When it comes to merchandising, gloves are no different than most other apparel accessory items. As with other apparel products, the right POP display can make all the difference in achieving sales success. There are many types of gloves, including ski gloves, gardening gloves, work gloves, dress gloves, etc. In addition, gloves are sold in many different types of retail stores, including department stores, mass market retailers, sporting goods stores, hardware stores, and specialty stores. Given the range of glove products and retailers in which they ae sold, the POP displays used to merchandise gloves vary considerably from a design standpoint.
Most gloves tend to be seasonal items. The seasonal nature of gloves has two key implications: (1) They tend to be merchandised on freestanding displays since it is more difficult to build them into a plan-o-gram for a shorter selling season, and (2) The retail displays need to be cost effective given they will be in stores for a shorter period of time, or the display needs to be flexible enough to be able to be reconfigured to merchandise other products in the off season.
Let’s take a look at 7 examples of glove displays we have designed. Our objective is not only to provide inspiration for glove displays but also to share ideas that may be adapted for apparel or other types of displays.
1. Hestra Floor Display – Hestra offers an exclusive line of high quality, premium gloves. They asked us to design a 2-sided floor display that would project a high-end image while helping to reinforce the Hestra brand. We designed the mobile glove merchandiser shown below using a metal frame with dark stained wood inserts, a wood back panel with slatwall hook slots, side screen-printed logos, and a wood header in the shape of a mountain with laser-cut dimensional letters. The display communicated a premium image with a visually appealing outdoor theme.
2. Magid Glove Floor Display – Magid Glove makes a broad line of branded work gloves. They asked us to design a very affordable floor display to be placed in home improvement stores. We used a simple metal tube structure on castors with a wire back panel and wire hooks. We added graphics on the base, sides, header and top to promote the brand and dress up the display. We added the top to help protect the gloves in the event that the display was placed in outdoor garden center locations to help protect the product from weather.
3. Line of Fire Floor Display – We used our SW-62FL stock slatwall display to merchandise Line of Fire’s tactile gloves. We took our basic 2-sided slatwall unit and added mannequin hands with demo gloves on the top shelf. We created header and side graphics along with side hooks for hanging product. The display used a combination of shelves on one side and slatwall hooks on the other side.
4. Custom Leathercraft Floor Display – Customer Leathercraft asked us to create a “Safety Center” that it could use to display its safety gloves and other related safety products. The display was constructed of a metal tube frame with a wire grid center panel, scanner hooks, curved full-length PVC side signs, and a die-cut PVC header sign. This retail glove display could be merchandised exclusively with gloves or with a mix of products as shown below.
5. Custom Leathercraft Work Glove Display – We designed a second safety center for Custom Leathercraft which featured a dedicated side for work gloves. The other sides were dedicated to other products such as safety vests. Like the other safety center design, we used a metal tube structure, wire grid panels, and hooks. However, on this version we added product signs on each side, full length graphics, and a prominent header sign on 2 sides.
6. 180s Countertop Glove Glorifier – 180s asked us to design a counter glove glorifier to display its unique convertible training glove. We started with a PVC back panel graphic that explained the key features of the glove and showed background life style graphics. We attached a powder coated perforated sheet metal accent panel to which we attached a mannequin hand fitted with the glove. We designed a fold-up stand in the back and added a slatwall bracket so the display could either stand on a table or hang on slatwall.
7. Hestra Glorifier Glove Tray – We designed this glorifier glove tray for Hestra’s line of fine dress gloves. We made the trays out of solid wood with a clear coat finish, designed in carrying handles, and created a raised back lip to which we attached laser-cut 3D acrylic letters.
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.