In our last blog we discussed how we were able to leverage our point of purchase design experience to improve the merchandising effectiveness in the entrance area of a convenience store chain. We showed how the chain was able to use our stock SFL-Pinwheel displays to get product off the floor and create a better merchandising presentation. In today’s blog, we’ll look at an opportunity we saw to improve the convenience store merchandising approach for the candy and snack section of the stores.
The candy and snack gondola was located at the center of the store. This gondola was a key profit engine for the chain, but it was cluttered and not well organized. We thought it was a bit tired and unremarkable. It was sandwiched by a wire gondola and stacked products. The merchandising presentation made it very difficult to find what you were looking for. There was nothing that differentiated it from other typical gondolas that you might see in a convenience store. The 3 pictures below show the gondola from different angles.
Our first convenience store design solution was to redesign the gondola. We organized the products into easy-to find sections, added LED-lit acrylic header signs for each section, created slotted panels to allow for multiple hook configurations, designed adjustable wood and wire shelves that could be positioned straight or angled, and added LED lighting underneath the shelves. We also replaced the ugly wire end cap and stacked product with removable and configurable end caps featuring a digital media player to attract shopper attention. Our convenience store design idea is shown below with and without product.
Below we show several different variations of this gondola solution to illustrate the versatility and range of options available with this design. We designed some different treatments for the header signs, changed finishing colors, and added vinyl graphics in some of the scenarios to improve branding.
In our next blog, we will provide you with more convenience store remodeling ideas and show how we redesigned the front-end check stand and counter area to improve the store’s merchandising effectiveness.
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.