Displays: from manufacturing to feedback

In the first part of this article, we have discussed the planning phase of display campaigns. We are now moving on to the next stage. Once we have selected a manufacturer, we should trust its competence regarding technical details. What we should be focusing on is the thing we intend to communicate using the display. According to István Réti from Forma Display Kft., clients still often focus on communicating the brand rather than the advantages offered by the product. Once the design has been agreed on, we should become familiar with the exact details of transportation (assembled and disassembled size). Any text printed on the display should be checked very carefully. A missing letter can be very embarrassing. Manufacturers should always warn clients if they notice something odd or incorrect in the order placed. When production is to begin and printing machines are to be started, the trade marketing officer in charge should be there. According to Ákos Tichy, owner of Idea Zone Kft., this is generally not the case, but an increasing number of clients do check machine settings personally. If we have been working with a printing company for years and we have never had any problems, then we can afford to sign the proof only. When it comes to the placement of displays, we often find that store managers are completely unaware of our campaign. If displays are not delivered by our local sales rep who – at least in theory – has negotiated the details of our campaign, we might lose a lot of money. Another problem might be that our displays are delivered when some stores close for a few hours during the day. Instructions for assembling even the simplest displays should always be provided. This can save our employees a lot of time. Once the display is “operational” its effectiveness should be measured. However, this is not very easy to do at the moment. Some experimental projects exist and it is one of the objectives of POPAI Magyarország to develop a tool for measuring the effectiveness of trade marketing tools, including displays. The simplest thing we can do is to ask for feedback from sales reps and merchandisers. A more sophisticated method is offered by Forma Display Kft. Forma Display Kft had supplied Sholl with displays for shoes and foot care products which have been placed in Herbária stores. A full time employee has been used for observing customers around the displays. Observation has yielded results which helped to determine what changes should be made in order to make the displays more effective. The most important finding was that the cost of Scholl displays is returned within five weeks and a profit begins to be generated following this period. Cameras offer another method for observation. Experimental projects using fixed eye cameras have been launched recently by Nielsen and GfK to compare customer behaviour with sales data. We should always share whatever we learn from feedback with manufacturers.