Meet Nick Vujicic. Originally from Australia, Nick is a college graduate, international motivational speaker, inspirational evangelist, serial author, founder of multiple companies, and Best Short Film Actor Award Winner. Married to a beautiful wife and father of 4 kids, Nick loves to paint, swim, surf and skydive. What you might find surprising about Nick, is that he has no arms or legs. Born with an extremely rare congenital disorder known as Phocomelia, Nick was bullied as a kid and attempted suicide at the age of 10. Eventually he overcame his early life struggles and learned to draw on the power of his disability to impact millions of people around the world while also racking up a remarkable set of achievements. There may be no better example of someone who has done so much with so little. Welcome to today’s blog which is about POP displays and doing more with less. If you are interested in learning more about Nick, you might want to watch this incredibly inspirational video.
Whether you have a new product and are trying to build a brand on a shoestring budget or are a more established brand but are out-resourced compared to the big boy brands, consider these 6 strategies for doing more with less:
- Keep it Small and Maximize Product Density– Keeping your display small helps to minimize material cost, and therefore your overall display cost is likely to be lower. In addition to going for a small footprint, fitting as much product on your display, as long as it is tasteful, will enable you to amortize the cost of your display over a greater number of product units. Moreover, a small display will increase your chances of getting placement in more retailers, particularly in retailers who are space-constrained. A small display that requires frequent product replenishment also is likely to appear more successful to the retailer than a larger display that might get replenished once a year.
The Sun Bum lip balm display is a good example of small footprint/high density display that is attractive, affordable, and well-branded.
- Simple– One of the best “Do More with Less” strategies is to keep it simple and minimalistic. The 3 examples below feature simple construction, minimal material usage, and no molds/tooling while also creating a strong focus on the product.
- Cost Effective Materials– Forget the diamond-studded shelf lips and unnecessary accoutrements. Doing more with less means going with cost-effective materials that get the job done. Metal is a cost-effective material that generally knocks down well while also being strong and versatile. The Bionic display show below is very affordable and knocks down to save money in shipping.
Composite or engineered wood products like OSB board are generally good choices for “Do More with Less” strategies. The Innovacyn counter display below is just one example.
And as long as the volumes are sufficient, no discussion about cheap materials is complete without mentioning corrugated. The Surfwater display is just one example of a low-cost way of displaying a single bottle.
- Clear Messaging– Doing more with less has a far greater chance of succeeding as a POP display strategy when the messaging is crystal clear. One of the central missions of a retail display is to be a vehicle for messaging so there are few things more important than nailing your messaging. A good example of a cost-effective metal display with clear messaging is shown below.
- Colorful and Unique Designs– In a hustle and bustle retail world it is always critically important that your POP display stands out and is capable of capturing shoppers’ attention. This can be done in many ways, but if you are trying to “Do More with Less” it can be more challenging. One way to accomplish this is simply by making your display design just a little different than what you typically see in stores and using bright colors to get noticed. We tried to do exactly that with the Cricket Wireless display shown below.
- Embrace Glorifiers– A glorifier is a POP display that is designed to draw attention to your brand or showcase one or more products rather than carrying inventory of the product. As such, glorifiers are generally smaller and cheaper than displays that have product carrying requirements. A couple examples of glorifiers that help to capture shopper attention without requiring a significant investment are shown below.
The next time you wonder how you will ever compete against the giants and establish a strong retail presence for your brand, think about a “Do More with Less” strategy. And the next time you find yourself complaining about a cloudy day, how bad the traffic is, the way in which your rights have been violated, or the insufferable burden of having to wear a mask in the grocery store, think about Nick Vujicic and what it would be like to live even a single day with no arms and legs.
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.