We recently had an opportunity to develop a modular cost-effective point of sale counter display for High Mowing Seeds. While the display was specifically designed for merchandising seeds, the design and modular construction could be applied to a wide range of products. The challenge presented to us by High Mowing Seeds was to create a cost-effective, modular retail display that could accommodate their standard garden seed packets, their hanging sprouting seed packets, and their small and large gift boxes.
The merchandising challenge was complicated by the fact that the seed business is seasonal with multiple growing seasons so not all of the products would be displayed at the same time. Different products would be made available during different seasons so they needed a display that could essentially be converted by season to handle the in-season product.
To date, the company had been using corrugated counter displays that seemed to make sense for a seasonal product. However, they understood that the display would need to be replaced by another disposable counter display that would be tossed once the products had sold out or upon the expiration of that particular growing season. High Mowing Seeds agreed with us that a permanent point of sale counter display that was flexible and configurable could be a more cost-effective approach than the temporary display route.
As shown below, we started by designing a base unit that could merchandise High Mowing Seeds garden seed packets. We created a 4-sided, 12-pocket spinning display constructed of metal tube and wire. The pockets were designed to fit standard-sized garden seed packets, and the modular retail display incorporated a large colorful PVC header digitally printed on 2-sides. The sides of the display were removable, and the display was made using a knock-down design, which was intended to make it cost-effective for shipping and storage as well as being able to accommodate other assembly configurations that could fit other products.
We also designed a side hook attachment that could be substituted seasonally for a side pocket attachment to accommodate the company’s line of sprouting seed packets. The side hook attachments could leverage the existing display and were therefore designed to enable High Mowing Seeds to preserve their claim on their existing retail counter space while also being able to extend the life of the main part of the display. The side hook attachments could be used to create an entirely new display that is 100% devoted to sprouting seeds or it could be used to create a mixed display with sprouting seeds and garden see packets.
In continuing with the modularity theme, we also design a set of side pockets that could accommodate small gift boxes and also large gift boxes as shown below. These side gift box attachments could also be designed to include one pocket for small gift boxes and one pocket for large gift boxes.
While the example in today’s blog was a point of sale counter display designed for seed packets, the same approach can be used with a variety of products on both counter and floor displays.
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.