The retail industry continues to face shorter planning horizons, and thanks to the success of companies like Amazon, we live in an “I want it now” world in which immediate gratification is the norm. Meeting customer expectations for fast delivery and convenience has become a competitive requirement. When it comes to POP displays, one option to achieve shorter delivery times is finding a stock display that will work right out of the box and can ship immediately. However, it is not always possible to find just the right fixture to meet your needs. We’ve been big advocates of customizing stock displays as a solution that can meet the requirement for fast turnaround times as well as the need for customized branding and more of a differentiated look.
We have used some of our past posts to provide inspiration and practical examples of customizing stock POP displays. To get some good ideas, you might want to check out a few of these posts:
10 Great Ways to Customize a Stock POP Display
POP Display Ideas for Customizing Stock Floor Displays
Retail Design Options for Customized Graphics
Today’s post will continue the theme of customizing stock POP displays, but our focus will be on how to create a uniform store environment by customizing a collection of stock displays. The example we will use is a customized collection we created for Evans Brewing Co., which is the oldest craft brewing company in Orange County, CA. The collection we created was specifically designed to sell apparel and other merchandise in one of their new locations. They are still working out issues related to branding for their merchandise so the pictures we will share below intentionally have no graphics.
We began by selecting a few core stock displays that we could customize and then round out the collection with other fixtures. We chose two fixtures from our SFL line- the SFL-PINWHEEL and the SFL-HRACK. These two fixtures are shown below with merchandise as they appear in our catalog.
We offer these stock fixtures with silver or black frames so we went with black frames and changed out the panels and shelves. We used a dark walnut stain to match the décor of the brewery. The two customized fixtures are shown below.
The next fixture we selected was our stock 4-WAY-EXT which is designed primarily for hanging apparel items. It is pictured below in our catalog with and without product.
As shown below for the 4-WAY-EXT all we had to do was change out the base with a dark walnut stained base.
Our customer also wanted a 1-sided floor shelf display. As shown below, we chose our WD4SH-PLK-ST display which we already offer in dark walnut stain as a stock item.
The next display we customized was our SW-WD-1-SIDED which is a relatively unique slatwall display. We show it below as it appears in our catalog, and then you can see how it looks with the dark walnut stain customization.
The customer requested a t-shirt cubbie display with a center hanging bar so we made the custom unit shown below to match the look and feel of the other units.
Finally, the customer also needed a cash wrap. Since we don’t offer a cash wrap as a stock item, we made a custom cash wrap in our millwork shop which featured dark walnut stained pine slats, a solid surface counter top, and inside shelves and cabinets as shown below.
Although we don’t have pictures of the customized fixtures in the brewery setting, the image below shows the collection together.
Customized stock displays supplemented by some custom displays can be a great way to create a collection of displays that can meet an aggressive time line while also offering a differentiated look.
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.