It started as many things do- small and simple. It was a class project for Management 101, a required course for business majors at Bucknell University, a small college in the heart of Central Pennsylvania’s Amish country. Alex Nolin, CEO and Founder of Uscape Apparel, decided for his project he would create a line of custom lifestyle apparel for Bucknell. Six years later Uscape Apparel is an industry leader in the college and resort lifestyle apparel industry with more than 350 college licenses and products sold in over 700 retail locations. Part of the company’s success in this highly competitive industry can be attributed to effective instore merchandising. In today’s post, we’ll share 3 of RICH LTD.’s stock fixtures that Uscape customized to create college bookshop displays that helped to build its brand and drive retail apparel sales.
- 4-WAY POST– We customized our 4-WAY POST display for Uscape by adding branding on both sides of the base and incorporating a simple can’t-miss-it header sign. This 2-sided, high-capacity display features eco-friendly bamboo panel inserts on the base, 2 slotted upright posts, and adjustable waterfall arms. You can see how it stands out relative to the other generic apparel fixtures in the store.
The same 4-WAY POST fixture can be configured in a completely different way by using different accessories and different branding. For example, the configuration below might work well for a boutique or resort store.
- Nesting Tables– Nesting tables are commonly used for merchandising apparel items in many types of retail stores. Uscape did a nice job of merchandising our nesting tables and making their product stand out in the Long Beach State college bookstore below. The solid bamboo table tops fit nicely with Uscape’s other fixtures to help create a uniform look and a cohesive family of fixtures. To the right of the nesting tables, you can see another one of their fixtures which also has a branded bamboo base.
While the above nesting tables fit the Uscape brand and the college bookstore environment, there are lots of other styles of tables that can be designed and fabricated to match the décor and aesthetic of more of a boutique or resort retail environment. An example of nesting tables and a tiered table we created for Maidenform help to illustrate this point.
- 4-WAY-EXT– Uscape used our stock 4-WAY-EXT fixture to cross-merchandise shirts and headwear. This 4-sided display can be configured with multiple types of accessories. In this case, Uscape utilized waterfall arms to display its long-sleeve t-shirts and our cap pockets to merchandise its line of GGU caps. The colorful 2-sided header sign helped to reinforce the Uscape brand.
Another example of the 4-WAY-EXT fixture with different accessories and different branding is the Blue84 fixture shown in the USC bookstore with straight-outs instead of waterfalls.
For reference, a view of the 4-WAY-EXT with no merchandise is shown below with straight-outs and a header sign holder.
After a year of online learning due to Covid, college bookstores are once again bustling and companies like Uscape are well positioned to capitalize on the enthusiastic return of students to campus.
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 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. He 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.