Instore: the moment of truth

Cheapness is till the key consideration regarding instore tools, but at least cardboard displays are becoming increasingly attractive. Companies specialising in instore communication are confident however, that western solutions will soon be in demand. According to György Láng, managing director of Branaldi Kft., a manufacturer of paper and cardboard displays, demand for instore promotional tools is growing. He believes that contracting the right supplier is essential, as bad design can lead to costly problems with cardboard displays and might lead to clients becoming disillusioned. Branaldi Kft., the Hungarian representative of the Czech Branaldi group offers a comprehensive service, including design, product development, manufacturing and storage. Their most popular products are hexagonal trays and quarter palette displays. The use no standard designs, all their solutions are tailored to client requirements. Their displays have won awards at every lolliPoP competition since 2004. It is no surprise that Forma Display Kft. is a manufacturer of displays, but they are planning to offer POS communication and cost effective display services as well. They have also developed a method for measuring the effectiveness of displays. In the opinion of Dr. István Réti, creative director of Forma Display Kft., there has not been spectacular progress in the field of instore communication in recent years in Hungary. In Western Europe, instore communication has become a matter of life or death, as a result of intense competition. ATL communication can only tell people that a “treasure” exists, whereas BTL tools serve as the map leading to the treasure. He believes that owing to the need for “cost efficiency”, displays used in Hungary are 10-15 years behind Western standards. However, they never sell the same design twice. They increasingly focus on plastic displays, because these are more durable than cardboard displays, which lose their rigidity quickly as a result of humidity absorbed from the air. They have even made an interactive display for a beer brand, with built-in movement sensor, micro computer, DVD and a display screen. HL Display is the leading supplier of instore tools in Europe. Roller Track is one of their most recent innovations, which is used for pushing heavier products forward. HeroShelf is an arched shelf tray. Both attracted a lot of attention at EuroShop 2008. According to Katalin Svidró, managing director of Jansen Display Kft., retail chains and brand owners are aware of the importance of POS tools, but BTL spending still only accounts for a small part of advertising budgets. Most of Jansen Display products are aluminium displays with communication surfaces which can be replaced and allow these to be used for long periods. The Elypse® modular system is one of the unique Jansen products, which is constructed from elliptical elements and can be filled with a wide range of BTL tools, allowing the system to be assembled in several hundred versions.