Displays for Retailers: Strategic and Unique Ways To Promote Products

shutterstock 1938868543

3 Strategic Ways Retailers Can Promote Products and Get More Sales

There’s a few easy ways that you can increase your sales. And they aren’t expensive, time consuming, or difficult.

If you want to sell more product, you need to make sure your store, and the products themselves, are set up to prime your customers for buying. While there’s some easy display solutions you can incorporate in your layout and shelving, there’s also one very simple thing that many retailers aren’t doing- and it’s free.

1. Scarcity Sells

The less there is of something, the more value it seems to have[1]. That’s why those annoying e-commerce sites have those pop ups saying ‘someone from Christchurch just ordered this!’ or ‘only 2 left in stock!’ It’s there to give you FOMO – the fear of missing out.

While it’s easy to do this in an online store, it can be a bit harder to do in a physical store. Having only one or two items left can make them look bedraggled, like they’ve been left behind because they were unwanted. So how can you sell, using scarcity, without looking like the product is unloved and unwanted?

Dump bins.

These bins are a great way to sell product for several reasons.

  • They are easy to move around and put at the end of aisles, a great place for buyers to see things
  • People love to rummage around and find bargains
  • A selection of items together in a dump bin are not orphans; they are scarce objects you don’t want to miss out on! A sign saying ‘Last in stock!’ is the only call to action you’ll need.

Here at Mills, we have a selection of dump bins to suit your needs.

2. Get in Your Customer’s Face

One of the best ways to get a person to buy a product is to ensure they can’t miss you. Psychologists tell us that people are pretty fickle, and spend mere seconds looking at products before deciding to buy or not, often without even reading a line of text on the packaging[2].

So you need a way to present your product that grabs the attention of your typical speed-shopper. And one step further, you want them to touch it. Once a person has touched an item, they are more likely to buy it; and the longer they hold it, the more they want it[3].

One way of disrupting a customer’s shopping experience and getting their attention is using hangsells. These allow you to display your product in a way that’s easily accessible, it’s able to be moved around the store as desired, and it’s economical.

We have four types of hangsell strips:

You’ll also need some fasteners:

3. Make Sure You Provide the Most Basic Information

Strip away the fancy marketing, the loud excitement, the fluff and frills, and ensure you give people the basic information about your store. Make sure your Google My Business page has your opening hours, and good pictures of the parking, shop front, and some nice photos of the interior.

You can put whatever photos you want up; so if you have a unique product or brand, take photos of it and put them up. Also, list your USP in the description, so if someone is searching for a particular item, your shop will come up in their Google results.

Many retailers don’t update their GMB listing and it’s the easiest way to get customers. After viewing listings, over half of customers then visit the business website, 20% call for directions to the store, and 24% call for other reasons, like to see if a specific item is in stock[4]. Having a great Google business listing that is up to date is an easy way to promote your business and increase sales.

Need Retail Display Solutions in NZ?

Here at Mills, we have dump bins, hang sell strips, and a huge range of other display solutions. We can help you find the ideal solution for your retail display. We’ve had years of experience, we know the retail trends, and can advise you on the best solutions for your space and customers.

 

[1] https://cxl.com/blog/scarcity-examples/#:~:text=The%20scarcity%20principle%20is%20the,more%20demand%20drives%20up%20prices.

[2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283459596_The_impact_of_product’s_packaging_color_on_customers’_buying_preferences_under_time_pressure

[3] https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/11FB3A432CD165B8E134C50433337A03/S193029750000005Xa.pdf/power_of_touch_an_examination_of_the_effect_of_duration_of_physical_contact_on_the_valuation_of_objects.pdf

[4] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1041427/customer-actions-per-gmb-listing/

Read more

Top Promotional Tactics Using Brochure Holders

Mills Display Retail Trends and Tips

How to Create Amazing Collateral and Use Brochure Holders to Drive Sales

Brochures provide potential customers all the time and information they need to make decisions. And, they act as a physical reminder to take action (which will be to buy your product or service, obviously).

Brochures are fantastic for marketing. They allow you to:

  • Add value, such as supplying recipes to go with ingredients or instructions for your products
  • Move high-end merchandise and services by going into depth into benefits, which customers can peruse in the comfort and time of their own home
  • Provide portable reminders, prompting website visits and spurring sales

But you’ve got to get it right; there’s no point just putting any old brochure or pamphlet on a benchtop and hoping it works. That is simply throwing spaghetti on a wall and hoping some of it sticks. So how can you ensure you get the best bang for your collateral buck?

1. Tailor the Content to Your Audience

Who is your target audience? The brochure should be designed with them in mind. You wouldn’t use dense text for toddlers, instead you’d have bright and engaging photos. In the same way, you probably don’t want a lot of jargon if your purchaser is a Jo Bloggs who doesn’t know their horsepower from their gigawatts (or whatever).

You’ll also want a mix of images and text, using headings to make it easy to scan. The whole point of having physical printed collateral is so the potential customer takes it home to read; make it engaging.

2. Choose the Right Form of Brochure

Do you need a large A4 document, or a DLE fold-out brochure? Would a DLE single card be enough, or what about a business card display with contact details? People don’t want screeds of useless information if they only want the contact details of your company IT decision maker; nor is a DLE single sided card any use if you’re trying to explain complex instructions.

3. Provide Extra Value

Whatever it looks like, give the brochure added bonuses. Whether it’s a discount coupon, a QR code to a special online landing page with more information, or real-life value like a recipe or colouring in page for the kids.

4. Distribute the Brochure

But once you’ve designed your beautiful and engaging brochure, you need a way to display it. Countertops are great but a strong gust of wind or enquiring toddler hand and the pile will soon be on the floor. So, how do you display them in a way that keeps them tidy, accessible, and where they need to be?

If you’ve got your product right there, or maybe you’re selling a service that goes with a product (like installing that high-end home theatre system), a free standing brochure holder on a counter or benchtop provides an easy, accessible, and secure way to display your brochures. At Mills Display, we have a selection of options depending on the size of your brochure, whether it’s DLE or A4.

While it makes sense to have informative brochures kept next to the relevant product, there can be instances where that’s not the best place. For example, if you’re wanting to promote a loyalty program, then having a freestanding brochure stand in the checkout queue is a logical place to put it.

If you’re a restaurant wanting people to take your takeaway menu home, then having it right next to the front door or on the outdoor menu stand is ideal. Or, you can run your promotions 24/7 using an outdoor wall mounted brochure holder.

Contact Mills Display for Brochure Holders in NZ

Once the designer has made the collateral, and the printer has created the brochure, you have to display it optimally. Whether it’s inside, outside, bench top or freestanding, we have a wide range of brochure holders and can help you choose the best one for your needs. Contact us on (09) 634 5962 or sales@millsdisplay.co.nz to chat about our options and pricing.

Read more

Visual Merchandising: New Way of Organizing Products on Shelves

shutterstock 772761892

How you present your products on the shelf can amplify sales. It’s a mix of basic shelf psychology, modern display solutions, and a bit of creativity.

If any bricks-and-mortar retail store wants to increase sales, part of the equation is using shelf space in the best possible way. For a long time, we’ve known that simply putting products on the shelf is the bare minimum; there’s so much science behind where, what, and how.

From the basic to the bold, we’ve got ideas that can give your shelving displays new life.

Empty Space on Shelves Deters Customers

Gaps on shelves give the impression that you’re not stocking shelves well. It also, rather conversely, makes other areas with product look jumbled and messy. Empty-looking shelves make people postpone purchases, purchase their items elsewhere, or buy online. An empty shelf can deter up to 46% of customers[1]. Fix this by:

  • Rearranging items on the shelf to give the impression of fullness
  • Make sure there’s space for new items and plenty of growth opportunities
  • Paying attention to the data. How long are products on the shelf for? Which ones move fastest? Use AI to make sure you always have stock when you need it and avoid those gaps in supply
Light Up Your Product

Shops need to be well lit because it can result in higher customer spends. There are four main types of lighting to consider:

  • Ambient- the general lighting around the store
  • Accent – focuses on specific areas to bring awareness
  • Decorative – optional lighting to make things prettier
  • Task – functional lighting, for example, at the cash register

Done well, lighting should encourage people to buy; we know that bright lights make people more likely to impulse buy[1].

Consumers Like Order and Organization

People like to know where things are. Consumers have certain expectations of retail outlets, like deodorants are going to be in the same aisle as the soap, or chocolate is going to be close to the biscuits.

People also like order: labels to the front, products not shoved at the back of the shelf.

Disorganization is a sales killer, with about 50% of people[1] who had a negative experience with messy inventory or broken shelves walking away from a sale.

Keep your shelves organised and tidy using boxes and shelf dividers. Boxes comes in extra small, small, medium, large, and extra large. These boxes help you to create places for everything, and keep everything in the right place.

Another way to keep shelves looking well-arranged is with shelf dividers. Keeping products in nice tidy lines not only helps to ensure no chaos on the shelf, but also just looks nicer. If your shelves have variable depths, try using a breakable divider. These can be snapped to fit any size from 285mm to 485mm long. There’s two heights, 60mm or 120mm. You’ll also need to buy the appropriate T profile strip adhesive.

If the divider will be permanent, you could try these deli dividers, which could be adhered with double sided tape. They come in 100 x 500mm, 100 x 600mm, 100 x 700mm, and 100 x 800mm.

Also, it’s worth having employees educated on standards around front-facing labels. When items are stacked on the shelf, the labels should be facing the front. During general tidying throughout the day, staff should ensure products remain label-facing.

Things You Want to Sell Go at Eye Level

Whether this is an item that’s on sale, a new product, or the ultra-expensive eye cream that featured in some magazine last week, put it at eye level. This means it will be the first thing a customer will see, and we know customers are fickle and will always take the easiest and first option that presents itself.

Sort by Colour

While the whole chromatic ordering vibe isn’t for everyone or everything, it can be super effective. Seeing a whole shelf of one colour or a rainbow of products can be very enticing. It doesn’t make things easier to find, it doesn’t make any particular product the star, but it will draw the eye and slow customers down.

It’s likely something your competitors aren’t doing so can really set you apart. Some people are going to complain they can’t find what they want easily, but to the right customer, this could be fun.

Use Signage

This isn’t groundbreaking; signage draws attention. But, different types of signage do different things.

  • Wobblers/ danglers: These little signs pop off the shelf on a strip of plastic, and can draw attention to a product or item. These are common, but imagine seeing a line of these little guys wobbling in the breeze.
  • Aisle violators: These are the large vertical signs that jut out into the aisle. These can be very effective for signs and directions, but also for a product or special offer.
  • Shelf talkers: These can take a variety of forms, but are generally small-ish tickets that jut out of the shelf and draw attention to a product or maybe provide information. There are also ones that can be made to encompass an entire shelf area, include aisle violators, or even become a façade for a large area.
Need Shelf Dividers or Display Solutions?

In this push for pretty, don’t forget functionality. Keep products arranged logically, accessibly, and displayed effectively. We’ve been working in visual merchandising in NZ for years, and we know Kiwi customers, the products that can work, and we’ve probably got ideas that might help solve your display problems. Contact us to chat about your retail display options.

 

[1] https://nielseniq.com/global/en/insights/analysis/2022/empty-shelves-in-america-u-s-retailers-lost-over-82-billion-in-2021/

[1] https://www.ijsr.net/archive/v3i11/T0NUMTQxMTAy.pdf

[1] https://servicechannel.com/go/retail-report/

 

Read more

Inspiration for your Deli and Bakery Displays

Macarons

Bored with the same-old, same-old? We’ve got some ideas to spark up your food presentation skills in bakery and deli displays.

Got a selection of lush salads, cured meat, cheese, deli goods, and bakery items? You need to make them look so good, no-one can resist buying them. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to make yummy food look great, and most Kiwis are a sucker for some treats. Whether it’s some fancy cheese or a no-effort dinner of a rotisserie chicken, bread rolls, and some deli salads, you can make your deli and bakery display solutions inspiring and mouth-watering.

Be Decadent with Cake Stands

Cake stands can introduce height to displays, they can be used with cake covers, and they are not only for cakes. Almost anything will look lush when styled nicely on a cake stand, whether its cheese, dessert, or deli meats.

Picture1

There are a few different ways to do this. Try:

And don’t forget the cake stand cover to protect against sneezes and to add a touch of elegance.

Add a Flourish of Green

To break up a display of things that are the same colour or texture, some fresh green plants can really liven up a display. Of course, real plants aren’t necessarily safe or hygienic, so you need some fronds you can throw in the dishwasher or wash with bleach.

Picture2

From grapes to lettuce leaves, box hedges to the classic parsley sprigs, it can really elevate a display.

Use Height

Any designer, whether it’s for architecture or a website, knows that the use of height and space is vital to create a pleasing aesthetic. Sometimes, it’s great to have pastries piled up into some kind of lush mountain, other times, it’s great to have a regular and orderly look. Not only do height differences create visual appeal, but it’s also highly functional, so customers can easily see everything. It’s also simple economics; retail space is expensive, make the best use of it.

Picture3

We have a selection of risers to choose from. From 40mm high, 80mm high, 120mm high, or in three-step sets.

Natural and Rustic Displays

While this doesn’t work for everyone, a beautiful natural affect can look really enticing- especially in a bakery department.

Picture4

Our range of wicker baskets in NZ are food safe, super hygienic, and look fantastic.

Vary the Surface of the Chopping Board, Plate, or Tray

There are so many different options for displaying food on a plate or tray. It’s not just plain white plates and bowls (although they can be super effective in making the food the star of the show).

Timber, coloured, and different sized plates, bowls, and platters really spice up tired displays.

Picture5

Things to Think About When Displaying Food

You also need to meet various food compliance laws, and ensure that veg and non-veg are well separated; same for pork and non-pork items. As NZ becomes increasingly diverse, both in culture and how we eat, this needs to be recognised in the variety of food, and how it’s displayed.

For example, dropping a pork or beef item on a vegetarian dish renders it inedible for vegetarians, vegans, Muslims and Jews (no pork), and Hindus (no beef). A dairy-based sauce dripped on a dairy free item can spell havoc for the stomach of someone allergic to milk. Or, gluten-containing items snuggled up to, say, macarons, renders them inedible to someone with coeliac disease.

Managing these risks happens in a variety of ways. Think about:

  • Not topping up salad bowls while in the serving area
  • Having easy to clean bowls and plates with no crevices for food to get stuck into
  • Having barriers between bowls or plates so items don’t mix

You can totally do this in a beautiful way and make your food displays look incredible.

Labelling Laws in NZ

A retail food item doesn’t need a label if it doesn’t have a package, is made on premises, and is packaged up in front of the customer. Essentially, this means most delis and bakeries in NZ. What you must do, however, is display any health and safety information, and make relevant product information available to the customer.

This information could include:

  • Allergens
  • Best before information
  • Date it was baked/ created
  • Advisories or warnings
  • Religious or dietary choice information

This means that you need a way to display food information in an attractive way that doesn’t interfere with the display, or adds to the charm of the display. This could include:

The label holder must be appropriate for the item, for example a chalkboard isn’t appropriate in a refrigerator. It also must be easy to clean to meet commercial standards.

Create Deli and Bakery Displays with Swag

If you want to make an impact with your customers, you have to up your game. At Mills, we’ve got years of experience in the industry, combining technical skills and functionality with modern design trends and flair. Contact us for advice, ideas, and products that can turn your ho-hum displays into hype

Read more

Poster Display Ideas That Will Improve Your Sales

sale 1 1

 

Who learns about the benefits of a product or if a new exciting product has been released, unless you tell them?

Poster displays are one of the best forms of in-store marketing. They are right in front of your target audience at the right time. After all, what’s the best time to market a product when people are shopping for it, looking at the display of the product?

Why Have In-Store Poster Displays?

Time is scarce, most decisions are made fast without any real thought or research, and customers are fickle.

Products have three seconds to catch the eye of potential customers. 30,000 new products are released every year, and 95% of them fail. People spend a maximum of 90 seconds looking at a product, reading only eight lines of writing the entire time they are in the store.

Visual stimuli in a store is vitally important for marketing purposes. Not only do you already have a soft sell, with someone in the store, but they are ready to spend money. They are primed to buy a product, and you need to take advantage of it.

How to Improve Your In-Store Poster Displays

You need to catch the customer’s eye and draw them in to pick the product up. Once that’s done, the battle is won – once they have touched the product, they are far more likely to buy it. So, how can in-store poster displays be super effective?

Use Colour

About 75% of purchase decisions are based purely on colour. That’s right, people don’t read anything, or engage their brains, they think ‘oh nice colour’ and buy the product. How can you use this to your advantage?

  • Use one colour in various gradients
  • Use two bold opposing tones, like yellow and purple
  • We know green is natural, and purple is royalty. What are your colours saying about your product?
  • If your product wants to be the Next Big Thing, the colour needs to be on trend

Have a Glorious Product Image

When you’re at the supermarket, shopping for dinner, and hungry, an attractive image of a meal is going to make you buy that product.

Having a fantastic product photo might be enough to draw that customer in and get them to put that product it in their cart.

Stock Photography Sucks

There are some stock photo models that are so familiar, they could go in a family photo album. Don’t be the business that uses straight stock photos without making them your own.

Don’t Be Scared of Empty Space

Empty space isn’t an enemy. Use space as part of the design, ensure everything is easy to see in that three second glance, and avoid clutter and confusion.

Immerse Your Customer in The Product

Make an evocative poster to take the customer to where you want them to be. Maybe your customer is wanting to buy a new swimsuit, having a photo of that swimsuit on the beach, or surfing, or sunbathing, is going to help tip the scales and get them to buy it.

Give a Clear Call to Action

While CTA’s are more commonly spoken about in terms of the internet, they are effective on posters too. Telling people what you want them to do next is incredibly effective. ‘Try this today’ is a simple option, or maybe mix up the action with the USP, like ‘Buy the comfiest top you’ll ever wear’.

Get it On Social Media

If you make the poster interesting or interactive, people will take a photo and put it on their social media. This increases your reach hugely, is free, and will target your intended audience.

Keep the Display Solution Flexible, Easy to Use, and Attractive

The hardware you use to display the product is important. It should be portable, be able to be used portrait or landscape, and allow flexibility with placement. How these posters are displayed makes a huge difference to how consumers perceive them. At Mills Display, we have a wide selection to choose from.

If you want poster display ideas, contact us. We have a huge range of products in different styles, sizes, and for a variety of different scenarios. While the design of poster is up to you, we can make sure it’s seen in the right place, at the right time.

Read more

10 Ways to Make Your Retail Store More Sustainable

shutterstock 1415138246

NZ shoppers are demanding environmental accountability. How can you make your retail store more sustainable?

Consumers want their brands to be sustainable and are walking away from companies that are not. 44% of customers are more likely to buy from brands that have a clear, genuine commitment to sustainability. From big corporates to small bricks-and-mortar shops, the revolution is here.

In response to these changing attitudes, businesses are innovating and altering their practices. For example, Coca-Cola have said they’ll recover 75% of the bottles they introduce to market. J&J are determined to get a third of its energy needs from renewable energy sources. What is your business doing to become more sustainable?

Consumers want ethical, earth-friendly practices, and organisations that dismiss their concerns will find themselves with declining market share and poor social media. So how can you start making your practices more ethical, sustainable, and transparent?

1. Source Sustainable Products

This is arguably the most important thing you can do. Ensure the products you are selling are sourced from ethical companies. Make an effort to stock sustainable goods and highlight the product’s story in your display.

Some of the most well-known producers or distributors are not sustainable, so you’re going to need to do your research. You can search for sustainable brands on SPOT (sustainable product database).

It’s not just what you sell, but how you do it. Think about local providers to reduce the miles too. Even the most sustainable brand can become an eco-disaster if it’s flown into NZ.

2. Reduce Energy Use

By reducing your energy use, you’re not just cutting down on electricity bills, but you’re also reducing the need for power generation. Even in NZ, where most of our electricity is sourced from clean renewable sources, we shouldn’t be using more than we need. Install LED lighting, turn off electronics at the wall when not in use, and use low-power refrigerators and air conditioning.

3. Ditch the Use of Planes

If you have a larger business, it’s likely you’ll be flying staff and executives to various locations. Airmiles are incredibly bad for the world; make it video call whenever possible.

4. Reduce Waste

There are multiple forms of waste you can cut down on or manage better.

  • Ensuring all plastic and cardboard are recycled correctly is a great start. Many councils also offer composting schemes which can be taken advantage of.
  • Cutting back on water wastage is getting more and more important as water will become a scarcer (and more expensive) resource. If you use water in any part of your manufacturing and cleaning processes, ensure they are as water- minimal as possible. Make sure all taps and plumbing systems are maintained and not leaking.
  • Food waste, particularly from food retailers, needs to be managed well. When food goes to landfill, it produces methane gas which is 28 times more harmful than carbon dioxide. Up to 10% of global gas emissions are related to dumped food, with around a third of all produced food wasted every year.Dump as little food as possible by having short-dated food items sold at highly discounted rates. Investigate if it’s possible to send to food banks if it’s not expired. Food that is expired should be removed from packages and sent to composting rather than degrading inside plastic in a landfill.
  • Clothing stores contribute a lot to our environmental decline too. Deadstock fabric, sale samples, and unsold stock—find a positive use for them. Don’t dump them. Can they be re-used in some way that doesn’t devalue your brand

5. Eco-Positive Delivery

How you package deliveries is important, but also how things are shipped. For long-distance shipping, choose a low emissions way (not air). For last-mile deliveries, using AI to create routes to ensure more efficient distances are travelled and in the most cost-efficient way.

6. Go Paperless

Ditch the reliance on pulping trees. Digital menus, signs, receipts, and electronic communication whenever possible.

7. Cleaning Products

While not the biggest or most glamorous step to take, it’s an easy switch to choose green cleaning products. While bleach will still be legally required for food preparation areas, there are earth-friendly products for everything else.

8. Empower Your Customers to Offset Their Impact

People don’t want the end of the world. And if they can do lots of little positive things, it all adds up. If you help them, it reaps social media rewards- and repeat customers. A café that encourages use of KeepCups. A store that says they are going to plant a tree for every X number of sales. Maybe you’re a clothing brand that takes your old, worn-out clothes and recycles them into something cool (need a dump-bin for the old clothes?).

9. Make Plastic, Fantastic (and Tell Your Customers Why)

Plastic is versatile, safe, and cheap. It’s not going away. And for most reasons, it’s the most viable and environmentally friendly option. Compostable packaging or cardboard is something that has to be sourced, manufactured, and then it’s… thrown in the rubbish.

What a waste.

However, if you use plastic, you can help close the recycling loop. Some types of plastic are infinitely recyclable, giving it a lifecycle that never ends, ensuring the plastic is used again and again. Use recyclable plastic rather than non-recyclable (for example, food containers being polypropylene and not Styrofoam).

You can also help by using plastic that already contains recycled matter. This could include carpets in the fitout, the fabric used for employee uniforms, or crates. If you’re looking for shopping baskets in NZ that are made from recycled matter, contact us to find out more.

If you produce plastic in some form, you must enable all plastic to be recycled. While this looks different for each type of organisation, you must find a way to capture all plastic waste, and ensure it is cleaned, separated, and recycled.

10. Make Sustainability Part of Your Brand

Above all, make sure to tell your customers that you’re sustainable. Your content on your social media, the in-store narrative, everywhere and anywhere. Be honest, transparent, and also truthful about the future and what you have to do to improve (and the steps you’re taking to get there).

The flow-on effects of this are fantastic; you’ll attract quality staff aligned to your ethics, you’ll have loyal customers, and you can feel a bit better about the impact you’re having on the planet.

 

 

 

Read more