Week 3: What makes a successful retail display?

Homework: Retail display research: What makes a successful retail display? Visit your local supermarket and have a look at how products are displayed. Pay special attention to how supermarkets use temporary cardboard displays to give emphasis to specials or new products. Answer the following questions:How does the display of products in a supermarket vary?What does the display say about the products (ie. how are the vegetables displayed and how does this convey an idea about "freshness")?What visual clues are given in a supermarket display to make you feel something about a product (ie. excitement because the product is "new" or to give you an idea about the "quality" or "freshness" of a product)? 

Products in the supermarket are displayed with emphasis on the overwhelming amount of each product. Regular product displays are kept fairly compact displaying up to ten boxes of one product depending on the size, however if a new product arrived it is then displayed in abundance similar to the produce. By displaying the product in overwhelming amounts it portrays that the product is good enough to be ordered in such large amounts, meaning the product must be high quality. Bright lighting is also used to help emphasize the quality of the product, as the boxes tend to have a glossy texture which bounces the light off.Another way they promote new or supporting products is to display them in an area where they would not normally be found, however it relates to the products it sits around. For instance healthy crackers has a small stand near the produce section, as they help promote a healthy diet meaning it is suitable for that area as produce surrounds it. 


As for produce, they are all laid out in plastic crates, the crates can also have grooves shaped to the produce depending on what it is. The plastic crates that hold the produce are then covered by a cardboard box with a wooden texture. This wooden texture gives off the impression that the produce was just taken off the farm, and through stacking multiple boxes helps to confirm this image. Also a new addition is adding a fake bed of leaves to help cover the plastic crate that sits in the cardboard box, this helps to emphasis the freshness of the product due to the vivid green colour of the fake leafs. The colour green being associated with freshness commonly. Also the produce is always completely filled up, giving off the impression that they were just stocked which adds to the sense of freshness. As without the overwhelming amount of produce filling the crates, the customer no longer feels that the produce is new as it might be the leftovers.

The addition of cardboard boxes to help support the freshness of the produce is even used despite the produce already having its own personal packaging.

Now comparing how supermarkets display products to T2 Tea, the different is very noticeable. Supermarkets tend to be overwhelming the customer with the amount of products they offer, while displaying them in such abundance gives off the idea of freshness and good quality as they stocked a large amount of it. Whereas T2 displays their products minimally by only displaying small sections of their products, without the assistance of bright lighting or large price tags to support the sales of the product. However T2 has a different target audience, meaning the subtle displaying of products is effective towards their audience. Supermarkets approach to displaying products is effective to their audience, as they have to appeal to a much larger audience meaning they have to account to all different types of people.