Whichever attracted his gaze — and his reaching hand — he got to keep. Actually, the parents who were biting their nails nearby got to keep what their little ones chose.
The Draw of Shiny
Some characteristics naturally attract our eyes. For instance, a flickering light, a sparkling sequin dress, and even a shiny penny. They attract our eyes because they throw, reflect, or dance light in front of us.
As marketers, retailers, or suppliers of marketers and retailers, we are on a continuous mission to create visual communications that have the greatest glitter effect, so-to-speak. The media does not matter. The purpose is singular: catch our customers’ eyes and convert a sale.
The Allure of the Illuminated
A supermarket and a lighting manufacturer partnered to conduct a 21-week study. They looked at the effect of light on shoppers and found that lighting influences consumers’ spending habits. Under appropriate (and/or creative) interior LED-based interior lighting, consumers spent more. Other studies support this finding. One researcher even hinted that in-store lighting might be as important as a product’s package design.
It’s not a stretch to suggest that illuminated signs and point of sale displays can also affect spending habits. After all, back-lighting or illuminating a sign attracts customers’ eyes. Even if it’s a piece of illuminated wood.
Let’s do a little experiment right now.
Look at the two images below. These are examples of a large-format 3D bus wrap and illuminated channel letters from Carisma Printing. They owned the first Massivit 1800 printing solution in the United States.
Which one gets your attention?
Even in certain daylight situations, illuminated objects are more attractive. The 3-meter tall League of Giants were created by Massivit-owner, Composite Images, for the Rugby League World Cup. Each player was illuminated internally using LED. In the waning daylight, the figures’ glow still demanded attention.
Point of Sale Displays: Why They Are Important
FedEx Office, a small business marketing solutions company, found that 68% of consumers surveyed made a purchase because a sign caught their eye.
A BYU study, as reported in The Balance, showed that regular-priced merchandise accompanied by point of sale signage, outperformed sale and clearance-priced merchandise by 18%. The signage was more influential than the lower price!
Since interior signage increases sales, make sure your signs and displays get seen. First of all, make sure they’re visible. Second, consider illuminating them because light catches eyes and pulls consumers closer, as we’ve seen.
The Cost of Illuminating
Adding light will improve your bottom line. However, there are costs to consider.
- Construction: Unless your display was created hollow from the start, adding light often requires extra or more complicated construction. Your sign or point of sale display needs to house the light bulbs.
- Electricity: You’ll need to power the lights, but this cost is negligible. In addition, it is overwhelmed by the benefits.
- Bulbs: Depending on the duration that your sign or point of sale display is in use, you may have to replace expended bulbs.
Wide Format 3D Printing Saves
Conventional construction requires shaping or removing material, like aluminum or polystyrene, to allow room for light bulbs. This takes more time and manpower and requires extra material (which winds up being removed). 3D printing is additive manufacturing. Wide format 3D printing constructs the sign or display using only the material that’s needed. Saving material keeps costs down. It also saves manpower hours, skipping several steps of conventional construction.
When you weigh the costs against the potential extra sales, illuminating your signage or point of sale displays seems to be the winning choice. The child in the game show won, too. Whatever his choice, he got money for mom and dad. . . who always went home a few dollars richer with a bag of shiny pennies.
Put the shine in your point of sale displays and signage by adding light, and you too will go home richer each day.
Massivit’s wide format 3D printing technology creates customized soft signage in any shape, illuminated point of purchase or point of sale displays, and channel letters that can be customized for video mapping, and more.
