Retail advertising consists of marketing communications designed to establish the retailer’s image, showcase product assortments and price promotions and inform shoppers of store locations.
Some retail advertising focuses on charitable efforts which helps cultivate a desired image. Retailers use a wide range of print, electronic, out-of-home and digital options for advertising.
The origins of retail advertising can be traced to 17th century Europe. The continent was the center of global trade and that gave merchants access to an expanded and unfamiliar range of goods. To promote awareness and encourage consumption of their offerings, merchants turned to posters, hand bills and later, newspapers.
Newspapers and other print media dominated retail advertising for centuries and continued to do so even after the introduction of radio and television gave newly emerging chain retailers powerful new ways to reach a mass market.
As consumption exploded following the Second World War so did retail advertising, although it remained highly reliant on print vehicles.
Upscale retailers relied on glossy fashion and lifestyle magazines that appealed to affluent individuals to hone their image as a destination for up market goods. Meanwhile, retailers oriented toward the mass market fed shoppers a steady diet of weekly advertising circulars distributed via direct mail or inserted into the Sunday newspaper that featured promotional prices on key items. The frequency of price-oriented ads helped retailers generate customer traffic to their stores and gave branded suppliers a vehicle to generate awareness and to trial new products that were introduced with increased regularity.
As retailers grew increasingly large, many recognized their sizable base of shoppers was an attractive audience for advertisers and a wide range of in-store communication opportunities were created. The store became an advertising medium unto itself and retailers placed messaging on floor and in shopping carts and hung promotional signs from shelves and ceilings. Some retailers created their own in-store radio and television networks.
Retailers left no stone unturned when it came to communicating with shoppers and this practice has extended to the Internet. Increasingly effective and measurable forms of digital advertising are comprising an ever larger percentage of retailers’ ad budgets. That trend will continue as shoppers consume more information from digital sources and online purchases skyrocket.
Contribution to Retail History
Retail advertising, which created some of the largest, most successful and iconic brands in business, is quickly evolving with less emphasis on traditional print and more focus on digital and social media ads as well as branded content. Shoppers continue to rely on retail advertising to make informed purchase decisions based on price and convenience as well as where to shop and what to buy.