Effective Merchandising Storage comes from attention to detail. We pride ourselves on getting the small things right in retail so that the big picture works.
When the Apollo 13 astronauts stared death in the face in March 1970 – and NASA watched the potential end to its space programme – they were saved by a roll of grey duct tape, two socks and a bungee cord. Sure, it still took a lot of ingenuity to get the three spacemen down safely after an oxygen tank exploded and left them stranded more than 300,000 km from earth, but the fact of the matter is that the future of the entire space race came down to really simple items.
And that’s how it often is for your company too. Yes, you can have “blue sky” meetings about finances and make sure your philosophy is “future-proofed”, but if you live and work in a retail world, you need to make sure you’ve got your nuts and bolts right – or more precisely, your hooks, fixers and hangings.
This is where Mills Display’s catalogue comes in – and here’s three examples of how we’ve managed to find merchandising storage solutions for some of the biggest problems relating to merchandising work and retail management using some of the smallest products in our range.
Company #1 High-end franchise for fresh produce market
This company does hold an account with us so they understand our range and know what we’re capable of supplying – but a recent case was unique because the company’s bosses had been at a trade show in Las Vegas and seen a clever system which allowed posters to be hung on high ceilings with an extendable pole.
When the bosses returned, they set their staff the challenge of finding that system in New Zealand and we were their first port of call.
When the system was described to us we knew they were talking about a particular brand of magnetic poster hanging range which you use with an extender pole. It’s something which we have in our Attach catalogue (there’s actually a photo of it in action on page 15) but it’s not branded – instead the seven parts of the system are all listed separately.
We knew the system was the total merchandising storage solution to their issue – but the staff tasked with fitting it into the store hadn’t seen it in action, only the bosses at the USA trade fair, so we went out and showed them the practical side to how it works.
Once they saw how the magnetic ceiling hangers operated – and once they realised how the extender pole let them set up or replace posters while customers were in the store (rather than having to wait until after the closed sign had gone up and they could get the long ladder out), they decided to go with the system.
Not only that but once we’ve sorted out all the nuts and bolts of the full order, the company also plans to roll the system out around other franchise stores in Auckland.
Because this is a new product, Mills is sourcing the full order from Australia, meaning the freight time will be between four and six weeks – but once they’ve been shipped out to the stores, the company will have found a poster display system which saves them time and money and gives them an edge in retail merchandising.
Company #2 Events catering and party-hire
This company found us online and saw that we stocked an item in our Attach catalogue which would allow them to hang little cards from a horizontal platform.
The fish ceiling hook is one of the simplest items in our whole catalogue range of hooks, rings and fixings, but it was the perfect merchandising storage solution which allowed her to slide a card into a single piece of wire and then be able to hook it into the ceiling.
They contacted Mills Display via LiveChat on the website, quoted the code from the catalogue, and asked whether we had the item in stock – and although there weren’t any in the country at the time, our purchasing manager was able to fit the order into an impromptu air freight which we already had coming over from Australia.
The company wanted only 20 hooks initially but raised the order to 100 for a lower price per item and because the item is small – the air freighting was the most economical and speedy way of completing the order.
Although the product seems small and insignificant, it was a necessary part of an upcoming event and the company couldn’t wait for it to be freighted via sea – in the end the whole transaction was completed within the week.
Company #3 Large international automotive parts retailer
A store manager from this large company was looking to make use of his window space to hang promotional posters – after all, it’s great real estate for merchandising and displays.
His issue, though, was that the way his main windows were constructed meant that hanging posters in the traditional way from the ceiling left them too far away from the glass to have real impact for passers-by.
Because the store manager is in charge of store development, he wanted a solution to this problem and asked three or four display companies to come back with an answer.
Mills Display’s first contact was a phone call from the store manager followed by an email which spelled out the issue. We immediately understood that the store could circumvent the issue by hanging the posters directly onto the windows using a magnetic system which isn’t yet in our Attach catalogue but which allowed the posters to be replaced quickly and efficiently.
After a meeting at the company’s head office, we explained that the posters could be hung directly on to the windows using this new system called Magna Strip which had the flexibility to change posters in and out as the customer required.
This client is a repeat customer for Mills Display and returns to us time and time again to solve their problems – and they know we often have the right merchandising storage solution and can turn the job around quickly. From discussion to doorstep delivery, this whole process took roughly a week and a half – and the store manager was so pleased with the results that we’ve had followup calls from other store managers around the country to roll the same window poster-hanging system out around their stores.
Contact Mills Display For Merchandising Storage Solutions
If you have seen a product in our Mills Display Attach catalogue which you think can make a huge change to your business– or if you have an issue which you think we can fix with a simple product, message or LiveChat us via the website or call us on 09 634 5962.
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