Your own POS display in a retail chain is a great achievement in itself. Without doubt the most effective POS aid of all is the Free Standing Display Unit (FSDU). It’s really “your shop within a shop” just like concession booths in large department stores. You are then in that place where your prospects are going to be passing right by, in considerable numbers. If the single most important success factor in any campaign is having a starving crowd (with apologies to Gary Halbert!), then the challenge of your FSDU is to make your customers salivate for whatever product is on display.

The ultimate goal is to entice large numbers of passers-by to stop, look, and take some pre-determined action. That’s how your FSDU delivers ROI and makes the retail partner welcome you back time after time. It requires some inspired design, which is what we specialise in.

Setting The Tone With A Theme

One of our favourite designs that we had great fun and success with was a campaign for United Biscuits to promote some McVitie’s ranges. After trying and discarding many ideas, we decided that the underlying theme would be freshness and fun. What evokes that better than a summer picnic? So our eventual design featured a number of stacked picnic baskets to hold the stock. All in a 3D FSDU and made completely from cardboard. But the piece de resistance was giving the external appearance that they were wicker baskets lined inside with crisp gingham checked “material”. Proper English summer picnic props.

We ended up designing many versions of the FSDU, all based on that core concept of picnic baskets. Our favourite was the rear end of a camper van with the boot lid open and the baskets sitting inside. That added a real feeling of summer and holidays. Feel free to contact us and request our brochure that features that successful design.

Looking At Other Ideas

Designers don’t live and create in a vacuum. We are constantly observing the world around us and taking note of visuals that work in all kinds of genres and contexts, not just POS. If you are considering POS displays, it’s worth looking online either on Pinterest or on Google (click on the Images link). See if you can figure out how the design was attempting to attract attention and entice some action. It should not be complicated.

Customised Or Stock?

Many neat designs are available as standard stock. For example, you can get FSDUs that are simply nothing more than glorified shelving to which you can glue your own branding or graphics and so on. They do have a role in some situations and at least they get the brand’s products out in the walkways. However, you do have to ask yourself if they are actually building a brand image? Great FSDUs build relationships with a brand as well as selling product. In fact, consumers are more influenced by FSDUs than by discounts. They prompt significant numbers of impulse purchases regardless of price point and they do linger in the consumer’s consciousness longs after the purchase.

You want that lingering memory to be vibrant and positive. The FSDU must convey a good message through its shape and form, impressive image, and overall professionalism. That can really only be achieved with custom 3D printing. Find out more about how cardboard point of sale displays work by reading our free Point of Sale Marketing Guide, downloadable by clicking here.