Several years ago Apple “reinvented” retailing with its sleek, modern stores and store employees who could check you out with a convenient mobile device. There was no waiting in line, and customers were offered a choice of a printed receipt or an emailed receipt. From a shopper’s perspective, the process was quick, efficient, and pleasant. Soon after the introduction of mobile checkout, many in the industry predicted that the model would gain momentum and that retailers of all kinds would equip store personnel with mobile devices to check shoppers out anywhere within the store. But, for a variety of reasons, mobile checkout has not taken off, and traditional cash wraps have continued to play a meaningful role across a wide variety of retail sectors and formats.
Cash wraps come in all shapes and sizes but perform the same basic function. Custom cash wrap counters serve as a hub within the store and the destination site for shoppers to complete their shopping transaction. It’s the only place in the store that provides a guaranteed interaction or touchpoint with customers and an opportunity to provide excellent customer service to ensure customers have a positive experience. In addition, if merchandised properly, retail cash wraps are the best vehicles to drive impulse sales.
Most cash wraps are constructed of MDF with a pressure-sensitive laminate applied to the surfaces. Some cash wraps use solid surface countertops to provide and upgraded look and enhanced durability. Retail cash wrap display cases are among the most abused fixtures in a store because of the traffic they encounter and because of their frequent run-ins with aberrant shopping carts. It’s not unusual to see cash wraps starting to look worn after a year or two. The most common sign of wear and tear is chipping laminate on the corners or damage to the body of the cash wrap. There are a number of ways to extend the life of a cash wrap by using bumpers, t-molding instead of edge banding, and using durables laminates instead of melamine finishes.
Let’s take a look at a few examples of retail cash wraps & display cases we have manufactured as a way of illustrating the variety of designs that can work within different retail settings. The first example is a bullpen style cash wrap we made for Big 5 Sporting Goods. The first couple of pictures show the cash wrap as a work-in-progress in our shop. The pictures that follow show the cash wrap merchandised in a Big 5 store. As you will see, the cash wrap included a number of accessory fixtures such as LED-lit glass cases.
The second example is a similar bullpen-style cash wrap we did for Lakeshore Learning stores. This retail cash wrap incorporated bright blue and red laminates that matched the overall store décor.
A third example is a curved cash wrap we made for Petco’s Unleashed stores. This cash wrap featured a unique aluminum ridged front face.
We also made a smaller more traditional cash wrap for Petco as shown below.
Our final example is a fairly traditional modular cash wrap with a natural wood look that offered a variety of configuration options.
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.