Black Friday Now Starts On Thursday?

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Rabbott

As the holiday shopping season nears, the retail industry continues to be hopeful, yet cautious, about the spending mood of the consumer. Many new merchandising and advertising strategies will be launched to get consumers to spend early and often. One of the most curious trends that is emerging trend will reveal if retailers want to keep playing a game one-upsmanship.

The latest trend that is about to explode is the opening of stores for “Black Friday” at 10:00pm on Thanksgiving Day. Only the stout of heart, and cash reserves, need apply. The obvious question is: Is it really Black Friday when it starts on a Thursday night?

Who knows, maybe winning the Christmas shopping battle will come down to who opens the earliest to sell the most merchandise at cost…or a loss. Who knows? Giving they customer what the want is what it’s all about. Right?

A unique part of being a merchandising services company is having a front row seat to the new and exciting trends in the industry. This one is going to be interesting to see who plays follow the leader or chooses to merely follow tradition and open at 4am.

What do you think is going to happen?

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Marketing In the Digital Age…Merchandising Isn’t Dead Yet

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Rabbott

Online marketing is everywhere! Even in retail merchandising.

A few weeks ago we exhibited at the Shopper Marketing Expo in Chicago and the trend is unmistakable – digital engagement is dominating the merchandising conversation. In the digital age, shopping has become an on-demand experience.

Consumers armed with a computer or smartphone can gather virtually all the information they need before they enter the store. The question is, what will they experience when they reach the “first moment of truth” in the store…merchandising that leads them to purchase or poor execution that confuses and ruins the sale.

As a merchandising services company, our take is that no matter how clever the online strategy, the in-store merchandising must be solid and engaging for the purchase to happen. The experience of making the purchase in the store, walking out the door with product in hand and the dopamine rush that occurs in the brain can never be duplicated while sitting in front of a computer and ordering online. It’s safe to say that consumers will still be making purchases in the store for the foreseeable future.

In store merchandising plays a crucial role in this ancient ritual called shopping and those who are focused on creating  merchandising that sells will achieve the greatest success.

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Installation for iphone 4S Nationwide Rollout for Sprint

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Rabbott

The DisplayMax team recently assisted in the nationwide rollout of the Apple iPhone 4S in Sprint stores. We covered a large geographic area in southeast Michigan. Each store was closed so the display could be installed and the POP package could be hung.

Each team was assigned three stores with a specific deadline to meet the logistics company with display components and security system. We are happy to report that all of teams were on time and completed 85 stores in one day.

Every merchandising project is a learning experience and the big take-away from this one was that mobile phone customers get very irate when they need a new phone and the store is closed. Not a pretty sight!

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Who Says Merchandising Isn’t Any Fun? We’re Building Cages!

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Rabbott

Display installationAnother fun day at DisplayMax Merchandising building cages. Not really, it ended up looking like a cage for Paco, Charlie’s dog, but it really has a function.

It is a transport rack to ship  components for a display install project we are executing beginning next week. We are about to send teams throughout Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi to a well known supermarket chain to install displays over the packaged meat coolers. We will be executing 484 stores in a 6 week schedule. Lucky teams get to be in Florida and the Gulf coast during December!

This is a great example of the highly, customized merchandising services we provide at DisplayMax. The displays are made of PVC sign board material and can be warped and dinged up easily. Keeping it stable while transporting as much material as possible is the main goal. This transport rack is built to the exact material widths to minimize possible damage.

We often find that we must come up with very innovative and creative solutions to install the displays that merchandising and retail companies develop. We say, “Bring it on, we’ve got your solution!”

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DisplayMax Goes Gucci – Sunglasses Display Installation

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Rabbott

Display installation - Gucci SunglassesOur team just completed an installation of a Gucci Sunglasses display at the Solstice Sunglasses Boutique in San Fransisco and New Orleans.

This beautiful display was designed and manufactured by One Source Visual Marketing Solutions in New York City. Our team of merchandising specialists completed the project in just few hours.

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