Cooler Door Lime Cross Sell

Large suction cups adhere this clear Lime Merchandiser to the cooler door.  With it close at hand to the well-advertised product, one gets the urge to consume it with invigorating, tangy Lime, even if for the first time. Cleanliness would be a must to support the “fresh, natural” seemingly “healthy alcohol” theme .. a challenge for see-through fixtures.  The challenge is met beautifully here, but additional rounding of corners might preserve the clean look with less intensive maintenance.

 

Select “Cooler / Freezer” from the CATEGORY Menu for other posts about cold merchandising.

Holy Grail Of Retailing Lost

I applaud the Disney-like environment of modern stores … professional design, interesting decor, branded colors, floor graphics, even in-store television channels.  But in the hunt for the Holy Grail of consumer environments some chains seem to have lost sight of basics and their effect on store image, and “perceived value” of the merchandise on display.  Here two otherwise well-outfitted big box retailers in upscale neighborhoods fixture the entire store in hooks so poor as to cheapen the store brand and even (I suggest) the prices it can expect to charge. I would surely expect low quality merchandise to be displayed this way.

Do you chose your store designer by lowest price alone? Maybe you should not choose your fixturer by the “short term” benefit of hardware “Made More Cheaply Overseas” either. And once you buy the fixtures and celebrate the supposed saving, does no one walk the floor to see what was delivered and installed?

SEARCH “Best Practices” for other posts on safety and fixturing quality.

Bar Hook for Sunglasses

An intriguing Bar Merchandiser approach to marketing high-end sunglasses for sports use. Though quite sophisticated in fit and finish, this is very much a “custom-from-stock” solution with wire-feed-plus-auto-weld providing the rear cross arm to a fairly standard saddle-mount display hook.  The rubberized arm cushions were a nice touch.  Please compare with an earlier very advanced eyeglass holder from an optician’s shop. Seems there’s money to be made in appropriately displaying such specialty wares. Call your fixture designer, or take your paper napkin sketches to your fixture manufacturer for his advice.

SEARCH “sunglasses” for ongoing posts to this fixture style.

Pick Card Holder #1

Ingenious repurposing of an auto feed system for HBA into a Pick Card Holder for items held behind the Pharmacy Counter. It’s beauty is the Pick Card faceplates replace lanes in the shelf management system wholesale. But the clear front product stop and other behind-the-scenes elements remain in place, surely raising cost. And my interest in the inner workings made me try to retract what seemed to be the pusher paddle (aka faceplate) with unexpected results. (Don’t worry, I did fix it … mostly.)  If you have invested in a pusher system for regular product, the false-front Pick Card Holder is a fabulous idea and preserves the look of the entire department. If you are starting from scratch or need Pick Cards for warehouse club or large product uses, a standard Pick Card Fixture should suffice and save dollars.

SEARCH “Pick Card” for planned additions to this line of posts

Cookware on Apparel J-Hook

J-Hook Faceouts are commonplace in Apparel Retailing, though usually down swept Waterfall Style.  Here they are crossover plug-in bar merchandiser hooks with plain-paper label holders. Dark eco-friendly powdercoat helps distinguish the department creating a “store-within-a-store” plus reinforce the cookware branding. J-Hooks provide set “stations” for each item allowing the department to be faced and look stocked even with minimum inventory levels.

SEARCH “cookware” for an ever expanding set of cookware fixturing ideas, or “Crossover” for other fixtures creatively repurposed from their original use as “custom-from-stock” ideas.

T-shirt Shelf Edge Displayer

A one-of-a-kind concept for presenting the design on T-shirts right at the shelf edge.  The T-shirt is wrapped around a backer board and popped into the metal frame.  The frame has tabs that mount into rectangular holes along the edge of the shelf.  It allows merchandising of T-shirts from lower shelves or out-of-the-way locations with no loss of visibility of design.  The space behind the mounted frames stores more Ts or other wares. I imagine on “Sale Day” promotional signage replaces the T’s design.

Using the T to promote itself qualifies this item for cross referencing as “Guerrilla Marketing” as well as “Label Holder / Sign Holder” and “Shelf Edge Fixture.”  Its not often a fixture qualifies for a triple play.  Access related posts in these areas via the CATEGORY or CATEGORY CLOUD Menus.

Rack Meters Items One-at-a-time

The “over-the-top” design of this auto-feed wire rack meters product, limiting removal to a single package to defeat “sweeping,” the rapid mass theft of an entire facing of expensive product. Located at a cashwrap, theft of all DVDs removed laboriously one-at-a-time would be obvious to staff and a significant threat to the thief, hence the deterrent. Main photo shows detail of the design. Small insets first show product in place, and the front item poised for removal. This is a made-to-order rack customized for a single product. Adjustable width metering fixtures are available that allow greater flexibility and less customization before rollout. Metered fixtures can be shelf mounted or hung from vertical display surfaces like pegboard and slatwall.

SEARCH “meter” for future metered fixture posts, “cashwrap” for other fixtures observed at checkout, or browse the entire “Anti-Theft / Security Fixtures” CATEGORY.

Baseline Toilet Plunger Display

How forlorn. Even I was surprised at the sorry state of toilet plunger merchandising across retail. These images are from a well-known home improvement warehouse (left) and equally well-known mass merchandiser (right). But the chains are not to be criticized.  This is a mature product line where even a 2 for 1 or 3 for 1 promotion and endcap, power aisle location would have a hard time lifting sales.  Still even toilet plungers deserve their day in the sun. See other posts for ways and fixtures to merchandise toilet plungers in spite of their lowly status.

SEARCH “plunger” for more creative approaches to merchandising, or the “housewares” and “hardware” selections of the RETAIL CHANNEL CLOUD for expanded product coverage.

Label Holders in Opulent Acrylic

Lavish appointments like Clear Acrylic and combination Acrylic Front/Extruded Back Label Holders add to the opulence of this cosmetics and fragrances boutique. The sparkling, jewel-like set of holders included top-mount solid shelf, clip-on glass shelf, wire basket, and freestanding table top styles. With prices on merchandising commonly reaching $100 and more, cost was no object, and the boutique got every cent it paid for from these price ticket objets d’art. For stores with slightly less extravagant budgets, you might consider simple extruded label holders with color backs in corporate or departmental colors to set a theme, or woodgrain inserts to add a more upscale feel.

Acrylic Dividers Market Bagels

Unruly, topple-prone bagged bagels are forced to march upright in civilized rows by an acrylic shelf management system.  This implementation does not have an integral label holder system, but there are aftermarket extruded label holders that would work (the sale tag is one-up signage). Is acrylic too glitzy for such a natural product … or too expensive and inflexible in lengths for your need? Other systems including wire dividers, extruded dividers, and bar mounted trays exist. The driving force is to maximize efficient use of shelf space, and billboard the product for easy shopping and selection. Done right, sales and shopper satisfaction increase. But in the rush for great looking presentation, don’t overlook ease of restocking, product rotation, facing (or auto feed / auto facing) and ease of planogram resets. Research your needs and available systems well.  Then ask the manufacturer for a store test … just don’t say you heard it here.

SEARCH “bakery” for a broader view of related posts, or select “Grocery” from the RETAIL CHANNEL CLOUD Menu for supermarket-wide solutions.

Mystery Fixture #1 Answer

Original “Name This” Entry

Here a wondrously creative, very heavy-duty, daisy-chain fixture hanging at waist height. Being extendable it could be hung higher or on an end cap, with even greater impact. Seen “naked” a few seasons ago, I never had an opportunity to return and see it stocked.  So I violate one of my blog principles and show what toy brand it was affiliated with. Can any reader explain what it was used for, and what items did it merchandise? Can you put a name to this fixture?

Answer Culled From Responses

Postings to 28 LINKEDIN Groups including retailers, brand manufacturers, fixture designers, category and space managers, visual merchandisers and more located the design firm responsible for this hook.  Their commentary follows immediately below.

Stuart Campbell (www.artisancomplete.com) answered…

I produced this about 12 years ago in Toronto, Canada. It was used to hold long handled push toys for Fisher Price. Specifically the lawnmower and the popper. It was designed to be variable length to accommodate a variety of different gondola heights and be used in a variety of different retailers. It has since been used for other products and been manufactured by other POP companies. We didn’t really name it. The designers name is Jim Morison. I was project manager at the time.

Since the designers did not name the fixture, suggested names resulting from the original post included: link extender, link strip, monkey rack / monkey chain, ImHooked, hook-um chain link, Rapunzel, linked in, hook ladder, hip clip / hip strip, chain strip, swan hook, cascade hook, chimp hook, Mowgli hook, linkers, shelf stacker, hook & ladder, peg hook, U-hook, U-lash, multi link, Daisy chain, and stack ‘n sell product extender. Many thanks to all who visited and offered information or name suggestions. This item was originally created as a Page” in wordpress.  There is no way to convert a WordPress Page to this WordPress Post format, so the responses had to be summarized instead of listed as original comments with identification of the commenter.

Slatwall Hook Plays Up Jewelry

These ordinary flat back Slatwall Display Hooks with 90 degree tips look amazing good against this translucent slotted display surface.  Who would have thought unspecialized hooks could be so prominent yet attractive in use, particularly in high contrast against a recessive background. Creativity in vertical display certainly comes in all shapes and sizes … and powdercoated fixtures in all manner of colors to suit the need. Best of all, powdercoating is an eco-friendly finish.

SEARCH “slot” for other examples of this display surface or select “jewelry” from the RETAIL CHANNEL CLOUD Menu to browse other fixture jewels.

Careful Alexis! Sharp Hooks!

Danger lurks almost unseen. A child dawdles near a grim-looking straight-cut wire display hook directly at eye level. Note the safer curl-end hook just behind her. All retailers strive for safety within a planogram. But as resets occur, the integrity and safety of the initial plan falls by the wayside with store personnel struggling to make needed cut-ins of new products. Old hazardous fixtures may be pressed into service. Managers should educate the floor on such dangers. Purchasing should know that all reputable manufacturers offer ball-end safety tip hooks as standard or a no-cost upgrade. Additional protection is provided by safety-loop and curled-end designs, metal plate tips (including both decorative tips and metal plate label holders), and ultimately soft, forgiving scan hook extruded label holders. Specialty hooks such as J-hooks are also available in “guarded” styles to forestall injury. Alexis, 2 years old, asks you to safeguard her and her friends.

SEARCH “Best Practices” for tips on safety and improved merchandising to be posted over time. Browse the “hook” CATEGORY for a variety of decorative tips which can accomplish aesthetic and safety goals simultaneously.

Toilet Plunger Porcupine Display

This display is certainly worthy of celebrating National Toilet Plunger Week … if there is such a thing. It’s random, porcupine-like, pick-up-stick style calls out for attention.  And it would surely remind me I needed one, if that were the case.  What has a full display to do with the fixturing details typically demanded by Fixtures Close Up? Note that the top tier of plungers is actually supported by the upright bottom tier of plungers.  This detail makes the entire display of interest here because it is in essence self-fixtured … it is self-supporting. And because it is meant to be totally random and out of control, it does not even trigger my Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder to regularize it. A totally fun display … if fun can be had with toilet plungers.

For other approaches to merchandising Toilet Plungers SEARCH “plunger.” To pursue related lines of creative thought select “Guerilla Marketing” from the CATEGORIES Menu or for broader fixture coverage try “Housewares” and “Hardware” from the RETAIL CHANNEL CLOUD Menu.

In related news the BBC reports:

A Biman Bangladesh airlines flight from Dhaka to London was delayed by nearly 10 hours – because all five of the plane’s toilets were blocked.

Removable Butterfly Scan Arm

This tiny Butterfly Hook boasts a removable scan arm with flip-up label holder. Scan arms that convert normal wire display hooks to scan hooks may be uncommon but are not unknown to devoted “hook watchers.”  The best of these offer separate scan arms that can be attached and removed right at display-side without disturbing the merchandise. Such a versatile hook is valuable if your store is split between the need for single prong and simple loop display hooks, and scanning versions of the same. A dual-use display/scan hook system can solve all your problems at once. Normally they are also straight-entry systems adding the ability to remerchandise more easilty too.

 

This is the first such all-plastic Butterfly-style implementation I have seen in gift card merchandising.  Additional mount sockets on the backplate placed outboard of the frontwire imply other attachments, though what they might be is unknown. Post a comment if you can explain how the additional mounts are used.

Select “Hooks: Scanning” from the CATEGORY MENU or CATEGORY CLOUD to browse other posts in this genre, or SEARCH “butterfly” to focus on this particular hook style. In the future SEARCH “gift card” for additional gift card hooks and merchandising fixtures.

Baseball Gloves via Crossbar

A more conventional display of baseball gloves merchandised via 90 degree tip Crossbar Hooks. Though the fixturing behind the scenes is beautiful you should compare this marketing approach with an earlier post. Each might have an appropriate application however.  Here gloves are a secondary cross sell in a sportswear apparel specialty store. A casual, less comprehensive, less shopable display like this might suit.  In a hard-line sporting goods store or full fledged sporting goods department of mass merchandiser, a baseball-glove-specific solution might be well advised. Consider both posts and then you decide. Or better yet … devise the ultimate solution for this tricky item.

SEARCH “baseball” or select “Sporting Goods” from the RETAIL CHANNEL CLOUD MENU.

Baseline Anti-Theft Hook #2

These Flat Back Anti-Sweep Metal Plate Scan Hooks are one of a variety of mainstream styles on the market. The frontwire upturn and hump configuration require patrons to “thread” the product off the hook one unit at a time thwarting “sweeping” … the mass theft of items “swept” from hook into bag or purse.  This model features a front “landing zone” for facing product. Flat backplates spread the load, protect the display surface. Metal plate holders support the use of adhesive labels, though plain paper label holder scan hook and pure display hook (no label holder) styles are available. A one-piece hook like this is difficult to remove fully loaded from a dense display.  But for added theft prevention hooks may offer optional means to anchor the backplate to the board. The configuration of the “anti-sweep” frontwire can be easily varied by the manufacturer in either long- or short-run orders.  Ask about configuring a hook for your precise needs, appearance or label holder style.

Select “Anti-Theft / Security Fixtures” from the CATEGORY Menu for other locking, anti-sweep or product metering concepts … some decorative in nature. Additional styles will be added over time.

Extensible Planogram Enforcer

The extensibility of this front- and back-rail mounted divider was previously unseen in a small-scale molded system, and permitted its installation on a broader range of shelf depths. Anchoring the back with a rail as opposed to allowing it to float free helped maintain more order and discipline among the products organized.  But its low height – lower than similar systems often seen in HBA and vitamin merchandising -– limited its abilities to “corral” product. To get a sense of scale, compare the minute rounding at the bottom of the bottles with the meager height of the divider showing how tiny it is in actuality.  In fact it was only seen applied to large heavy liquids, whose mass alone helped them remain organized.  I fear small, or light large items would easily be jostled and jump the divide. Therefore this system would best be used to enforce a retailer’s planogram by creating predefined lanes. For this purpose it was an excellent solution for heavy-duty auto (its use here), hardware, cleaning supplies and other similar applications.

Select the “Shelf Management” CATEGORY to see other divider solutions, or “Automobile” and “Hardware” RETAIL CHANNELS to see a wider variety of fixtures in those environments.

Jewelry Suited to a “T” (Hook)

A gold-tone T-Hook pushes the envelop for classiness in jewelry display. Though constructed of bar shapes, the supporting structure actually functions more as a slatwire application than micro-bar. Between the glint of the fixturing and the gold of the jewelry it was hard to tell where the fixture left off and the merchandise began. Overall it was extremely attractive, though there was some of visual distraction caused by all the gleaming fixture elements. A matt finish to the gold fixtures might have improved the contrast and let the jewelry have full center stage.

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Do a SEARCH of “T-hook” for other fixtures like this.

Select “Hooks: Specialty” from the CATEGORY MENU or CATEGORY CLOUD for a broader selection of unusual hooks.

Select “Jewelry Store” from the CHANNEL CLOUD to see other fixtures that apply to this channel of retailing.

Cookware Hangs from Metro

Indestructible cast iron cookware hangs from a specialized frame atop Metro-style shelf unit. Metro open wire shelf units are an industry standard in outfitting restaurant food prep areas.  Hence you will often see them propping movie and photo sets of the same, and cookware areas in retail, typically in chrome. Here powdercoated black they fulfill expectations of both food prep and the dark rugged look of the cast cookware. The heavy-duty hooks hang from cross members that slide sideways to be repositioned for various diameter pots and pans. The hooks also adjust allowing variations in spacing for different depths, but did not seem easily removable (probably wise to preserve the display hardware configuration).

SEARCH “cookware” for ongoing posts of alternate fixturing concepts.

Select “Hooks: Specialty” from the CATEGORIES MENU or CATEGORIES CLOUD for a broader selection of unusual hooks.