If you have a brand, you know the importance of where your products and shop POP displays are placed in a retail store. Counter display space by the checkout register, for example, is likely to generate more sales than if the same display were stuck in a dark corner in the rear of the store. Many brands starting out are given an opportunity to provide a freestanding display to help prove to the retailer that the brand deserves a permanent location within the retailer’s planogram. What often happens, however, is there is a sales drop-off once the product is placed inline since it is more difficult to stand out among the many other products in the gondola shelf lineup. POP displays, when used as secondary placement in stores, can be effective in boosting sales and building brand awareness.
Secondary placement of a POP display generally refers to a second display location within the same store. So, when does it make sense to invest in a secondary placement POP display? While secondary placement in stores can make sense in almost any case, there are 5 situations in which it should strongly be considered as a merchandising strategy:
1) Need to Build Brand Awareness– For newer brands or brands that have been around but lack the consumer awareness of more popular brands, having a secondary display can increase exposure and serve as an effective approach to in-store advertising.
2) Highly Competitive Category– If your product is in a highly competitive category with lots of product choices, it’s easy to get lost in the mix. Taking advantage of a freestanding shop POP displays like our retail cap display can help your product stand out among competitor products.
3) Departmental Crossover– If your product is the type that can naturally be sold in more than one department, a secondary display can often make sense. For example, if you sell hats, you might benefit from a POP display in the Men’s department and also in the sporting goods department in a retail store.
4) Cross Merchandising Opportunities– First placement for many products is often within the category that logically makes sense based on where consumers would look for your product. But, it could also make sense to have a secondary display in a complementary area of the store where your product could benefit from cross merchandising. Say, for example, your product is gourmet canned tuna. Your first placement will likely be in the canned goods section along with competing brands of canned tuna. It could also make sense to have a POP display in the produce or deli section next to products like bread and vegetables since they are often consumed with tuna.
5) Little or No Promotional or Advertising Budget– In situations in which you have little or no promotional or advertising budget, it is difficult to compete with brands that have a lot of spending power. One way to compete is to have your product in a secondary location in the store so you have double the chance that a shopper will see your product, which in turn, will help drive brand awareness and also increase your chances of making a sale.
Here are some examples of secondary placement displays that help drive sales. The first example is a Smartwater endcap we made for Coca Cola to go in Stater Brothers stores. The product can be found inline in the beverage section, but the end cap helps to promote the brand and creates another point of purchase location.
A second example is the POP display cart shown below that we designed and manufactured for Nongshim. In many stores, Nongshim’s noodle product is placed inline along with other noodle and soup products. The cart is an example of a secondary grocery store product placement that draws attention to the product and builds awareness of the brand. In this case, two secondary placements serve to double the impact.
Finally, the endcap shown below is an example of a Pepsi endcap we manufactured for Target stores, which immediately drove a 30%-40% lift in sales after installation.
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.