Point of sale promotion: A guide to POS marketing

Capturing shoppers' attention at the point of sale (POS) can significantly improve your bottom line. Whether you run a small business or manage a large retail or restaurant chain, understanding POS marketing can increase sales, improve customer satisfaction and foster long-term brand loyalty.

This guide will walk you through the basics of POS promotions, explaining what they are, how to create effective strategies and tips for engaging your customers successfully.

What is a POS promotion?

A point of sale promotion is an effective marketing approach that captures client attention and encourages purchases precisely where the transaction occurs — typically at the checkout area. This could range from eye-catching displays to appealing discounts and other promotional strategies that urge shoppers to make a purchase on the spot.

Before we go further, it's also important to distinguish between POS promotions and point of purchase (POP) activities. While POS marketing focuses on the final stage of the purchasing process, POP encompasses every part of the business where a client may decide to buy. Consider POP as a broader umbrella that includes many touch points throughout the purchasing journey, while POS is narrowly focused on the point of purchase.

Why is POS advertising important? It helps you with:

• Capturing immediate buying intent
• Influencing impulse purchases
• Increasing sales volume
• Enhancing customer experience
• Strengthening brand presence
• Encouraging repeat business

How can you get these benefits? One of the most notable advantages of POS promotions is their capacity to generate speedy sales by clearing inventory with timely discounts and special offers. These promos target clients right when they're ready to buy, enhancing customer satisfaction and promoting future visits. And, POS advertising may be an effective technique for increasing brand awareness, particularly when launching new products or services — ensuring your brand stays top of mind.

For more information on how to pick the right system for your business, see our comprehensive guide on the top 10 features to look for in retail POS systems.

Types of POS promotions

Now let’s look at the main approaches to point of sale promotions that may help you drive sales and boost your customer engagement: 

Discounts

Discounts can take many forms, such as price reductions, buy-one-get-one-free deals or time-limited offers like flash sales. These types of promotions are particularly effective at creating a sense of urgency and encouraging impulse purchases by tapping into customers' fear of missing out, or FOMO. Discounts can also help quickly clear out inventory, making them a go-to tactic in many sales promotion strategies.

Loyalty and rewards programs

By offering rewards like points, discounts or special privileges for repeat purchases, you can create a deeper connection with your customers. This will help you enhance customer loyalty and also maximize their lifetime value by turning occasional shoppers into loyal patrons. Integrating these programs into your POS system ensures that rewards are tracked seamlessly, providing a smooth and rewarding customer experience.

Bundle deals and packages

Bundle deals combine multiple products at a discounted price, encouraging customers to purchase more items together. This strategy often leads to higher overall sales as customers see the value in getting more for their money. Bundling products can also help move less popular items by pairing them with best-sellers.

Gift cards

Gift cards are a cash equivalent that customers can purchase for future use or give as gifts, which makes them valuable tools for customer retention. Additionally, when shoppers buy a gift card for someone else, it acts as a form of word-of-mouth marketing, helping you acquire new customers. For more insights on driving gift card sales, check out our mini guide on gift card sales and purchases.

If you’re interested in how cash discounts can further complement your POS promotions, be sure to check out our blog on passing on credit card fees to customers.

How to create an effective sales promotion

Here are the main steps to developing a successful POS promotional strategy:

1. Understand your target audience

The first step is about thoroughly understanding your clients. To adapt your marketing efforts to their needs, you must know their preferences, buying behaviors and what inspires them. Are they drawn to savings or do they prefer unique offers? Recognizing what moves them will allow you to create offers that appeal to your shoppers and improve the likelihood of an impulse purchase — and overall consumer involvement.

2. Create eye-catching promotional material

Once you've identified your target demographic, it's time to design attention-grabbing promotional materials. Customers make quick decisions, thus visual attractiveness is critical in POS marketing. Use vivid colors, clear signs and clever placement to ensure your promotions attract their attention. 

Consider adding different types of marketing materials, such as:

• Point of purchase displays: These are small displays near the checkout area. Position them with items like snacks or small gadgets to encourage last-minute purchases.
• Shelf talkers: Attach small signs to store shelves — it’s best to place them next to products on promotions or new arrivals to make these items grab customer attention.
• Digital signage: These are electronic screens that show videos or rotating images; use them to display special offers or highlight popular products so they’ll be more noticeable to customers.

3. Use persuasive messaging

And finally, use persuasive language and powerful calls to action, or CTAs, in your advertising messaging. The idea is to instill a sense of urgency by emphasizing the deal’s benefits and why buyers should act quickly. Whether a flash sale or a special deal, your messaging should be clear, simple and appealing, encouraging people to act quickly.

3 Digital POS marketing strategies to drive sales

Digital marketing has become integral to POS marketing strategies, as it offers small businesses innovative ways to connect with their customers and drive sales. Use these three digital strategies to enhance your POS promotions:

Social media

Sharing promotions on social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook and TikTok can increase traffic to your store both online and offline. Create compelling content, such as photographs, videos or stories to show off your special offers, such as flash discounts or limited-time specials. This creates buzz and attracts customers who want to take advantage of the promotion. Interact regularly with your followers, and react to comments and messages — this way, you’ll nurture a connection and motivate them to visit your store.

Make sure to:

• Use relevant hashtags
• Schedule posts in advance
• Partner with influencers
• Repost user content

Email marketing

Email marketing is a powerful way to increase POS sales. By tailoring your email campaigns, you can keep your customers up to date on upcoming promotions, exclusive offers and personalized discounts. Customizing these emails to align with your audience's interests and shopping behaviors significantly boosts their effectiveness. Including clear CTAs, such as "Shop Now," prompts customers to act swiftly. Additionally, monitoring the performance of your emails helps you refine your approach, ensuring your messages are as effective as possible.

Tips:

• Segment your audience
• Ensure mobile-friendly design
• Test your subject lines
• Add urgency

Mobile marketing

Sending SMS notifications about ongoing discounts, flash deals or in-store events allows you to contact your customers quickly and easily. These communications should be quick and direct, with a clear link or instructions for visiting your store or shopping online. Mobile marketing is especially effective for time-sensitive deals since it reaches clients right away, encouraging them to act quickly. Also, be sure to personalize these messages as it can improve the chances of a sale.

Remember to:

• Personalize messages
• Keep it brief
• Send at optimal times
• Add a clear CTA

Measuring promotional campaign success

To truly understand the impact of your POS marketing efforts, you must measure your campaign’s success. Tracking the right metrics allows you to evaluate how well your sales promotion strategies are working and where there might be room for improvement. Which ones should you keep an eye on? Here’s a list of metrics to help you gain insights into customer behavior and sales performance:

• Sales volume: This metric measures the total number of products sold during the promotion. A significant increase in sales volume can indicate your POS promotion successfully drove purchases. 
• Average transaction value: By analyzing the average amount spent per transaction, you can assess whether your promotion encouraged customers to spend more during each visit.
• Customer foot traffic: Monitoring the number of customers who enter your store during the promotion helps you understand the effectiveness of your POS advertising in attracting shoppers.
• Redemption rates: If your promotion includes discounts, coupons or special offers, tracking redemption rates is crucial to gauge customer engagement and the offer’s overall appeal.

How to track performance?

Using POS systems with built-in analytics is absolutely essential for monitoring performance. These sophisticated systems can handle transactions and also offer a thorough understanding of how your company is doing. They let you track important indicators, including consumer behavior, sales figures and your campaigns’ success. Getting instantaneous feedback helps you make wise and informed decisions based on facts, thus making sure that your marketing strategies are always current.

By automating data collecting and processing, POS systems make performance tracking easier and quicker. This allows you to concentrate more on streamlining your company's operations than spending time sorting data manually. Knowing consumer buying trends also enables future promotions to be more suited to their needs which, in turn, enhances customer loyalty and happiness.

These systems benefit your company in several ways:

• Get a quick understanding of the present performance of your company by using real-time data
• Make informed decisions by quickly changing your plans in response to statistics
• Promote products to fit consumer preferences
• Raise your marketing's return on investment by optimizing your campaigns
• Simplify data analysis and tracking

For more details on the importance of integrating advanced technologies into your payment processes, explore our guide on payment technologies.

Once you’ve identified trends and understand what worked well, you can refine your POS marketing strategies for future campaigns. Look for patterns in customer behavior, determine which promotional material was most effective and apply these insights to improve your next marketing campaign. Committing to this ongoing process of analysis and optimization will ensure your POS promotions continue to deliver strong results, increasing both customer satisfaction and your bottom line.

Start your next POS promotion with Sekure Payment Experts

Ready to take your POS promotions to the next level? Sekure is here to help. Our team of Payment Experts can guide you in acquiring the right POS systems that not only set up promotions but also process transactions and provide in-depth performance analysis. With Sekure, you’ll have the tools you need to design and execute successful sales promotions while keeping more of your profits.

One of our standout offerings is the Sekure Edge program, which helps you save on transaction fees. This allows you to reinvest those savings into your business. Whether you’re looking to boost sales volume or optimize your promotional strategies, Sekure has you covered.

Let’s talk about how we can support your business goals and ensure your next POS promotion is a success. Connect with us today and start maximizing your profits.