When it comes to retail displays, creativity is as important as it has ever been as retail stores have become saturated with a multitude of competitive products, all of which are vying for shopper attention. At the same time, the attention span of shoppers has decreased in direct proportion to the growth of cell phones, texting, social media, and all things digital. Most industry experts agree that the window to capture a shopper's attention is about 3 seconds. Ensuring that your point-of-purchase display is as creative as possible is one of the best ways of capturing shopper attention. Let's consider 8 creative retail displays that have the potential to capture shopper attention, increase shopper engagement, and drive sales.
1. Romo Counter Display-We designed a counter display for Romotive that focused on showcasing the personality of ROMO, its personal robot product. We created a tabletop display that was constructed of acrylic and included a clear acrylic space-age dome, an air-brushed latex moonscape, LED lights, a digital media player, and digital graphics with targeted messaging, and most importantly, a fully powered ROMO robot. This display was particularly successful because it put the focus on ROMO and created an environment in which ROMO could move around and fully express his personality.
2. Brighton Collectibles Floor Display - We designed this creative spinning floor display for Brighton Collectibles. Not only did the entire display spin, but each of the 4 panels spun independently and featured interchangeable fabric panels with adjustable crossbars for hanging jewelry. We built-in mirrors, bracelet bars, framed graphics, and a decorative top finial.
3. Fat Brain Toys Floor Display - The Fat Brain Toys floor display is a good example of using color and imagery to produce an eye-catching, fun, and creative display that invites interaction from kids and adults alike. We made the core structure out of pre-finished birch plywood with colorfully painted pine wood trim, brightly colored edge banding, and direct printed graphics.
4. Knesko Skin Cart - Instead of a traditional counter or floor skincare display, we designed a mobile cart that could be used to bring Knesko's line of collagen face masks and skincare products to resort customers who are enjoying time at the pool. The cart featured solid surface construction with direct printed graphics, an ice tub to keep collagen masks cold, a branded umbrella, and ample inside storage.
5. Club Nirvana CBD Mall Kiosk - We designed, fabricated, and installed this unique CBD mall kiosk in a California mall for Club Nirvana. We constructed the display out of MDF, wood, and acrylic. The display included an MDF structure with floating wood shelves, a direct-printed center panel, two touchscreen digital media players, locking inside storage, a lightbox, generous LED lighting, and 6 iPad tablet holders.
6. Ravage Wine Fireplace - We brought the home into the grocery store when we created this Ravage Wine fireplace display. The display was used to merchandise bottles of wine on top and stacked cases of wine around the fireplace. We built the display out of MDF which we painted black before adding laser-cut metal branding.
7. Woodbridge Wine Staircase Display - To support Woodbridge Wine's home-centric message, we created a staircase display with mounted pictures to help shoppers envision drinking Woodbridge Wine in their homes. Not only was this display intended to be creative, but we also aimed for authentic execution. It was well merchandised with stacked cases of wine surrounding it.
8. 9Five Sunglass Display - 9Five makes a line of sunglasses designed to capture a younger demographic- late teens and early 20's. We created a sunglass floor display that featured a locking case with an illuminated back panel and header. What made this display unique was the arcade theme we built into the display. We incorporated a real joy stick, gaming buttons, and coin slots with a padlock security feature.
Building creativity into your displays requires a conscious effort and an investment of time and resources, but an attention-getting and highly differentiated display that stands out at retail can yield a significant return on investment if well executed.
Jim Hollen is the owner and President of RICH LTD. ( www.richltd.com), a California-based point-of-purchase display, retail store fixture, and merchandising solutions firm. A former management consultant with McKinsey & Co., Jim has authored more than 500 blogs on POP displays and retail merchandising. Jim earned his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
