Is a Great-Looking Display a Great Retail Display?

A retail display should look good. It represents a brand, often in a highly competitive environment, and may have only a few seconds to capture someone’s attention. For a major product launch or flagship installation, appearance can be particularly important.

But stand back from the finished display and there are plenty of other ways to judge whether the design is actually successful.

1. Can customers understand it?
2. Can they access the product easily?
3. Can store teams keep it stocked?
4. Does it hold enough product?
5. Will it withstand everyday use?
6. Does it fit the space?
7. And can it be manufactured at the required volume and budget?

A great-looking display is a good start. There is considerably more for the designer to solve.

What does the customer need to do?

Retail displays exist to be used. Sometimes the desired interaction is extremely simple. See the product, understand what it is and pick it up. Other displays have more to communicate. There might be several products to compare, different variants to choose between or information that helps someone make a purchasing decision. The design needs to support that interaction.

• Where is the product positioned?
• What does the customer see first?
• Is it obvious what they can pick up or interact with?
• Can they reach it comfortably?
• Does the display communicate the brand without overwhelming the product?

A display can look fantastic in a render and still make life unnecessarily difficult for the person standing in front of it.

Store teams are users too

The customer isn’t the only person who interacts with a retail display. Someone has to replenish it. Someone will clean it. Products may need to be rearranged, graphics replaced or storage accessed. That can lead to a completely different set of design questions.

• How quickly can stock be replenished?
• Is there storage within the unit?
• Can staff easily see when stock is running low?
• Can doors and drawers be accessed when the display is in its intended position?
• Are there awkward areas that will be difficult to keep clean?

A small inconvenience might not seem particularly important when looking at a prototype once. For a member of store staff dealing with it several times a day, it can become much more significant.

Capacity matters

There is also a commercial reality to consider. Retail space is valuable. A display needs to make sensible use of the footprint it occupies, and part of that can mean holding enough product to meet the retailer’s requirements.

Too little capacity could mean constant replenishment or empty shelves during busy periods. Trying to squeeze too much product into the same space can create a cluttered display that is difficult to shop. Finding the right balance between presentation, accessibility and stockholding is part of the design challenge. And sometimes a relatively small change to shelf spacing, product orientation or internal storage can make a meaningful difference.

It has to survive the real world

Retail environments can be demanding. Customers interact with displays all day. Products are repeatedly removed and replaced. Trolleys and baskets get knocked into things. Doors and drawers are opened. Store teams clean and replenish units. What looked pristine on installation day needs to continue doing its job afterwards. That affects decisions about construction, materials, finishes and components.

• How much weight will a shelf carry?
• Where are the likely points of wear?
• Could a vulnerable component be strengthened?
• Can something be replaced if it is damaged?

The expected lifespan matters too. A display intended for a short promotional campaign has different requirements from a permanent fixture expected to remain in store for years.

Good design takes account of the environment the finished display is going into.

Then there is the space itself

The display also has to work within the store. There might be a very specific footprint available. Height could be restricted. Sightlines may need to remain clear. Customers need sufficient room to move around it. Existing fixtures, power supplies or architectural features might influence where components can sit. For a national rollout, there may also be several store formats rather than one identical environment. A design that works beautifully in isolation still has to work when it meets the shop floor.

And somebody has to make it

Eventually, the design has to leave the screen. This is another important part of the process at Benchmark. Our designers work closely with our manufacturing teams across joinery, metalwork, plastics, print and finishing. That means manufacturing considerations can form part of design development rather than only being addressed once the concept has been completed.

• Can the proposed component actually be made?
• Is there a more efficient way to construct it?
• Are the chosen materials appropriate?
• Can it be assembled reliably?

And if the client needs 300 units rather than one, can it be manufactured repeatedly at the required cost and within the available timeframe? The answers can influence the design without compromising what the designer is trying to achieve. Sometimes they can improve it.

So, what does a great retail display look like?

There probably isn’t one answer. It depends on the product, brand, customer, store environment, lifespan, budget and purpose of the display. For one project, visual impact might dominate the brief. For another, displaying a large amount of stock within a very small footprint might be the challenge. Another might need to make a complicated product range incredibly easy to understand.

The best solution comes from understanding which problems need to be solved and designing around them. When that work has been done well, the customer walking through the store will never know how many decisions went into the display in front of them. They’ll simply see something that looks good, understand what it’s showing them and find it easy to use.

That’s a pretty good measure of success.

Planning a new retail display?

Benchmark’s in-house team can support projects from initial concept and technical development through prototyping, manufacture and installation.

Call 01462 633000 or email sales@bench-mark.co.uk to talk to the Benchmark team.