Hangsell brand blocks for prepaid cards
We helped this brand improve hangsell shelf presentation
International brand, Sony Playstation, engaged Genesis Retail Displays with a brief focussed around improving how their prepaid cards were being presented in retail stores in Australia.
Quite a few brands in gaming, telecommunications and gifting offer prepaid cards that are sold in retail stores, petrol stations and other locations with high shopper traffic volumes. Cision predicts this market segment to be worth $3.2 billion in Australia by 2024.
It isn’t surprising to see why this retail category has become so popular. The physical cards have a very low inventory cost as they are used for display purposes until they are activated at the time of purchase, so it is just pieces of plastic being purchased. They also don’t take up a lot of space because there are no boxes or packaging, this is critical for return on space for retailers.
Therefore it is an ideal way for brands and retailers to present services, products or downloads in a form that takes up very little valuable retail shelf space, with practically zero inventory value & huge revenue upsides. Plus they can be placed practically anywhere in a retail shop to drive cross merchandising opportunities or impulse purchases with complimentary items.
Sony wanted to create a brand block for their prepaid cards using the existing hangsell space so that;
- There was a clearly defined brand block.
- It had self-selection information for consumers.
- The spacing of the cards could be uniformly displayed.
- There was visual separation from competing brands.
- Their in-store execution matched their online presentation.
Starting with the brief we sketched some design ideas to create a brand new hangsell brand block point of sale solution for their prepaid cards to be sold in retail. As you will see below we created a merchandising panel that built the planogram instructions into the display itself to make it simple for retail staff to arrange the product. This also allows shoppers to navigate the available choices options easily.
The display we created is a durable metal construction which hooks onto the existing store fixtures easily. The card location planogram is made from a printed magnetic vinyl panel which can be changed if required without needed a new display unit. A clear POS window allows for easy updates to be executed for tactical campaigns or promotions.
A 4G digital screen variation can command shopper attention and deliver content or information to increase sales. By using wireless 4G everything can be updated remotely from a central location to reduce implementation costs vs print with traditional posters or wobblers.
Genesis Retail Displays managed everything to create a turn key solution for the brand;
- Initial ideas
- Designs
- Technical development
- Prototyping
- Test-fitting program
- Merchandiser trial fits
- Manufacture
- Coordination of national distribution
- Installation and reporting
The importance of prepaid card point of sale displays in retail
Consumer interest in gift cards in Australia continues to reach record levels. Google Trends shows constant growth in the search volume online with huge spikes around October & November each year. This is why it has become such an important category for brands to execute well with point of sale displays in retail.
Just walk into Coles or Woolworths and you can see they have whole aisle ends dedicated to gift cards near the checkout areas. Then they are also placed in multiple points around the store to drive impulse purchase decisions.
Genesis has helped global brands in Australia to design different types of prepaid card point of sale display stands that are freestanding, countertop, for end caps or wall bay shelves. Our designs have been used in grocery supermarket stores, petrol stations, consumer electronics retailers and newsagents.
The existing prepaid card wall bay area in retail
The existing prepaid cards did not have a very strong visual presence, in fact they were ‘lost’ and obscured by the stock on the shelves due to their relative size & thickness.
It meant any shopper looking down the aisle would easily miss them and assume the store didn’t sell the cards. The bay also lacked any visual branding other than the header card.
Designing prepaid product point of sale display ideas
Once we understood the brief and completed our store inspections we began to sketch some initial ideas to help visualise our thoughts on solving this point of sale problem.
This step enables our designers to create visual renders and mock ups that can be used to get approvals from brand managers, retailers or other stakeholders.
Point of sale display visual mock ups
We take those sketches to then create a number of design ideas or choices that are presented as a visual mock up. This representation can help our design team and other stakeholders to refine the ideas & exchange feedback before arriving at the final design.
In this example we showed two distinct ideas;
- Static prepaid card display using hangsell hooks.
- Interactive prepaid card display that incorporated space for a small LCD screen that could play video content and receive updates via 4G wireless to save costs on merchandisers.
We take those sketches to then create a number of design ideas or choices that are presented as a visual mock up. This representation can help our design team and other stakeholders to refine the ideas & exchange feedback before arriving at the final design.
In this example we showed two distinct ideas;
- Static prepaid card display using hangsell hooks.
- Interactive prepaid card display that incorporated space for a small LCD screen that could play video.
The advantage of using a point of sale design agency like Genesis Retail Displays is that everything is bespoke.
So every inch of your design is created specifically for you. A little bit like wedding dress couture, the final design fits every element of your brief, brand or product perfectly, made just for you – you aren’t using generic displays.
Retail point of sale display mock ups for stakeholder approvals
One of the steps we also take in our point of sale design process is to create mock ups or renders using a retail store for reference.
This visual step puts every element into perspective and the materials created can be used by brand managers, product managers, trade marketing managers or even the sales team to pitch to their accounts.
This can also be used to create instructions for merchandisers or store staff so they can visualise the end result. Plannogram teams can also sometimes use this to create their guides.
Our team also takes into consideration corporate identity guidelines as well as seeing how products are being presented by the brand in other formats. In the images below you can see just how strong the tie up is between offline and online.
From point of sale design concept to instore set up & installation
Our team successfully solved this point of sale display problem for Sony Playstation with the before and after comparison testament to the design work completed. The visual impact for shoppers is immediate, it is instantly recognisable as a Sony PlayStation branded area that can be seen from either end of an aisle or on a wall area.
The hangsell brand block display fits on existing retailer shelves which reduces the cost of making customised shelving & improves the ease of installation. These cost & time savings are possible by creating custom made point of sale materials using a design agency.
