Holiday Helpers

Display equipment can make the season’s sales merry and bright.

“Put your best foot forward” is an adage that takes on even more supermarket significance during the holidays, when food retailers experience sales spikes that can be increased even further by the innovative use of display equipment.

“The recent trend in holiday merchandising is the use of self-contained refrigerated merchandisers,” says Michael Lehtinen, product manager at Kysor/Warren, in Columbus, Ga. “The units are plug-and-play with casters, making it simple to deploy the unit at any location in the store. These units also make for ideal investments, as they can be used to support promotions for any holiday or season.”

Lehtinen notes that the most common application is staging the seasonal promotion at the entrance to the store, giving the retailer an opportunity to capture the customer the moment she enters the building. “Alternatively,” he adds, “placing the promotion near complementary products — precooked cookie dough near the turkeys, for instance — provides merchandisers with the opportunity to increase seasonal sales in a suggestive manner.”

Kysor/Warren, he points out, produces refrigerated merchandisers in multideck, reach-in and island layouts, available with or without doors; optional LED lighting; and remote and self-contained refrigeration. They’re offered in a wide variety of exterior finish materials; and multiple door formats such as opposed hinge, French door and sliding door.

Kysor/Warren, according to Lehtinen, is currently working to expand its offering of self-contained merchandisers, allowing for greater styles and flexibility in seasonal merchandising. “We expect that these will gradually move to HFC [hydrofluorocarbon]-free operation,” he concludes.

Carl Peterson, marketing and advertising manager at Zero Zone Inc., based in North Prairie, Wis., says, “Holidays are special in the United States and provide some of the best shopping periods of the year for retailers. To make their stores more festive, most retailers will add special holiday displays, which include decorating cooler and freezer line-ups throughout the store.”

Peterson says that case line-ups especially lend themselves to decorations on top of the cases. Some retailers will also add removable appliques of various types to the fronts of their glass door cases to add a festive touch. “Adding pine cones, wreaths and large ornaments to the top of a floral case that already contains red roses says ‘Christmas’ loud and clear,” he notes. “And placing a tiered poinsettia display next to that case completes the picture in a way that entices shoppers to actually purchase the display. A little imagination can go a long way when it comes to holiday decorating, and sets the right mood for vigorous sales.”

Zero Zone merchandisers, according to Peterson, are used by food retailers to display dairy, deli, beverages — including beer and wine — floral, salad mixes, packaged cut fruit and vegetables, and fresh meat.

The company’s Crystal Merchandiser floral case, for instance, he says, features 30-inch-wide, 74-inch-tall CoolView doors, and, compared with open multidecks, provides as much as 35 percent more product facings and up to 25 percent more capacity, while saving as much as 84 percent on energy costs. It’s also available in 8- and 12-foot lengths with pairs of 24-inch-wide, 74-inch-tall CoolView doors. This model shares the same features and energy savings as the original Crystal Merchandiser, but also allows for merchandising in 4-foot increments — just what store merchandisers are accustomed to with open multideck cases.

“All models of the Crystal Merchandiser line are remote cases,” Peterson says, “but can also be available as Zero Zone Hybrid cases, with a condensing unit kit mounted on top of the case for easy placement anywhere in the store.”

BenchLine, by R.W. Rogers Co. Inc., in St. Charles, Ill., is a new display system that’s extremely versatile and mobile, as well as “great for displaying holiday poinsettias or holiday ornaments and gifts,” according to Sales Director Alex Poulos.

Poulos notes that BenchLine uses minimal parts to obtain numerous configurations that can be added to and modified to fit specific merchandising needs. The shelves are easily adjusted from a tilted display position, vertical adjustments can be made in 6-inch increments to fit a wide variety of display possibilities, and the locking wheels allow BenchLine to be easily moved. The all-welded steel-frame, e-coated finish and heavy-duty structural foam shelves ensure years of use, Poulos observes.

Also from R.W. Rogers are 47-inch Round Display Tables, which Poulos says “are great for displaying your holiday poinsettias and other floral arrangements. Legs come standard with three adjustable heights to create a beautiful waterfall arrangement.”

Patrick Benasillo, VP at Visual Graphic Systems Inc. (VGS), in Carlstadt, N.J., says of holiday display equipment, “The focus really seems to be on cross-category selling: end caps and displays that are versatile enough to effectively promote items like hot cocoa and bags of rock salt, or bottled water and sunscreen. Changeability and flexibility are extremely important.”

According to Benasillo, VGS specializes in what the company calls “shopper destination/category reinvention”: customized fixtures and displays, aisle markers, menu boards, complete sign programs, digital displays, and custom signage. “Our GripFlex technology,” he notes, “allows us to create fixtures, end caps — even entire walls — with changeable graphics.”

He adds that almost all of VGS’ products can be used for holiday displays, and feature the patented lift-up MagaLens technology, which makes changing out messages and graphics quick and easy, as well as GripFlex technology, which is used to create perforated panel systems for maximum changeability. The panels can be used for graphics or as digital screens. Also, Magaframe displays can be inserted into a rail system.

“Our easily changeable stock components provide options for various configurations,” Benasillo points out, “so displays can go from everyday use to holiday use easily. Menu board inserts and digital content can also be customized to reflect holiday graphics and messaging.”

Benasillo says that, in addition to cross-category branding and versatility, digital will play a large role in the future of holiday display equipment.

“Adding pine cones, wreaths and large ornaments to the top of a floral case that already contains red roses says ‘Christmas’ loud and clear.”
—Carl Peterson, Zero Zone

“The focus really seems to be on cross-category selling: end caps and displays that are versatile enough to effectively promote items like hot cocoa and bags of rock salt, or bottled water and sunscreen. Changeability and flexibility are extremely important.”
—Patrick Benasillo, Visual Graphic Systems