| Abstract: |
Point of Purchase (PoP) is the place where a customer is about to buy the
product. This is the crucial point where the exchange takes place. It offers
us a last chance to remind or attract customers. In spite of a considerable
expenditure on point of purchase material by companies, there is a lack of an
established method of measuring the effectiveness of communication at the
retail outlet. The current study is an attempt to define and measure the
extent of usage of PoP by consumers while shopping. It explores the phenomenon
with the help of an experimentation using two main variables; level of
information search and store benefits sought. It uses shopping involvement as
a mediating variable. During the course of study scales for usage of PoP
communication and shopping involvement were developed. In-depth interviews
were carried among shoppers to understand their motivations and gratifications
with regard to shopping. The interview findings were used to develop scales,
which were tested before being used during the experiment. The experiments
involved building scenarios specific to shopping situations. Participant
observations were carried out at stores with different formats. The study
found that all the three variables were significant in terms of main as well
as interaction effects. Based on the findings the authors suggest a framework
for enhancing the effectiveness of PoP Communication. |