Prior research shows that in-store displays have a significant effect on product sales, but no study so far has measured this effect using a qualitative approach that considers the size of the in-store display or its general theme. In this study, a smartphone-based user generated contents (UGC) was used to encourage consumers to post about the in-store displays they liked. This study investigates the relationship between the qualitative content of in-store displays and the sales of the products featured in such displays, and the relationship between posts or likes and the sales of the products featured in the posted liked display. We examine the effects of the contents of in-store display on sales and the mediation effect of the POST or LIKE on these relationship. As the result, this study is the first to explicate the difference of the mediation effect of post on sales by the type of the content of the in-store display. Specifically, the following three aspects were elucidated: (1) “Seasonality” drives user posting on UGC and such posts contribute to increased sales, (2) “Mass” both directly contributes to increased sales and also promotes user postings on UGC, which contribute to increase sales, and (3) “Character” directly influences sales but does not contribute to sales through postings. This study also provides important managerial implications. The results highlight the role of the content of in-store displays in promoting sales. Specifically, if the goal is to simply increase sales, a character themed in-store display will suffice. If the goal is to induce postings to UGC, which will result in increased sales, then a seasonally themed in-store display will work. In this way, expanding consideration to the qualities of in-store displays makes it possible to develop a more strategic understanding of their effects rather than the simple on/off or numerical frequency approach of the past. It must be taken into account that the type of in-store display content that is called for will differ according to whether the objective is to simply increase sales or to also attempt to create WOM promotion.

This study samples the content of posts of display-related information posted on social networking services to clarify the in-store display requirements that influence the strength of response by SNS users. The data was found using the submission history of “Minrepo,” a social networking service used for marketing research by DOCOMO Insight Marketing, Inc. In this analysis, we presented the theme “please show us displays you thought were interesting on streets or in shop windows,” and gathered posts relating to this subject in content. The theme was presented for two weeks in June and July 2015 respectively, with 91 posts gathered. These explanatory variables, which were related to the format of the comment and the photographic content (display theme), and acquisition number of “likes” were clarified using a regression model of explained variables, which in this case was Poisson regression modeling (de Vries, Gensler, & Leeflang, 2012) assuming distribution of Poisson. As a result of the analysis, the following were established as comments that easily elicited a sympathetic response and are exhibit requirements of the displays: (1) In terms of comment format, “attaching lots of photographs,” “including exclamation marks,” and “including a mixture of both negative and positive comments” easily elicited a sympathetic response from the reader, (2) in terms of the content of attached photographs, exhibits with the keywords “season,” “mass display,” “fresh foods,” “character,” “sweets,” “variety,” and “local foods” similarly gained a sympathetic response, while (3) on the other hand, the standard shelving and mass display just of packaged foods as well as specialized exhibits of particular products were not popular. These findings suggest the following two points: (1) it is possible that pre-existing forms of special displays (the mass display of specific products) will not suffice to make a product more than something that is just bought and into a topic of news, (2) while it is obvious for most retailers selling packaged foods, manufacturers and wholesalers offering products and supporting exhibits within stores, should also try to make instore displays that takes the above mentioned contents into account.