I have many years of my working life in marketing roles within the Convenience retail sector. As part of this, I have had the pleasure of working with virtually every major brand and spent time trying to help them implement their brand plans in store.
One of my biggest annoyances revolved around the creation and implementation of free standing display units (FSDUs). So i thought i would write a short post to highlight the common mistakes and misconceptions., as I see them.
1. Convenience stores are fairly small.
This might be stating the obvious, but this means that there is a limit as to how many FSDUs will fit in one store. So not every brand can have one! And certainly not at the same time. When requesting an FSDU, please make sure you have chosen it for the right product. If promotional space will suffice... use/buy that instead!
You also need to make sure that you r expectations are realistic...be careful not to present things that can not be implemented. Sharing ideas that can't work in store, makes the retailer feel that you don’t understand the shopping environment at all.
2. Remember that (for legal and sales reasons) the retailer needs to communicate the price / promotion to the customer – so please leave space.
If you don’t the retailer will stick (often unattractive) point of sale over your beautifully designed and strongly branded FSDU!
If you Google 'FSDU' you will find hundreds of images of beautiful FSDUs (designed by brands or printers) - none of which have been designed with any space to communicate the price or promotion to the customer... strange when one of the main purposes of the unit is to drive sales.
3. Consider the design and ensure it is fit for purpose (for the store it is going into).
a) Make sure the product is visible from the front (not just from above).
b) Think about the amount of stock they hold vs. the likely rate of sale and normal stock delivery to store. There is a common misconception that the retailer will supply enough stock to fill the FSDU you create and deliver. This is not the case. If the product is on promotion, then the allocation to store will be increased.
However, if, for example, the brand sends in an FSDU that is designed to hold 4 cases of stock but that store has a rate of sale which indicates that it would normally only sell 1 case before the shelf life runs out, then the retailer might increase the allocation to 2 cases but certainly not to 4. The result is a half filled over-sized FSDU, an unhappy retailer and an unhappy brand supplier!
c) Ensure the footprint is appropriate for the store size. This may mean creating more than one size of FDSU for different store types. If the unit is too big, it will end up at the back of the store or it won't be put out at all.
4) Work with the retailer on production and distribution to store.
If you send FSDUs directly to store and the retailer hasn't briefed the stores... the likelihood of decent compliance is low!
5) It's not my budget!
At Christmas, the stores are full to the brim with products and FSDUs. Last year, I had a conversation with 2 confectionery brands where i tried to explain that we had developed an FSDU which would hold both their products and as the unit had a small footprint it would virtually guarantee front of store position and thus higher sales. Neither supplier would agree to share the FSDU or fund it and therefore they each provided (at their cost) an alternative FSDU. The outcome was that only one (sometimes neither) could be placed at the front of store and sales suffered.
When quizzed... the main reason given for this seemingly illogical behaviour was that the budget for the creation of FSDU sits in a different part of the business and therefore it wasn't simple for the account manager to just pay the retailer to create an FSDU as he couldn't get hold of the budget from the 'cardboard man'. I do understand this but I would encourage any supplier reading this whether just because its not your budget, is it right to waste money?
And that's it.
Designing, producing and implementing FSDUs in a Convenience retail environment should be straightforward. Avoid these common mistakes and in my opinion, you will be well on your way to higher sales.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but I do hope you have found it insightful and useful. I welcome people's input, whether that be agreement or disagreement! If you would like further advice on anything, please message me or give me a call!
Please note: the pictures I have chosen to use are not in any way meant to be critical of specific brands or people but are just pictures I had on my phone (or found on Google) which helped (hopefully) to exhibit my points.
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