Getting your awards added to a point of sale display
Clever ways to update an existing POS display
One of the best ways to convert retail shoppers into buyers is to install new retail point of sale displays to show off your products. Although what happens when you have distributed and set up hundreds of displays in retail stores & then a product changes or you win an industry award?
Genesis Retail Displays is a point of sale display agency in Sydney that will typically create a new shelf, floor or wall display that has modular elements incorporated into the design. We will typically do this knowing that the brand will require long term use for the display unit. Most of the time our interactive shelf displays are made in durable materials because the brand has secured long term placement from the retail buying team, so rather than producing something in cardboard we will use various plastic, perspex, metal or wood materials to create a shelf display that can show off a product or range of products, but be sturdy enough to last for many months.
Taking this approach does add cost to your point of sale display manufacturing and design costs, but the financial benefits are recovered through better shelf presence & better conversion of shoppers to buyers.
When we are given the opportunity to design a display unit that will go on an end cap, shelf or wall bay we will nearly always try and include modularity int the design so that elements can be changed, swapped or updated as needed. This means new models could be put on display, the marketing materials updated or if you were to win an industry award, you can show it off.
This level of flexibility is why you would choose a custom point of sale design agency compared to purchasing bulk cardboard shipper stands for example.
What sections on point of sale displays could be updated?
In the example above, Philips recently won an industry award for its range of products. Although, hundreds of displays are already located in retail stores with existing marketing messaging, product information and corporate identity implementations that have been signed off locally & regionally.
Rather than producing brand new displays here are a few ways their existing units can be updated to reflect the new award and promote consumer purchases;
- Sticker; one of the simplest things that could be created is a sticker that could be placed behind the products or over the whole header board to update it with the new information available.
- Wobbler; another relatively straightforward way to update the POS display is to add a wobbler to the unit. This could be added to the header board area or the leading edge of the unit to draw attention. By protruding from the unit it may catch someone’s attention quickly.
- Brochure; in this POS display they have an integrated brochure holder with a see-through container. Visually the front of this brochure could be updated to reflect the new award and then feel like it is an integrated element of the shelf display.
- Info card update; depending on the design of the information card section, it may be possible to slide the old ones out and replace them with new ones. This could mean the whole row is refreshed or an individual product card to promote the new award.
- Shelf edge; the leading edge of the display could have a cardboard or plastic element created that sits under the unit to then create an additional surface area for display messages. This can be designed to look and feel like it was originally part of the design. Depending on the depth of the shelf it can sit flush or hang over slightly. Space could be left for retailer pricing tickets to ensure it doesn’t cover their required information.
- Video screen; we have created point of sale displays with product demonstrations supported with video. Integrating a screen into the header board area means a looping video reel can be played at all times.
Although more importantly, if products change, there are seasonal promotions or new awards then the video can be updated to reflect this while the rest of the display remains as is. There are even technologies available that would enable this to be done remotely to save time and money.
How would the point of sale display units get updated?
If you have a display and a defined idea for getting it updated, then the next step is figuring out how to get it done. The most intensive way is bring the units to a central location, update them and then re-distribute, although this takes a lot of time, units get damaged in transit & is costly.
- The common way is to send out a merchandising team to go around and update each unit one by one. This can be labour intensive, but you can assign a brief to the agency to also carry out a competitive analysis. They can take photos of your existing displays so you can see how they are being used, photos of competitors to see what they are up to & essentially give you ‘live’ market intelligence while you get your POS displays updated.
- The other method is a slow remove and replace program where you roll out the new version of the display with updated information as stores request new POS or when you are managing the next roadmap refresh for your range. This can be cost effective but could take months to complete, so you miss out on the competitive advantage of your award being showcased.
- Another method is to distribute the updated element on its own and we can create a set of installation instructions (like the example below) for the in-store staff to follow or a merchandising team if you have a regular visitation cycle in place.
- Video distribution is the other method we mentioned earlier. Here is a good example where the cost of a video interactive display can pay itself back very quickly. To update the display could be as simple as changing the video file, a 40 second task compared to the other methods above. Plus it will look professional as well.
Why should you bother updating your POS display with an award?
Let’s get really practical for a second. There are over 15,000,000 consumers in Australia. Maybe your product is suitable for 2 or 3 million people based on age, demographic, location etc. So if you have just won an award but don’t have a million dollar marketing budget to promote it, how will anyone know you have won it?
You might be lucky and it is so groundbreaking it makes the daily news, perhaps the award giver has a huge database of followers or reaches a wide audience. Chances are, very few people will really ever know you won an award because everyone is so busy & gone are the days where people rely on magazines or in depth stories in mass media to learn about these things.
This means you simply need another vehicle to let people know. Obviously it can be promoted on social media, but this is a short term ‘burst’ of activity and not long lasting. You could do some digital display advertising, but that is costly and short term. A in depth information piece on your website or updated product landing pages could be a good idea, but most shoppers will make their decision in store or on a retailer’s website.
So, it becomes more and more obvious the two long-term solutions are;
- Product packaging; yes, the thing every consumer will probably pick up and look at, read and make a decision from. Getting the award mentioned or even a QR code taking them to a product landing page with all of your awards will make a lot of sense.
- Retail point of sale displays; if you have invested to secure shelf space then you should maximise this at every opportunity. It is the thing that will be consumer-facing 24/7, unlike other promotional methods.
- Retail website product pages; a lot of retailers realise they have to have great information on their websites to convert their online sales, but these can also help in-store. It is important to have awards or other unique pieces of information about your brand or product shown in this medium where you can as well. The consistency between online and in-store can help conversions no matter where someone is shopping.
So getting your retail point of sale displays updated when you win an award or some other industry recognition can be a costly exercise, but can be done in different ways. Most importantly it can help increase purchasing conversions and grow sales.
What types of retail point of sale displays are the most durable?
Most marketing managers, brand managers or trade marketing managers that we deal with will ask us for cardboard point of sale displays. It is the most common type of POS display unit that is made for use in retail stores because of its low cost, and relatively simplicity & because most retail product promotions are short-term executions to tie into catalogue drops.
Although, what if you have managed to secure retail shelf space for a longer period of time in the category area or as part of your existing planogram?
In this scenario, you really need to consider the more durable point-of-sale display ideas unless you are prepared to continually update or replace them as they get worn. While it is possible to make thicker, heavier shelf displays that are made of heavy-duty corrugated cardboard, at the end of the day other materials like perspex, wood or metal will be more durable.
Our POS display agency can help you determine what materials would make sense to be used, including a combination So for example we can make the base of a display unit in perspex but then the header board could be made out of cardboard so it can be changed when required.
Alternatively, the whole unit could be made out of metal, but we could design a sliding panel that could be replaced or updated as needed. This is one of the big benefits of working with an agency like ours that can custom design and manufacture a solution to meet your requirements.
