According to the study that is analyzed, the figures of the purchase decision in the point of sale oscillate between 70 and 85%. That is, a large percentage of the time a consumer buys a product does so by taking the decision at the point of sale based on brand knowledge, promotion at the point of sale, packaging design, etc.

When our product is on a supermarket shelf or a deli you have to fight for yourself in front of the others you have around you and who apparently cover the same need. In those moments, it is only before the consumer and has to earn its trust. What have we done in our marketing strategy to help you in this difficult task? Have planning and graphic design been done by expert professionals? Have we informed the consumer before the launch? Do you know the importance of rigorously following the preparation and preservation mode indicated on the packaging?

To win the battle at the point of sale, Psychology can help us. According to this science, physical stimuli are all those factors that can affect the five senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. When you want to sell a product, it is essential to take into account the sensory processes that influence the buying process and its influence on it: 55% view, 18% hearing, 12% smell, 10% touch and 5% taste. Neglecting any of these senses can have counterproductive effects on the shopping experience and cause consumer dissatisfaction.

For example, in the meat sector, the purchase decision at the point of sale is influenced by 80% by the color of the meat and its visual appearance. Do we take it into account when deciding the type and color of the container? For example, the color of olive oil is not directly related to the quality of it. Does our potential customer know? Do you follow parameters equivalent to the purchase of meat and let yourself be carried away by its color and visual appearance?

It is possible to support the actions of the point of sale through marketing 2.0 actions. Are companies doing so? It seems that most of them do not. Let’s briefly analyze the situation.

Although the data vary substantially depending on the size of the company, sector and the number of workers, in global terms, less than half of Spanish companies have a website. Among those who have a web there is a group that barely pays attention: little use has attracting visitors to a website that is obsolete, offers a bad image, is boring and does not present interesting content to users. By improving the usability of the website and including the same meta tags, it is possible to strongly increase the number of users and potential customers who are interested in our products and request information. Have we taken this aspect into account on our website?

The meta tags are instructions that are included in the programming code and that are read by search engines facilitating their location. The use of these codes and other techniques is the basis of SEO (acronym of Search Engine Optimizer or Search Engine Optimizer) techniques aimed at improving the position of search engines.

The problem is that nowadays it is not enough to have an updated and interesting website. Just a few years ago very few people had heard of Facebook, Twitter or Tuenti. Today Facebook already exceeds the number of visits to Google, so the presence of the brand on these platforms is crucial. The leading companies have been attentive and have used these new technological developments as channels to reach their customers and increase communication and interaction with them.

Internet and its great potential is not the only variable that has broken into interactive marketing: mobile phones, notebooks, consoles, PDAs and other wireless devices have appeared with great force in marketing. To this we must add the high level of interactivity between all the devices and the potential for interconnection and interactivity: consoles that surf the Internet, televisions with built-in Internet, etc.

A considerable part of the companies in the agri-food sector still does not have a website so they may be tempted to catch up too quickly and make mistakes so the process of introducing interactive marketing in a company must be progressive .

The actions of direct and interactive marketing must be designed according to the general objectives pursued in the marketing plan. These objectives can be to attract new customers, retain existing customers, publicize a new product, create and promote the brand image, differentiate from the competition, carry out a specific promotional action, generate notoriety, recover lost customers or with low purchase, create and expand the database, generate customer traffic at the point of sale, etc.

As we have seen, to achieve the success of a product it is important to combine the actions of the point of sale with online marketing actions, all of them perfectly integrated within the strategy and general marketing of the company. In recent months I have found several companies that have been interested in marketing 2.0 and after briefly knowing the knowledge of social networks have decided that a person of administration “get involved from time to time in facebook and put things”, without integrating it inside of the marketing and communication strategy. I’m not surprised; some companies do not change: just as they send a person who does not know the company to a trade fair (often an azafat @ hired in an agency the day before the event) to serve customers, they do it at a virtual level: They put a person without training or experience at the helm of their company’s 2.0 communication. Time will show how successful that decision …