How Customized Displays Give You a Competitive Advantage

McIntyre Retail Displays May 26, 2017 Custom Retail Displays, LED Lighting, News, Point of Purchase Displays

Did you know:
The average U.S. consumer spends roughly $5,400 a year on impulse buys and unplanned purchases.

A survey of 2,000 consumers shows that they make at least three impulse purchases a week.

If you’re not making the most of your customized displays, you’re not harnessing the power of consumer psychology—and you’re sacrificing a lot of profit as a result.

Customized displays let you make your own statement. Does your product have an iconic color, shape or logo? We can easily recreate it, and our powder coating capabilities ensure that you’ll get the exact color and shade needed.

At McIntyre Manufacturing, we consider ourselves a member of your team, and we are dedicated to helping you succeed. We believe there are six main ways a customized display gives you a competitive advantage, and by reviewing these points, you’ll quickly understand that a customized display is powerful, effective and promotes a great return on your investment.

1. A customized display gets attention.

Coca-Cola has gained worldwide recognition with its product, which features the familiar red label and white lettering. However, another vital aspect of the product’s successful branding is the shape of the bottle. Coke wanted a customized bottle so it would not be confused with other bottles of brown cola on store shelves.

In this example, a company decided to customize their product to give it a competitive edge and make it stand out from their competitors. The hourglass shape of the bottle is instantly recognized by customers across the world.

What can your customized display glean from this?

If you were creating a customized display for a Coke product, you could easily create a POP display in the same shape as the iconic bottle. This would not only grab the customers’ attention, but it would also reinforce the brand message. In addition, its form would easily stand out from the competition.

How Can A Customized Display Grab Your Customers’ Attention?

Messaging is only part of the story. In order to be successful, you must have a design that sells by utilizing the best in aesthetic principles. We believe that you’ll discover, in many ways, that less can be more when it comes to design.

In this decade of information overload, some companies may mistakenly believe that a display has to have a lot of bells and whistles to catch a potential customer’s attention. In reality, too much visual stimulation can become “white noise” amid the chaos of information overload that is bombarding our culture.

In these cases, less is more. Why? Because your eye is naturally drawn to something that is different, similar to how a black and white photo will stand out when displayed with color photos.

We’ll show you why being clear, concise and understated can work to your advance in custom retail displays.

Less is More: The Design Principle

First, a brief art history lesson. Minimalism, as an art form, is relatively new, taking hold in the United States around the 1960s. Its purpose was to peel back the “layers” of an object in order to showcase its true form.

With all of the excesses of multicolored hues removed, minimalism creates a clean, bare design that easily delivers a message without distraction, according to information from Creative Market, a site that provides design tools to creative professionals.

Other characteristics of minimalism include:
• Natural lighting
• Simplicity
• Clean, uncluttered lines
• Neutral colors
• Natural flooring
• Use of organic materials

But how can these principles help you create an effective POP display that grabs attention? These minimalist elements will enhance your customized retail display.

Typography

The underlying principle is to keep the fonts clean and simple. However, simple does not equal boring. You can play with this element by using oversized letters or even distilling the essence of the product to one word.

White space

Allow for plenty of space around your verbiage so your potential customers can see it clearly. By eliminating any additional distractions, they’ll be drawn to the words. You can see a good example in this display that we created for Icelandic Water. (You can view this and other examples of our award-winning work by flipping through our portfolio.)

Notice how the use of white space emphasizes the wording on the POP display. In addition, the clean lines of subtle blue give the impression of ice, implying cold and refreshing—exactly the type of message we wanted to send. Do you see how minimalism can make a huge difference?

Icons

By their very nature, icons are minimalist. A perfect example is the Apple logo. Apple’s print advertisements often feature several effective elements of minimalism, such as the iconic images for the iPod and the great use of white space for the iMac.

What Does This Mean for Custom Retail Displays?

The main advantage of the “less is more” principle is that it gives a chance for your content and product to stand out. Displays that are too “busy” or feature too many elements can cause your message to be lost. When you consider that many retail POP displays bombard the senses with color, noise and videos, you can see how easy it is to stand out by saying less.

One of the advantages of working with McIntyre Manufacturing is that our team of engineers know much more than the nuts and bolts of a product—they know the principles of good design and how it can enhance your brand messaging. We’d love a chance to help you reach your sales goals by providing a customized POP display that brings you the best return on your investment.

2. Customized displays make more efficient use of available space and lighting.

Efficiency is another way that a customized display can reap benefits for your company.

Is your display going to be at a job fair where there’s a certain size and space limit, or will it be featured on the end of an aisle at Target? Even if your product is regularly displayed at the end of the Target aisle, what if your marketing department determines that another location would be more advantageous?

A customized display is flexible. It can be easily outfitted with wheels and movable parts that allow you to streamline or expand it as needed. This has several advantages. First, it’s more environmentally responsible because there’s no need to create a new display. Second, it’s more economically feasible, ensuring you’ll get the most “bang for your buck” when you invest in a customized POP display.

Either way, it ensures you’re not “locked down” into one particular area.

When you plan on using a display in several different locations, you can NOT use “one size fits all” lighting. Use customizable LED lighting so you can easily readjust lights as needed to guide customers’ eyes where you want them to go.

3. You can easily change your display to meet the needs of your audience.

Perhaps your latest power tools are popular with both private contractors and weekend home renovation “do it yourself” hobbyists. Both are looking for a dependable, quality product that’s also a good value.

These potential customers are looking for the same thing—but they are completely different audiences. The private contractor may need to purchase multiple items while the hobbyist may only need a few tools. A customized display allows you to adjust your message for each client.

You can customize one for the contractor that features several different tools, along with information on volume sales. Likewise, you can tailor a smaller selection to the weekend hobbyist, perhaps decorating your display with renovation “before and after” photos that were completed using your tools.

4. Customization allows you to make changes.

It’s a fact of life in today’s climate: companies merge, strategies change and CEOs may adjust their vision based upon economic indicators of the marketplace. We can work closely with you to not only adjust your displays, but to help you find the most economical way to deliver your new brand message.

5. A customized display is a team effort.

At McIntyre Manufacturing, we’re interested in much more than creating a wonderful display. We want to know what’s at the heart of your business. Our desire is to understand your company’s philosophy and story. Only then can we embark on creating a customized product that will elevate your brand.

We understand that creating a display that will deliver results is vital in this competitive economy. That’s why we hope you’ll consider the advantages we’ve outlined. Give us a call. We’d love to discuss how we can help you meet your goals.

6. Customized Displays Can Help You Capture the Impulse Buyer

Impulse purchases average around $450 a month.

The top five areas of impulse purchases are: food (which represents around 71 percent of impulse purchasing), clothing, takeout and shoes.
We’ll take a look at why impulse buying is so common and how a creative, customized display can enable you to take advantage of these lucrative opportunities.

The science behind impulse buying

Impulse buying is hard-wired in our brains. There are several reasons shoppers find it difficult to resist a good deal, especially when it’s presented as a creative checkout display. Psychologists believe the science behind impulse buying centers on these principles:

The love of shopping
Loss aversion (“I might feel bad if I miss out on this deal or if the product is unavailable when I want it.”)
Rules of thumb (Believing that buying in bulk and “three for the price of two” deals are always great bargains, even if they actually aren’t.)
Free extras (Getting something for free if you purchase an item always seems like a good idea.)
Keys to creative checkout displays that will capture the impulse buyer

Use stair step designs to draw the consumer’s eye upward to the product.

These designs give the impression of motion and provide the perfect opportunity to showcase different varieties, flavors or colors of your product. For example, we created this display for Quest gum. Notice how the staggered layers of different colors gradually draw your eye to the top of the display and naturally move your train of thought to the price. Visually, we placed the orange and blue complementary colors together to provide both clarity and contrast.

Bend the laws of physics.

Well, of course you can’t break the laws of physics, but you can create an optical illusion. Imagine a paint bucket that seems to hover in midair while the paint “spills” onto your display. Our eyes are naturally drawn to something that appears unusual or extraordinary, and this can help ensure your product gets more than a passing glance.

Use strong geometric lines that complement the shape and style of your product.

We used a long, narrow, slightly waved shape to grab attention in this piece we did for Lenox Power Arc. The shape of the display mimics the name of the product and emphasizes its thin, silvery shape. Notice how the shape draws your attention to the “up to 2x life” wording.

How to Ensure Your Display Stands Out in a Crowd

When it comes to POP retail display stands, there’s nothing worse than being ordinary.

These advantages of a customized display are useless unless you’re able to effectively make sure it does much more than merely garner attention—it has to be easily able to stand out in a crowd.
Don’t get us wrong—ordinary has its place. However, it’s not a good choice when you want to make a statement that separates you from the rest of the pack. We want you to have a customized display that will not only make you stand out from your competitors, but will also foster brand loyalty that helps you establish (and keep) repeat customers.

Therefore, we’ve outlined four useful ways to ensure your point-of-purchase display stands above the competition.

1. Don’t skimp on graphics.

If you bought an $80,000 car, would you plaster the back fender in tacky, neon bumper stickers? We wouldn’t either. Our point is that it makes no sense to spend capital on creating a custom retail display, investing in your brand and then use poor quality stock art, or even worse, generic clip art, to proclaim your message.
Your product is too important. Give every aspect of your graphic—from lettering to color to texture—the royal treatment. This attention to detail will register with your potential customers.

2. Ensure vital information is readily available.

If you want customers to learn more by going to your website, make sure the website is in clear letters in a prominent area of your display. You need to be sure your clients know what your product is, what it promises, how it will help them and where they can purchase it. If this information isn’t evident in a cursory glance, your window of opportunity narrows.
We understand it’s difficult to squeeze all that information into a limited amount of space. That’s why our designers and engineers are the perfect mix of detailed craftsmen and creative thinkers. We have one goal: to provide the highest-quality display that will showcase your product and lead to sales.

3. Have a clear call-to-action on your display stands.

It’s not enough to provide useful, needed information to potential clients—you have to let them know what you want them to do in response to it. Maybe you want them to sample your latest salsa or sign up for the company newsletter. Even better, maybe your product is the latest cordless drill with a new, more comfortable grip that just begs to be picked up and experienced.

Whatever you want your customer to do, make it clear by providing verbiage or graphics to indicate direction. This also allows the customer to engage with your product emotionally. which makes it more likely that a sale will result.

4. Use all the tools at your disposal.

An outstanding display is, of course, more than graphics or messaging. A successful presentation is about the overall picture. This includes directional lighting, powder coating, accessibility and the texture / structure of the booth. Don’t depend on just one element to tell your story. Remember: you can have the best graphics in the world, but if your display isn’t well lit and your clients can’t see it clearly, you’ve wasted your time and money.

Your POP display is a brand ambassador!

It’s hard to quantify all the wonderful aspects of your company or product into one display, but our talented team can make it happen. Examine your current POP devices and ask yourself if they are proving as effective as they can be. Questions? We’ve got the experience and expertise to help, whether you are a company of 500 or 500,000.

Need some ideas? We’ve got you covered

A successful customized display is more than a slogan or a statement. It accomplishes its goal of gaining customers in a smooth, efficient and profitable manner. This makes it a much better investment than a “one-size-fits-all” generic display.

Our team has worked with thousands of businesses to help them build on their brand, producing measurable results. This dedication to professionalism and creativity has made us the leading expert in not only creating displays, but finding the most economical way to make and ship them.

So whether you have a specific vision or just a vague idea you scribbled on a napkin, let us take your concept to completion to enhance both your product and your bottom line.

Since 1977, McIntyre Manufacturing Group has created custom-designed displays with an uncompromised dedication to customer service. We utilize the latest technology and attention to detail to create the finest products with excellent craftsmanship. If you can dream it, we can create it. Contact us to see how we can bring your vision to life.