Retail stores, today, are cluttered with competing brands trying to grab the customers' attention. An impulse purchase could push a brand into the shopping carts of customers provided the brand's presence is visible and felt. The article focuses on an advertising strategy that works at those times when a customer has not yet taken a decision about what to buy.

Visibility of a brand is the first step towards a product sale. It has been established in a research that there is a direct correlation between the likelihood of a product purchase and the visibility of a product. In reality, most of the consumers do not extensively research before making a final choice of a product purchase. Most of them hardly take five to ten seconds in taking a decision. Therefore, product displays on the shelves of the retail stores need to be highly eye-catching. Hence, companies strive hard so as to give their brand a distinctive identity in crowded retail stores. An advertising strategy that works at the place where the final purchase is done is known as Point of Purchase (POP). It is at this point that marketers can highlight their products' presence, thereby drawing customer attention. Such in-store advertising is strategically designed to draw the attention of the consumers and entice them to try and buy the product. POP displays can boost the sales and enhance the brand visibility at the most crucial point of consumer buying. These displays are designed specially in high traffic areas in order to increase the probability that the product will prominently stand out from the rest of the brands placed at par.

Unplanned purchases made by shoppers are just over 90% and almost 51% of these purchases takes place in the aisles. Periphery of the stores and `end caps' that are at the end of the store aisles encourage more impulse purchases by Gen Y shoppers. Many marketers feel that such customers are a lot more malleable when they are inside the store. A strong desire to go for a purchase when customers are largely undecided about what actually needs to be bought is what marketers should aim to create. With the number of brands increasing by leaps and bounds in almost all product categories, customers do get confused about what best suits their needs. The better and more attractively the company projects its brands, the more successful it is in gaining consumer attention and even triggering a product purchase. Hence, companies must inform their customers regarding the exclusive features of their brands by displaying innovative cues in store just near the product. With mall culture and one-stop shopping gaining popularity, people are willing to spend a lot of their free times shopping around and also looking for newer variants of various product categories. Marketers just need to connect to their target audiences in a way that is followed by an immediate sale. Nothing sells by its own, unless an environment is created, which brings the product and the customer closer.

Advertising Express Magazine, Impulse Purchases, Pop Advertising, Shopping Carts, Point Of Purchase, Product Categories, Customer Psychology, Brand-Switching, Product Testing, Promotional Sales, Shopping Experience, Leading Brands, Product Merchandise, Generic Signage, Brand Retention.