Market researchers are calling for retail brands to make their point-of-purchase (POP) activity more sophisticated and tailored, believing that retailers are currently wasting the potential of their in-store materials. They recommend that retail planners adopt a role more akin to that of media owners, making the most of store space as a communications medium, especially in terms of using it as a means of brand building.

Various POP options are being explored. One method that could trigger purchases is the use of moving images that replicate or enhance a brand's existing communication. Hi-tech options such as plasma screens can change messages easily at the flick of a switch, whether it's Mother's Day or Christmas Eve. Instead of the traditional method of placing a product at the point of purchase to capitalize on impulse buys at the checkout counter, analysts suggest that marketers could also place products more strategically. For example, a Duracell battery display might be more effective near the electronics section of the store as opposed to the checkout lines.

But before retailers upgrade technology or reshuffle their displays, they need to build up hard research to support the strategies they propose to brand managers. Analysts argue that true POP effectiveness may still be a few years into the future, given that no one has a proven business model that works.