Frustrated that you are not selling more product in the retail chain you just landed? Worried about the money you just shelled out for your custom POP displays and wondering if you will ever get a return on your investment? These are common questions, and there are many factors that might be contributing to sluggish sales. Your category might be extremely competitive. Your POP display might be poorly located within the store. Maybe, despite your enthusiasm, your product is a dud or perhaps just ahead of its time. While there is no question that there could be a lot of contributing factors to sub-par sales, many of which are out of your control, there are some things you can do to make your display and your product stand out from the crowd.
Tip #1: Be Intentional About Being Different– It’s so common to see the herd mentality at work in retail. Many companies deliberately copy their competitors or use the same suppliers that come up with the same stale ideas. But, that “me too” approach makes it difficult for your product to get noticed by customers and puts you at risk for blending in like the penguins in the picture below.
So, our fist tip is to have the courage to be different. Try something new. You don’t have to go crazy, but just try not be like everyone else. Think contrarian.
Tip #2: Stand Out by Using Bright Colors– Let’s face it, bright colors are eye-catching. There is nothing special about the two displays shown below, but their bright colors make them stand out and do the job of attracting your attention to the products they are merchandising.
Tip #3: Light Up Your Display– If you have the chance, incorporate lighting into your display. It will increase the perceived value of your product and will make your display stand out, particularly if your display is lit and your competitor’s display is not. LED lighting is relatively affordable these days, and if you view it as an incremental investment, it is likely to have a positive return in many cases. Be sure to check with the retailer to make sure you have guaranteed access to electrical before you commit to outfitting your custom POP displays with lighting.
Tip #4: Upgrade Your Signage– In many cases, you can set your display apart from competitors by simply upgrading your signage. Study what your competitors are doing and then one up them. If they have a digitally printed PVC or card stock sign, then go for the brushed aluminum with 3D frosted acrylic letters or seriously consider a lighted header sign.
Tip #5: Create an Element of Surprise in Your Custom POP Design– Stories are memorable when they contain the element of surprise. There is something about a story that confronts us with the unexpected that makes it stick with us. The same principle can be applied to POP displays. If your display contains something just a little different, something a shopper might not be expecting, it’s a lot easier to get his or her attention. For example, the 9Five sunglass display show below is a sunglass case we designed. But, unlike other sunglass cases that are boring rectangular ho-hums, this display is actually designed to be an arcade game, fully equipped with gaming buttons, a joy stick, and coins slots. It appeals to our customer’s target market of teenage males, and creates the unexpected. After all, who would expect an arcade game to be holding a bunch of sunglasses.
Per Tip #3 above, we doubled down on the attention-getting objective by having a fully lit LED back panel and header.
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.