Most of what we do involves designing and manufacturing retail point of purchase displays. Occasionally, however, we are asked to design POP display tools that can help a sales team be more effective in the field. Sales people often need to display or showcase their products during customer meetings. And, sales people are inherently mobile so ensuring that the POP display or sales kit can accommodate a road warrior lifestyle is essential. Today we’ll look at 3 examples of mobile sales kits that we designed for 3 completely different products.
Mobile Sales Kit of Carrier Corporation
Our first example is a mobile sales kit we designed for Carrier Corporation. Carrier is a leader in the home automation market, a rapidly growing and increasingly competitive market. A number of home automation companies sell their products through traditional retail channels, but because the sale is highly educational, direct in-person sales is an important and commonly used selling approach.
Carrier asked RICH LTD. to develop a mobile sales kit that a sales person could easily carry into a prospect’s home and set it up on a kitchen table to showcase the various components of its home automation system. We designed and built the case shown below in our millwork shop.
The case was constructed of plywood which we painted glossy white. We built in hinges so the case could be opened and then held open by the demo board which included all of the home automation products available for sale. We added power so the sales person could plug in the kit and various components could light up or register digital readings. The demo board had a digitally printed vinyl graphic which showed how the components were connected as part of an integrated home automation system. We dressed the outside of the kit with vinyl graphics to reinforce the brand and added a number of small touches such as corner protectors to increase the longevity of the kit.
Sales Sample Box for Boral Industries
Our second example is a sales sample box we designed and manufactured for Boral Industries, a leader in the roofing tile business. Boral Industries approached RICH LTD. to design a sales sample box that could be used to hold small roofing tile samples. Our customer had a fairly tight budget but wanted the box to hold a lot of samples while also making a statement about their brand. We created the box shown below which included built-in dividers to separate the tile samples. We also added a removable digitally printed graphic to the inside top of the sample box and a plated graphic to promote the Boral Industries’ US Tile brand.
Car Care Kit for Surf City Garage
Our third example is a car care kit we designed for Surf City Garage, a leader in premium car care products for auto enthusiasts. The kit was designed to be versatile enough to serve as a sales kit or as an item at retail for consumers looking to buy a set of premium car care products neatly organized in a handy carrying case. The outer shell of the kit was designed to be manufactured as an injection molded piece. We designed brand-building, screen printed graphics for the outside of the case and added a dense grip foam on the inside that was molded to fit an assortment of car care products in an organized fashion.
Jim Hollen is the owner and President of RICH LTD. (www.richltd.com), a 35+ year-old California-based point-of-purchase display, retail store fixture, and merchandising solutions firm which has been named among the Top 50 U.S. POP display companies for 9 consecutive years. A former management consultant with McKinsey & Co. and graduate of Stanford Business School, Jim Hollen has served more than 3000 brands and retailers over more than 20 years and has authored nearly 500 blogs and e-Books on a wide range of topics related to POP displays, store fixtures, and retail merchandising.
Jim has been to China more than 50 times and has worked directly with more than 30 factories in Asia across a broad range of material categories, including metal, wood, acrylic, injection molded and vacuum formed plastic, corrugated, glass, LED lighting, digital media player, and more. Jim Hollen also oversees RICH LTD.’s domestic manufacturing operation and has experience manufacturing, sourcing, and importing from numerous Asian countries as well as Vietnam and Mexico.
His experience working with brands and retailers spans more than 25 industries such as food and beverage, apparel, consumer electronics, cosmetics/beauty, sporting goods, automotive, pet, gifts and souvenirs, toys, wine and spirits, home improvement, jewelry, eyewear, footwear, consumer products, mass market retail, specialty retail, convenience stores, and numerous other product/retailer categories.