You've managed to get your ecommerce products into stores. This is an amazing milestone. But how do you take your in-store promotion up a notch? That’s where point-of-purchase (POP) displays come in.
POP displays can be a useful promotional tool to help build brand awareness and increase sales, but there are some practical factors you need to think about. We're going to cover them in this guide, including:
- What’s a POP display?
- What's the difference between POP and POS?
- Types of POP displays
- Why should your brand use POP displays?
- What makes a good POP display
- 10 Examples of great POP displays
By the end of this guide, you’ll know what makes an effective POP display and what your retailers need to help promote your products with them.
What’s a POP display?
A point of purchase (POP) display is a type of promotional display brands use in stores to grab the attention of customers and persuade them to buy the brand's product.
You'll usually find POP displays at the aisle endcaps or in the center of aisles, basically anywhere that isn't next to the checkout counters. Because of this freedom of location within a store, point of purchase displays vary a lot in size, shape, and number of products on display.
It’s also worth noting that retailers don’t usually provide POP displays. It’s up to you - the brand - to design and build the displays. In most cases, brands use third-party display manufacturers with experience building displays for retail partners.
What's the difference between POP and POS?
You’ve probably also heard of point of sale (POS) displays. The key difference between POP and POS displays is the location they sit within the retail or department store.
A POP display can be almost anywhere around the store, though they're usually at the end of, or in the center, of shopping aisles. In comparison, a POS display is exclusive to the checkout area and counters.
Since shoppers need room to check out their items, you'll also often find that POS displays are smaller. They also contain fewer, lightweight, products, and have a cheaper price tag (to encourage last-minute impulse purchases from potential customers). Here’s a quick comparison:
POP displays
- Located around the aisles
- Typically medium-large sized
- Products tend to be heavier
- Designed to build brand awareness
POS displays
- Located near or at the checkout counters
- Typically smaller in size
- Have lightweight products to encourage impulse purchasing
- Designed to increase sales.
Why should your brand use POP displays?
Wondering whether it’s worth creating a POP display for your products? Here’s some of the benefits they’ll bring to your brand and your retail partner.
Increased brand awareness
When you have a dedicated product display within a sea of other products, naturally it's going to get extra attention and eye-ball traffic. As a result, your brand gains some extra awareness and customer engagement.
Capture more impulse purchases
With displays garnering extra attention, it's of no surprise to find that people who pass by are more likely to ’grab and go’ from a POP display. The Journal of Retailing in 2022 found that:
"Displays closer to the focal category have a larger impact, with front endcap displays having the largest impact on category purchase and shelf displays having the largest impact on brand choice."
They're versatile
POP displays come in a variety of shapes and sizes, allowing you to design something simple or elaborate based on the available space and the customer experience you want to create.
As a result, you can spend more and get super creative, or you can go for a more minimal approach to meet lower budget requirements—there's a POP for everyone.
What are the disadvantages of POP displays?
Point of purchase displays can add a lot of positive impact to your brand, but they’re not perfect. Here are some factors to consider to help you weigh up your options:
- Material: Since they're usually made of cardboard, they're usually not very durable.
- Store requirements: Retailers may have strict requirements when it comes to the size and shape of the display. Not to mention each retail partner may have different requirements.
- Limited-time effectiveness: Since you would normally use POP displays for product launches or for specific campaigns, they only have short-term effectiveness for your investment.
Types of POP displays
Let’s get into the different types of POP displays. You can get:
- Freestanding displays
- Aisle displays
- Digital displays
- Interactive displays
We’ll go into each of these in detail. 👇
Freestanding displays
Freestanding POP displays (otherwise called standalone displays or pop-up displays) are one of the most common types. They stand as their own shelves, which means they can hold small to medium-sized products and are usually made of thick cardboard or hard plastic.
Brands can be pretty experimental with the design and try different approaches based on the goals of the display thanks to its material.
Aisle displays
Aisle displays are similar to freestanding displays, except they form part of the product aisle in the shopping environment. These are known as "shelf talkers" or sit at the endcap or as a center divider. Of the two, endcap displays are more common as they don't take up as much room.
On the other hand, if you have grand ideas, center aisles are prime, high-traffic areas. Depending on the size of the retail space itself, the center aisle display can also be large and hold more products.
Bin displays
A bin or dump display can be effective for both display design and budgets. The display itself acts as a bin or basket to hold products, as opposed to a shelf, making it a frictionless choice for customers to "grab and go."
Bin displays are also a better choice for smaller, durable products since there's a high chance the products will get thrown around a bit.
Digital displays
Digital POP displays use a digital screen to market products around the store. These are less common due to the cost for the retailer to install multiple screens around the store. But they do save space compared to other types of displays, and brands can switch up their campaigns quickly.
Interactive displays
Even less common than a digital display is an interactive one. To make displays interactive, add QR codes to encourage customers to engage digitally.
An example use-case for this type of display would be having a QR code link to a product quiz (e.g., a skincare quiz) that recommends products based on the customers' preferences.
What makes a good point of purchase display?
So, what makes for a good POP display? Let’s take a look at some design criteria to help you plan displays that help you reach your promotional goals.
Attention-grabbing design
Even with the most minimal approach, you'll want to create a display that grabs attention—it's the purpose for creating the display.
You can do this with attractive product photography assets along the top and sides of the display or even create large-scale models of your products. With a digital asset management tool (DAM), you can keep your brand assets and product photography neatly organized and accessible for your retail partners and display manufacturers.
Encourages quick purchase decisions
The best displays persuade customers that picking up the product is a no-brainer decision. It's frictionless and convenient, and the display typically promises a deal, some level of exclusivity, or both.
Strategic placement
Admittedly, placement may not always be within your power as the brand. However, if you can negotiate the placement of your display in the store, you'd have a huge advantage. Make sure your product is near other relevant products, and that it uses what space you have to the fullest.
An element of interactivity
Okay, this one is more of a ’nice-to-have’. But even if you only have the budget for a standard-sized cardboard POP display, you can still integrate an element of interactivity. For example, you could add a QR code leading customers to online campaign material or encouraging them to find your brand on social media platforms.
10 examples of great POP displays
Let's get these examples of great POP displays—remember, the displays don't need to be overly flashy to be good. They just need to be effective.
1. Floor POP: Marc Jacobs
This POP display by fashion and fragrance brand Marc Jacobs takes up a large amount of floor space near the store entrance with an equally large promotional new product launch poster.
This particular display is also interactive. On the right-hand side podium is "The Perfect Magic 8 Crystal Ball," which, when a customer picks it up and shakes it, reveals a positive affirmation for the day. This interaction creates a memorable shopping experience for the customers.
2. Freestanding display: Nyx
This is an example of a standard freestanding display from the beauty brand Nyx. This display is also timely and ties in with a seasonal promotional campaign—at the time of this POP was up it was October, close to Halloween.
The POP display serves as a limited-time offer and reminder for those who celebrate to get the makeup they want ready for the day. 👻
3. Centre aisle: Soap & Glory
This is a fun example of a center aisle POP display by Soap & Glory, getting ready for the holiday season.
While the display itself takes up a fair amount of space, the design isn't complicated, with just a campaign banner above the products. The effectiveness of this display is in the strategic location in the store (center aisle, gifting section).
4. Endcap display: Max Factor
In this example, we have Max Factor using the ’large-scale model’ of products in its endcap product display.
Compared to the Nyx example, this one is a little more elaborate in the design of the display—using a flowing curve of liquid as inspiration to shelve additional items.
5. Product highlight: Egmont Manuka Honey
This display doesn't even feature the brand's name, just the product and some behind-the-scenes photography.
However, the brand (Egmont) can get away with it in this instance because of the product type—Manuka honey. Anyone who knows even a little about the different types of honey knows that Manuka is high-quality stuff, and the people who buy it have a particular taste. 👌
As a result, Egmont is using a smart marketing strategy by highlighting the product type rather than the brand itself.
6. Shelf talker: Minor Figures
Minor Figures gives us great examples of shelf-talker displays. In this case, we’ve got one promoting the brand’s oat milk carton and canned dairy-free coffee. Both use the brand’s minimalist but distinctive brand design.
Beyond the simplicity of the design, these shelf-talkers are super functional. They have all the brand-side information of the products, e.g. “suitable for vegans”, in a small space. Not to mention the cost-saving of shelf-talkers compared to large displays.
7. Freestanding display: Vera King
Taking inspiration from the shape of the product itself, OKF has a freestanding display design for its Aloe Vera drink products. As a bonus, even though the display holds a lot of products, it doesn’t look like it would take up much floor space.
8. Aisle fin: Glenfiddich
Here’s an aisle fin POP display from Glenfiddich, which is smaller than most other types of displays (but larger than shelf-talkers). In this case, Glenfiddich is using an aisle fin display to promote a Christmas holiday campaign.
Aisle fin displays like this give brands an opportunity to promote a temporary campaign without spending too much money on larger displays.
9. Endcap display: Grove Co
Here’s an example of a large endcap display from Grove Co. This design helps maximize the amount of product the brand can display while using the display frame to get creative. The fruit and flower part of the display layered on the top helps give it three dimensional interest.
10. Freestanding display: Poppi
For the final example, we have Poppi with another large freestanding display near the store aisles. The base of the display is based on a double-sided pallet with a ‘chimney’ display sign.
They also use an oversized drinks model showing one flavor of the soda can with key information below it. What makes this display really pop (see what I did there?) is the use of brand colors.
How to create POP displays with your retail partners in mind
Retail stores also come in a variety of shapes and sizes. That means each retail store you partner with may have different requirements for POP display assets.
A large retail chain like Walmart has a 250+ page guide on ‘Secondary Packaging RRP Standards’. But an independent retailer may be able to offer a custom size/area.
If the store you’re thinking of partnering with has a POP/POS display requirements guide, that will be the best place to start. But if you don’t have access to a store-specific guide, here are some examples of assets you may need:
- POP display renderings: Retailers will want to know what your display looks like. So, keep a folder with digital renderings of your display, including the display dimensions. Display manufacturers will often provide these digital renderings if you order from them.
- Digital brand assets: You’ll want to have a folder with all of your brand logos and relevant product photography. This is useful if the retailer has an in-house design team who wants to create content to promote your brand.
Social media assets: It’ll be helpful to keep social media assets separate from your base brand assets. Especially since some retailers, like ASDA, have specific social media design requirements. The retailers can then use these assets to promote your brand on their social media.
Make sharing assets easier with Dash
One factor that's common among all POP displays is the need to share brand content with retailers and display manufacturers.
Organizing a POP display campaign involves a ton of back-and-forth communication about marketing materials. Your team has probably had to make do with cloud-based folder systems (like Dropbox or Google Drive) with varying degrees of permissions.
However, with Dash, you can organize all your product assets and make them easily searchable by SKU, product type, campaign season, and more.
Plus, with Dash Portals, you can create dedicated access to your assets for each retail partner you work with. Helping them to help themselves while streamlining your product launches.
Interested? Start a free trial with Dash today, no credit card needed.
Alexander Boswell is a freelance content writer for B2B martech and ecommerce software brands as well as a consumer behaviour academic.
