AMP Energy Drink Store Checks - Report Example

Store Check Report and location of store 2) completed 3) of team member collecting data Summary: The point of purchase is an important factor in sales and marketing for any product. In the retail trade, the point of purchase will be the retail outlet. It could be the traditional mom and pop stores, stand alone shops, department stores that are independent or part of a large chain, malls, supermarkets etc. Whatever be the location, what is important is that the product should be visible and noticeable. With the wide array of products especially in consumer durables and fast moving consumer goods, shop space will be a premium. Hence, these shops have to have judicial use of floor space and will have to find a fine balance in the display and shelf availability of their various products. This report is taken from a store check of display of AMP Energy Drinks manufactured and marketed by Pepsi. The brand is an offshoot of their famous Mountain Dew Brand which is available internationally. The store name and address where the store check was done is given below. PLEASE INSERT STORE NAME AND ADDRESS. IT CAN BE MEDIUM SIZED GROCERY STORE. The store is a medium size stand alone grocery store and has a total floor space of 2000 square meters. A medium size store was selected because they would not be very aware of effective ways of displaying the products and there is scope for suggestions and improvements. Pricing and shelf presence: The store was roughly shaped like a square and had only one story (ground floor). The store had three rows of shelf displays apart from the stands fixed to the three walls. The front (entrance) wall had only promotional display of different products. The AMP Energy Drink shelf was located at the middle of the three rows towards the back end of the store. This will be made clear from the store route map given. The shelf containing the AMP Energy drink was part of one displaying all the energy drink products sold by the store. There were a total of six brands including AMP Energy drinks. The other brands were Red Bull, Monster, Rockstar, Full Throttle and Sobe No Fear. Incidentally the top competitors for energy drinks are the same ones that have been mentioned above. (The Top 15 Energy Drink Brands). The products have been mentioned according to the market share they hold. In other words the share of AMP is in the sixth place after Sobe No Fear. A chart showing individual market share will also be given in the appendix. The single shelf containing all the energy drinks was approximately six meters in length and had the depth to accommodate three rows of the product. Red Bull and Monster (the two leading brands) were given more prominence in terms of space. The shared one meter of space each and the other four shared the rest of the space equally. Flavors and sizes: AMP Energy drinks come in four flavors and three sizes. There is the basic flavor originally introduced which tastes like mountain dew with a little green tea added. The others are grape flavor called Traction, a mixed fruit or berry flavor called Elevate and an orange flavor called Relaunch. All of these comes in three sizes namely 8oz, 16oz and 24oz. All products are canned and the 16oz can is referred to as Tall Boy and the 24oz can is referred to as Big Rig. The prices of these are 1.99, 2.30 and 2.99 USD respectfully. The prices have been prominently displayed as printed labels on the top of each rack in the shelf. This holds good for other energy drinks brands as well. The products have been placed according to price and flavor with the smallest can taking the middle rack, the 16oz taking the top rack and the 24oz can taking the bottom rack. The logic behind this according to the manager is that the 8oz can is the one that is in demand and the middle rack is the easiest to reach. The back of the shelf for all products are colored in various shades of light green and hence quite noticeable when a person comes near it. Cans can also be bought cold and are kept in a deep freezer at the back of the store. The other side (backside) of the shelf is reserved for soft and carbonated drinks. The entire shelf has been spotlighted from above. The combination of lighting, the color scheme and the bright colors of the cans (and bottles) have made the shelf for energy drinks extremely attractive and very noticeable. Another feature is that the shelf is placed opposite to a shelf containing sports items. The energy drink is favored by the youth and hence the association between sports and energy is emphasized here. No promotional material is displayed here. Product display along with promotional materials is placed along the front wall on both sides of the entrance door. Each brand is given a separate stand where one item of each flavor along with its different sizes is displayed. A stand which promotes brochures and colorful literature about the general benefits of health products is also prominently displayed between the promotional shelves. On top of each individual shelf are displayed product promotion strategies for each brand. At the time of visit the strategy for AMP Energy drinks was that a person could get one 8oz can free with purchase of one 16oz can and 2 8oz cans with the purchase of one 24oz can. The customer also had the choice of 50% discount on Mountain Dew when purchasing either a 16oz can or a 24oz can. But only one of the offers (free 8oz can or 50% off) could be availed of. Individual spotlights for each of the promotional stand were provided. The health awareness stand was also brightly lit. The stands were made of steel and supports for the products were made of colored glass. Recommendations: It can be seen that the store could do with some improvements with regard to display and other marketing communication strategies. Target audience: More focus should be given to the target audience namely the youth and middle aged persons. A strategy whereby a link (discounts and other offers) between the sports goods and AMP energy drinks is an option. Elevator speech: A small sentence that is catchy and will want the reader to know more should be developed by the store. Something on the lines of ‘tasty health’ would be worth considering since health products are not known to be particularly tasty. Apart from this, marketing activities by Pepsi in promoting the products will also be helpful. Pepsi will also be promoting the product with their own ads and promotional materials. The book titled ‘Power of Point Advertising also gives some suggestions on display. The display should communicate the ‘object language’ of the product. “The premise behind object language states that a customer should be able to look at a product, any product, and determine what the product does……..” (Liljenwall, p.94). The author also gives certain criteria that will make the display more attractive and effective. Display space should be minimized while maximizing display effectiveness. The product stand should be made more attractive so as to provide a feeling of quality. Changing the stand to a chrome or steel finish would be more eye catching. AMP brands should also be displayed separately. “Integration of structure and graphics” should be there. In other words, the product design and graphics should integrate with the structure of the display. The products should be placed in such a way that a customer can see as well as feel the product. The structure, display and style should be able to communicate the story of the product. The author uses the words ‘story telling’ for this purpose. Finally the display should indicate a theme. In this case it would be easy since the product is all about promoting better health. AMP also appears to be among the more expensive brands in the market from the figures in the store check sheet. Lowering of the product will not be practical since the price difference among brands is quite high It would be better if the product is targeted at the high end customers. APPENDIX . (The Top 15 Energy Drink Brands). Comparison of market share of the top five competing products with AMP Energy drinks. STORECHECK STREET Product AMP Red Bull Monster Rockstar Full throttle Price 2.3 1.99 1.99 1.99 1.99 2.29 Units 1 1 1 1 1 1 Size (Oz) 16 8.03 16 16 16 16 No of Facings 1 1 1 1 1 1 Route map of store Works Cited Liljenwall, Robert. Object Language. The Power of Point Purchase Advertising. 94. 2004. 16 Oct. 2007. . The Top 15 Energy Drink Brands. Energy Fiend. 2008. 16 Oct. 2007. . Read More