Making the right material choices for your instore display is a critically important aspect of the design process. Material choices can have far-reaching implications for the aesthetics, economics, functionality, durability, and so many other aspects of a POP display program. Today we will review wood- one of the most common materials used in creating POP displays.
Wood is a broad material category that encompasses a number of sub-categories, including the following:
- Solid Wood– Solid wood is an increasingly popular choice for displays, particularly because it is a natural material. Solid wood is strong, durable, and highly versatile in terms of the range of its applications. There are dozens of common hardwood and softwood species that can be utilized to create a unique look for your instore display, any of which can be stained or painted to create different visual presentations.
For example, for the most natural look we often just seal and clear coat wood like we did on the Pasta Mama’s display shown below.
In other cases, we’ll stain solid wood to give it a different look like the TD’s Brew and BBQ display shown below.
- Plywood– Plywood is also a common material used to create instore displays. Similar to solid wood, plywood is strong, durable, and highly versatile. Among the many types of plywood, we often use Baltic Birch or China Birch, both of which can be purchased either unfinished or pre-finished. Unfinished plywood can be stained or painted while pre-finished has a nice smooth surface and is a good choice if you plan to direct print graphics like we did on the display shown below.
- MDF with Melamine Finish– MDF is frequently used in the POP display industry. It owes it popularity primarily to the fact that is one of the most cost-effective sheet goods on the market. MDF, which stands for Medium Density Fiberboard, is a composite wood material that is an alternative to plywood. It is cheaper than plywood, but also heavier to ship and does not hold screws as well as plywood. It is superior to particle board with respect to strength and durability.
MDF often comes with a melamine finish which is sufficient for many POP instore display applications. It can be edge banded to created a finished look, and its smooth surface is ideal for direct printed applications as shown in the floor display below that we made for Kraken.
MDF can also be finished with a high-pressure laminate for improved durability as shown in the Salesforce fruit bin we made below.
A third finish option for MDF is a painted finish. An example is the rifle scope display we made for Sig Sauer shown below.
- Bamboo– Bamboo is among the most eco-friendly and sustainable materials on earth. Some species of bamboo can grow nearly 4 ft. in a 24-hour period. Bamboo is incredibly strong, easy to work with, and beautiful. Most often we just clear coat bamboo and leave the edges unfinished to create a visually interesting natural look. A few examples of bamboo instore display applications are shown below. In the first example, we used bamboo to make a tabletop riser with a direct printed logo on front. Bamboo plywood offers a nice smooth surface which is excellent for direct printing or screen printing. We also offer other bamboo display cases.
Given that bamboo is a natural material, in many cases we will also laser engrave graphics to create a more natural look as shown below in the Coola lotion dispenser.
The Ukes bamboo countertop display below provides an example of using a 3D laser-cut acrylic logo to create a higher-end look.
When it comes to instore displays, the category of wood is both broad and deep. Today we attempted to highlight just a few of the main sub-categories while also providing a number of examples of common applications. Be sure to check out our next post where we will continue to discuss the importance of making the right material choices in creating POP 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.