Santa's gift to the in-store marketing industry arrived in early December. It came in the form of an RFID-enabled display-tracking system that Walgreens will install in all its drugstores.

It's as if in-store marketers finally got that pony they wished for as children.

Finally, a retailer has stepped forward to develop a method of measuring compliance for display programs and, subsequently, the sales lifts they generate. Finally, brand marketers will be able to evaluate the effectiveness of their programs and calculate accurate returns on their investment -- assuming, of course, that other retailers follow Walgreens' lead. (There's no reason to doubt that they will.)

This is a watershed moment for in-store marketing, one that ultimately will help lead to a more sophisticated, more strategic practice that serves as the focal point of most brand activity.

Naturally, you're excited. You probably want to invite your friends over right away to show off your new pet. But first, evaluate what you wished for. Owning a pony is a time-consuming, expensive proposition. And ponies aren't the most benign of animals. In fact, they've been known to kick their owners on occasion.

And there surely are going to be a few kicks sustained as the practice of display tracking evolves into a standardized science. Before it happens, some in-store marketers may even wonder why they wished for this particular pony in the first place.

For one, execution won't magically improve simply because compliance is getting tracked at the corporate level. Store-level managers still must feel it's in their best interest to devote the time to setting up the displays, and then they'll still have to find time to do it. That will require new incentive and/or penalty programs for managers. It might even lead to additional execution responsibilities for brand marketers.

For another, expenses could be painful -- at least in the beginning. Attaching RFID chips alone will add a couple of bucks per unit to display costs. Will brands increase their budgets to cover that, or will they seek more "cost-effective" manufacturing solutions? In the short-term, at least, it probably will be the latter. (Watch out, P-O-P producers, the pony wants to step on your foot.)

There's also a chance that not all brands will benefit equally from the measured store. Walgreens plans to use its system to identify winners and losers: Stores will be directed to get behind displays that are driving sales, but also will be told to yank the duds. How long will the window remain open before displays come down? Will brands get more than a couple of shots at delivering successful programs, or will top-selling brands gain an even greater share of prime store real estate?

Marketers encountering such problems over the next few years may find themselves wishing for the days of poor -- but mercifully non-audited -- display programs. Long-term, however, they'll be grateful for the gift.

Traffic Measuring in the Works
If you attended either keynote session at the Total Retail Experience in New York earlier this month, you heard Institute executive director Peter Hoyt provide a few details of what could prove to be another watershed event for in-store marketing: a research project being undertaken by Procter & Gamble and other A-list corporations designed to establish a series of metrics for measuring store traffic. These metrics theoretically will give brand marketers a way to analyze the potential reach of advertising campaigns within the store. We're proud to be serving as the project's official Institute Sponsor, and will have more details next month.

Happy Holidays from the In-Store Marketing Institute.

Peter Breen
Managing Director, Content
In-Store Marketing Institute