RETAIL AS THEATER

   Imagine attending a live performance of some great play or musical.  Many things make it great.  The script must engage the audience.  Actors must know their lines, hit their marks and play their parts well.  The theater surroundings themselves must be comfortable, sight lines clear, lighting and sound right, seats comfortable.  Costumes and props matter, too.

   Stores are like theaters, don’t you agree?  The products are the scripts and actors the staffs.  The store environment is like the theater building itself.  Costumes are the packaging.  And the props?  They are what our industry provides to “set the stage,” to highlight the action and to help make the entire experience compelling.

   Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies want their products to have a good, long run.  When they bring together the right Product, Price, Promotion and Place – the proverbial Four P’s of the marketing mix – magic happens.

   Display and store fixture designers and producers play a pivotal role in two of the four P’s: Promotion and Place.  If shoppers are drawn to a product, can find it easily and see it attractively presented, the probability of purchase increases dramatically.

   When the show must go on (and we know that it must), great displays play a part in the mix.  Marketers that miss this critical point don’t play well in Peoria and have short runs.