One supplier calls it POSM. Another quotes for a POP display. Your retailer asks for a retail display. Are you talking about three different things?
Often, you are describing the same project from different angles. POSM refers to promotional materials, POP displays focus on influencing purchase decisions, and retail display is the broader term for presenting products in a shop.
In Malaysia, brands and suppliers often use POSM and POP interchangeably, so either term is generally understood when discussing promotional displays. It helps to explain what the display needs to do, whichever term you use.
What is POSM?
POSM stands for point-of-sale materials. It covers materials used to communicate a brand, product or promotion in a retail setting. These include shelf talkers, wobblers, posters, standees, floor stickers and branded display racks. Some carry messages. Others hold products. A shelf talker announcing a special offer is POSM even though it has no shelves of its own.
A KitKat shelf unit combines product presentation with branding.
What is a POP display?
POP stands for point of purchase. A POP display presents or promotes a product where shoppers are deciding what to buy. Common examples include floor stands, countertop units, dump bins and gondola-end displays. They can appear at an entrance, beside an aisle or near checkout. “Point of purchase” does not mean the display must sit beside the cash register. A branded floor rack can therefore be both a POP display and part of a campaign’s POSM.
These slim Red Bull floor stands combine accessible products with prominent branding, illustrating a freestanding POP display.
What is a retail display?
Retail display is the broadest of the three terms. It describes how products are presented in a retail environment, from a promotional stand to everyday shelving, a display table or a permanent branded fixture. A retail display may support a specific campaign, but it can also serve the store’s regular merchandising needs. It does not have to carry a promotional offer.
Can one display be all three?
Yes. A branded snack rack used for a promotion is a retail display because it presents products, a POP display because it supports purchase decisions, and POSM because it carries campaign branding.
These are useful descriptions rather than rigid categories. Terminology varies between brands, retailers and suppliers.
Which term should you use when requesting a quote?
Use the term familiar to your team, then explain the format, purpose and location. For example: “We need a branded floor rack holding 48 snack packs for a four-week promotion in 100 supermarkets.” That gives a supplier more to work with than “We need POSM” or “Please quote a retail display.” Include a reference picture, available dimensions and who will install it.
Start with what the display needs to do
You don’t need to master the terminology before starting a project. At INK Marketing, we can help you turn your campaign goal into a suitable display format and guide you through the details needed to move it into production.
