5 Tips for Designing Point of Sale Displays to Increase Sales

EDITED BY // JESSICA HEATHCOTE

REPUBLISHED: SEPTEMBER 2024

Point of Sale displays (POS for short) are an extremely valuable marketing and sales tool for brands and retailers. Not only do they bring a space to life by making it appear more welcoming and exciting, they also attract, educate, engage and convert customers. In fact, POS displays are so effective that the market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.9% over the next 4 years (Fortune Business Insights).

As such, designing a uniquely creative and effective point of sale display is going to be critical for success in the years ahead. This activity will allow you to position your brand and key messages as well as help your hero products to stand out in the cluttered retail environment.

DisplayWise General Manager – Marketing, Lisa Cachia explains:

“Point of sale displays offer brands and marketers a fantastic opportunity to provide visual exposure to one specific product line or campaign. Whether the goal is to entice a sale, cross-sell or to upsell every customer with an item they never knew they needed, we can build custom displays that create a memorable experience and ultimately boost sales and brand loyalty”.

Here are our 5 tips for designing and executing a revenue-increasing point of sale display in your retail space.

1. Get their attention!

Bespoke permanent point of sale displays are an effective way for retailers to encourage their customers to discover new categories or product lines. Introducing a customised point of sale display to your retail space will allow you to stand out from competitors, express your brand, capture new potential customers’ attention and increase revenue. Having worked with many of Australia’s leading retail brands, we have the skills and local manufacturing capability to develop and refine ideas and develop a cohesive solution that will enhance your brand.

As we look ahead, the future of point of sale displays is evolving – so it’s not just about keeping up, it’s about leading the way and we’ve got the latest for your revenue-increasing point of sale display in our mini-trend forecast.

Key Retail Trends for 2024

PHYGITAL EXPERIENCES

Blending the physical and digital realms in retail, phygital experiences are a rising trend that involves integrating digital elements such as QR codes or mobile apps with physical POS setups. These experiences create seamless, immersive environments where customers can engage with products online and offline, enhancing both discovery and convenience.

AI & AR Integration

Artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) continues to transform POS displays by offering personalised recommendations and virtual try-ons that take the customer on a deeper brand product experience. AI can analyse customer preferences to suggest products, whilst AR allows users to visualise how a product fits or looks in real life before purchasing, thus creating a highly engaging, tailored shopping experience.

MINIMALIST DESIGN

With minimalist design, simplicity is key. By focusing on clean lines and decluttered spaces, this aesthetic positions the product front and centre, allowing customers to focus on the item itself without distraction. 

SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATION

POS displays are increasingly integrated with social media, making products instantly shoppable through live streams or social commerce posts. Think about how your brand could incorporate these elements so as customers can interact with displays that link directly to your online store or social platforms. This encourgaes real-time engagement and purchases via channels like Instagram or TikTok.

2. Location, location, location.

The effectiveness of a POS display comes down to strategic placement, ensuring customers can’t miss your campaign or product as they shop. By positioning displays in high-traffic areas such as at the entrance, near checkouts or throughout key sections of the store, you align with the natural flow of foot traffic. As such, thoughtful design and placement combined with an understanding of the shopper’s journey, can boost product visibility, encourage impulse buys and drive increased sales.

For maximum impact, place displays where customers are primed to make purchasing decisions—such as at the checkout counter, where they’re also more likely to add last-minute items to their cart. Whether you’re introducing new products or reinforcing a campaign message, ensure your display attracts attention and provides a seamless interaction for customers as they navigate the store.

3. Samples & Demos.

Creating an interactive experience with samples and demos transforms passive shoppers into active participants. When customers can physically interact with your product, it adds a layer of tangibility, helping them feel more confident in their purchase decision. Studies show that 35% of shoppers who try a sample end up buying that product during the same trip (Arbitron and Edison Media Research).

However, the key to effective sampling is simplicity. Offering too many choices can overwhelm customers and dilute your message. Instead, focus on showcasing one or two key products that align with your campaign goals. This helps create a cohesive experience, driving both product interest and sales. The physical design of your POS display should also support this strategy, with clear calls to action and enough space for customers to interact comfortably. Additionally, consider using signage to reinforce the product’s key benefits or unique selling points as customers engage with the sample. Interactive displays or digital touchpoints, such as QR codes linking to additional product information or demo videos, can also enhance the experience, leading to more informed buying decisions.

4. Know Your Target Audience.

In POS marketing, understanding your audience is paramount. This involves more than just knowing their demographics; it’s about grasping their behaviors, preferences and pain points. Next, to effectively engage your audience, your POS display should not only attract but also educate. For instance, if your target market includes young professionals seeking eco-friendly products, you should design your POS display to highlight sustainability features, perhaps using green materials or messaging that emphasises environmental impact.

Similarly, if you’re promoting a new tech gadget, consider including interactive elements or QR codes that lead to further product discovery, demos or even customer reviews. This way, you not only catch their eye but also provide valuable information that can drive informed purchasing decisions. Overall, by aligning your display with your customer’s specific needs and interests, you can better facilitate upselling and cross-selling, turning a simple interaction into a comprehensive brand experience.

5. Keep It Consistent.

Consistency in your POS displays helps reinforce your brand message and enhances consumer trust. For example, if you’re launching a summer sale, incorporate vibrant colors and summer-themed graphics into your POS display to align with the current campaign. This consistency helps create a unified brand experience, making it easier for customers to recognise and recall your campaign as well as strengthening the connection to your POS display.

Additionally, aligning your POS display with broader marketing efforts will help build a cohesive brand narrative. For instance, if your campaign is centered around “healthy living,” ensure that this message is visible not just at the point of sale but also through in-store signage, digital ads, social media and even throughout the retail centre. This holistic approach makes your brand appear more reliable and coherent, enhancing customer trust and loyalty.

By implementing well-designed point of sale displays, you can significantly boost sales, drive engagement and enhance the overall shopping experience. At DisplayWise, we specialise in creating bespoke, high-quality POS solutions that align with your brand’s unique needs and objectives. Our locally produced displays are not only tailored to make a visual impact but also designed to optimise your sales strategy with quick turnaround times and cost-effective solutions. Ready to see how a custom POS display can drive your sales to the next level? Contact DisplayWise today and let our team of experts help you design displays that not only capture attention but also convert interest into action.

The Power of Storytelling – Tell Your Story, Wisely

Authentic Style Barber Shop Pop Up for Gillette and Havas Sports & Entertainment at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Storytelling has always been a powerful tool used in marketing to portray your branding in the best possible light, just the way you’ve planned it. Every brand has a story or a theme they follow. This can be conveyed through your brand’s tone of voice, design, service offering, and brand activations. Experiential marketing has become the way of the future for storytelling – because what better way is there to tell your story than to show it?

Hilton Solander Brand Activation for Curio at West Hotel Sydney

Storytelling provides an avenue to connect to consumers unlike any other. Brands are empowered to share and sell their values and personality in a form that feels less like advertising and more like a concerted effort to strengthen relationships with customers. Stories shape how people see you, acting as a tool of power and a point of persuasion to move people to action. In fact, over two thirds (69%) of surveyed respondents said they go out of their way to engage with brands that align with their own values*, while 34% said they’ve stopped supporting the ones that don’t* (Toluna Consumer Insights, 2021).

Our job (and philosophy) is simple. We design to create stories. Our highly skilled Industrial Design team will take the time to understand your brand and brief and help you tell your story. We’ll work with you to develop and refine ideas until they are signed off and ready to go.

Our services on offer include exhibition stands, brand activations, retail and POS, and event displays. How do we tell your story through these? We thought you’d never ask…

DisplayWise Exhibition Comsteel AusRAIL 1 Hero - The Power of Storytelling - Tell Your Story, Wisely - DisplayWise
Exhibitions

From the brief to concept design to installation, we can help you tell your brand or campaign’s story. Our Custom Design Stands put your brand on show and provide a platform for you to connect with your customers. Making your brand stand out with an exhibition is a perfect way to connect and engage with customers. We aim to deliver brand-centric stands that tell stories with innovation on the show floor.

Bold and Bright Carbar Brand Activation at Westfield Sydney
Brand Activations

Brand activations provide a platform for creating meaningful interactions with customers, building loyalty and generating engagement whilst giving the brand an opportunity to convey itself in a more personal manner. From roadshows to sponsorship activations, pop up booths to retail displays, we work with you to develop a great space for your next campaign. The story you tell is completely up to you – you make the plans, we’ll make it happen.

Thinx Retail Display with Multiple Plinths at Pitt Street Mall, Sydney
Retail & POS

If there’s ever a tale to be told, it’s in the retail space (can we call it re-tale?). Retail fit-outs should always aim to tell a story that’s in line with the brand holistically. From a semi-permanent pop up shop, to a showroom design or store-in-store fit out, we can create a great space for your brand to gain exposure, interact with customers and generate sales. This is also an essential aspect for you to discover what works well with your story and our customer.

Moody Single Malt Whiskey Product Launch Event Display for The Macallan
Event Displays

Bringing people together, and creating buzz and excitement are the foundations of a great event and an even better story for your brand. You can create a unique space with custom-made elements to make your story the most memorable one. By helping you to create bespoke display pieces, we help you to bring your event to life and tell your story the right way.

Don’t believe us? Here’s how we have told some great stories:

Nutra Organics

Nutra Organics engaged DisplayWise to design a custom display for the 2021 Naturally Good exhibition, held at the International Convention Centre, Sydney. The brief described how Nutra Organics wanted to display a variety of products within their range in a simulated ‘real-life’ setting, where consumers would be using some of these products in their everyday routines. So, we were given our brief with the brand’s campaign story. It was time to get to work…

DisplayWise offered the client alternative materials and finishes throughout the design, helping the client achieve their vision of resembling a premium and sophisticated look in a cost-effective manner. We had to tell their story the right way, so for the kitchen and pantry wall, the shelving was made from a wood matt laminate material that had a woodgrain texture, resembling a timber look, and featured LED underlighting. The white subway tiles and the soft peach V–Groove tiles from the vanity were made from an alternate material to regular ceramic tiles and were painted so that they were an almost exact replica of traditional tiles. The bright whites of the lights complemented the warm woods and soft peach painted V–Groove tiles.

The 2022 Naturally Good Exhibition is coming up again very soon for 2022. To see the result of this case study, click here.

Gillette

Havas Sports & Entertainment reached out to DisplayWise to design and fabricate an authentic style pop up barber for their client King C. Gillette at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach. The story being told here required a complete fit-out for it to emulate the proposed objectives and creative vision. The request to DisplayWise was that their brand book is translated into every element of the build – essentially requiring the design team to morph a 2D concept into 3D form.

The build concept was designed to bring the King C. Gillette brand book to life, with a curated inclusion of exposed brick graphics, walnut countertops and a collection of Chesterfield style furniture featured throughout. Both the interior and exterior of the site were transformed by the indulgent use of the Gillette colour palette, providing a seamless storytelling experience for the customer.

To see the result of this case study, click here.

Australian Defence Apparel 

ADA (Australian Defence Apparel) approached DisplayWise to custom build an exhibition stand for the 2021 Land Forces International Land Defence Exhibition held in June at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. As the largest primary manufacturer of Australian Military apparel, ADA’s brief required a design that could showcase a variety of new and innovative apparel designs.

This required the DisplayWise team to tell a story that would demonstrate the military theme. The use of shipping container-styled structures was positioned around the perimeters of the stand. Inspiration was taken from true military-style cases and the DisplayWise Industrial Design team replicated these by designing and constructing the shipping containers using CNC routed detailing and cut-out pieces such as the hinges and corner capping pieces. To further the effect, the design team used powder coated corrugated sheeting panels for the exterior of the containers and styled the ends with galvanised steel shipping container locks. Not only did the DisplayWise team deliver an uncanny replica of a shipping container, but this also allowed for ample storage space, a meeting room to interact with clients, and a place for ADA to display their apparel as they would in a retail precinct.

To see the result of this case study, click here.

Experiential marketing, activations and retail & POS settings are all effective tools in which to tell your brand’s story. We design to create stories and bring the right people together to challenge established thinking and drive the transformation to tell your story the right way.

Want to get in touch? Contact us today.

DisplayWise celebrates 20 years

DisplayWise Announces Their 2021 20 Years Campaign Featuring Their Best Projects

Following an unprecedented year for the Exhibition and Events Industry, DisplayWise is humbled and pleased to this year recognise our twentieth anniversary. Starting our journey as a small display business based in Sydney’s South, DisplayWise has grown exponentially and is now home to over 12,000 sqm of offices and production space across both Sydney and Melbourne.

 

Over the last two decades, DisplayWise has created thousands of displays for some of Australia’s most well-known brands. Servicing industries including automotive, technology, retail, banking, as well as government departments, DisplayWise has designed and produced many award-winning projects.

 

DisplayWise continues to push the boundaries in design and craftsmanship, always striving to challenge both ourselves and our clients to think outside the box and create displays to facilitate truly memorable experiences. As a market leader in innovative displays, the increasing use of technology has enabled DisplayWise to help bring our clients’ brands to life through truly engaging customer experiences across a variety of precincts.

 

Speaking of the anniversary, DisplayWise CEO Dylan Retif commented, “I am extremely proud to have led this company for the past two decades. Starting my career as an Industrial Designer, I have always been ‘hands-on’ in the business. I love to get involved in a brief, to work alongside our clients and to ensure that our designs are really at the forefront of innovation”.

 

In June 2018, Evolve Private Capital invested in DisplayWise to help accelerate a variety of growth initiatives, building on the existing strong foundations of the business. DisplayWise has since invested heavily in expanding the team, brand and production capabilities. Following a full brand relaunch in 2019, DisplayWise has further diversified revenue streams, opened a new modern production facility in Melbourne, invested in new automated equipment and expanded its national footprint.

 

In July 2019, DisplayWise also merged with leading exhibition hire business, Creative Hire, to provide a more holistic solution for our clients. The two businesses are now co-located and are able to provide a better solution for clients while leveraging greater back-office efficiencies.

 

The COVID pandemic obviously imposed many challenges for all businesses in the Events and Exhibitions industry, however, DisplayWise forged forward through this period, continuing to diversify the business to gain even greater market penetration within the Experiential, Events and Retail space, to complement our market-leading Exhibition offering.

 

Going forward, Retif acknowledges that the industry will be in a period of recovery. “There is no question that every single company in our industry has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic”, Retif commented. “We’re in the business of creating experiences in face-to-face environments, and whilst that was put on hold for a period of time, our clients are ready and excited to get their brands back out there again”.

 

Over the coming weeks, DisplayWise will share some of the best and most memorable projects from our twenty-year history, along with a series of campaigns to commemorate the milestone.

DisplayWise announce sponsorship of the 2021 B&T awards

DisplayWise Sponsors the 2021 B&T Awards at Hordern Pavilion, Sydney

DisplayWise are thrilled to announce that we have again partnered with the B&T Awards as a sponsor of this year’s upcoming event. Following an unprecedented year, this year’s awards will celebrate the work of our creative industries across 39 categories.

 

This year represents the second time DisplayWise has partnered with the event. “We’re very excited to once again sponsor the B&T Awards. The events of the last year have really highlighted to us just how important it is for brands and businesses to connect with their audiences in a face-to-face environment”, DisplayWise CEO Dylan Retif commented.

 

“At DisplayWise, we’ve built our business around creating environments to facilitate engagement and build relationships. We believe strongly that creating memorable experiences is key, and we are excited to be part of these awards and recognise brands and agencies that continue to push the boundaries,” Retif added.

 

Judged by more than 100 of Australia’s most experienced marketers, the event is scheduled to be held on the 12th of November at the Hordern Pavilion, Sydney.


About DisplayWise

DisplayWise is a leader in the design and manufacture of bespoke display solutions. We work with both brands and agencies to turn their outlandish ideas into reality through the creation of displays for exhibitions, experiential activations, events, retail and point-of-sale campaigns.


Contact:

Lisa Cachia

General Manager – Marketing

2020 – A year in review

Behind the Scenes Photo of DisplayWise Production Workers

An honest, raw and in-depth look at the unfolding events of 2020. It was a year our industry will never forget and one that nobody saw coming…

A letter from our CEO

As this year draws to a close, we would like to take the opportunity to thank our valued clients, suppliers and partners for their loyalty and support during what has been an unprecedented year for our business and industry.

 

As we look back, we are incredibly thankful and proud of our team and what we have achieved. Throughout this pandemic we have continued to move forward with resilience and determination, creating new brands and product lines, diversifying our service offering and, of course, continuing to strengthen and grow our core business.

 

We are ready and excited to continue our journey with you in 2021.

 

Wishing you all a safe and happy Christmas.

 

Sincerely,

Dylan Retif

CEO – DisplayWise