more likely to stop and look at your products.
• Provide samples: For retail stores that can provide samples, it can be an excellent part of your impulse display to help convince customers to purchase your product. For example, if you sell food products, you can offer small samples as part of your impulse displays that retailers can offer to help convince shoppers to purchase your product. You can do the same if you sell makeup or other consumable items.
• Using signage: Signage helps you attract attention to your displays. You can customize your impulse displays to promote your sales or new products, drawing attention to your displays as customers traverse the aisles. Signage is also a great way to communicate your brand message or seasonal events, such as Christmas sales or new holiday products.
• Limiting choices: When there are too many choices, customers can feel overwhelmed and move on to pick from less overwhelming selections. For impulse displays, choose only a few items to promote to buyers to prevent them from becoming overwhelmed and leaving the display. You can choose one type of product you offer or a few related. For example, if you sell candy, you might include only your most popular chocolate bar. If you sell cosmetics, you could choose to place only eye makeup, such as mascara, eyeliner and eyeshadow.

Retail Displays for Impulse Purchases

When you’re encouraging impulse purchases, you have multiple types of retail displays to help promote your product type. Some of your options include:

• End caps: These displays are at the start of aisles, often to help people anticipate what they can expect when they walk down a specific aisle. For example, a baking aisle may have end caps with boxes of cake mixes or cake decorations. These end caps can encourage a person to buy your product and related products further down the aisle. End caps can also remind people of what they might have missed as they leave an aisle.
• Dump bins: These retail displays are excellent for grab-and-go or bulky products, such as snacks. These bins are ideal for pet stores, grocery stores or deep discount products. Dump bins are large and can go in the central aisles of many retail stores, allowing customers to pick from the bins as they walk by quickly.
• POP displays: POP displays are great for rotating promotional items. If you have a promotion for certain products, these displays can help you easily sort these items and draw customers’ attention. These displays are often large and will attract a lot of attention, especially if you’ve customized your design and graphics. You can even get graphics that pull attention to your promotional items, which will further draw in customers.
• POS displays: Point-of-sale (POS) displays are one of the most effective tools for impulse purchases. These displays are placed next to the checkout and are meant to trigger an emotional impulse. As people are waiting in line for the next available register, they often spend their time looking at these displays, which is an excellent opportunity to promote your product. You can stand out against the other POS displays at checkout using colorful designs and graphics.

Target Impulse Purchases With Creative Displays Now!

Targeting impulse purchases is an excellent way to promote your products and brand. Many people make impulse purchases while they shop, and impulse displays help them identify products they might buy on a whim. Creative Displays Now can help you create customized retail displays that target impulse purchases, drawing attention to your unique items through various design elements.

We offer various display types for numerous retailers, allowing you to pick from multiple options to find the best display for your needs. Contact us today to view our impulse displays and get an estimate!