Research shows that 76% of purchasing decisions are made in-store. For retailers, getting your in-store displays right is making sure your customers feel like your brand resonates with them in some way. A well-curated display communicates your product/service/message with ease, is distinctive, creates an easy shopping experience and survives real retail conditions
For retailers and retail agencies, that makes the quality of the physical execution just as important as the creative concept behind it. From window graphics and POS to floor graphics, dimensional displays and full retail installations, the right production partner can help turn a campaign into an unforgettable in-store experience.
Print is often the starting point for a retail display, and there’s a good reason for that. It gives retailers plenty of scope to transform windows, walls, floors and POS without completely changing the surrounding environment.
The trick is making sure the print is right for the job.
A window campaign might need to create maximum impact from outside the store, while a floor graphic needs to cope with considerably more footfall. POS needs to communicate quickly and clearly.
Imageco produces printed retail graphics and POS in-house, with the ability to take artwork and turn it into different formats across a wider campaign. That could mean a window display sitting alongside wall graphics, floor graphics, and branded POS, all singing from the same hymn sheet.
And when the brief calls for something with a bit more going on, that’s where things get interesting.
Retail doesn’t always need another flat graphic. Sometimes the creative needs to physically change the space.
Imageco’s 3D and cardboard engineering team develops bespoke displays using CAD, CNC cutting and 3D printing, creating structures that can be designed, tested and refined before they reach production.
That opens up plenty of options for agencies with ambitious concepts. Displays can be built around the shape of a product, adapted to a particular store footprint, or designed to create a much bigger visual statement.
It also means the practical side can be considered early. How will it be assembled? How will the components fit together? What needs to be strong enough to survive a busy retail environment? Getting those questions answered before production saves a lot of headaches later.
Some retail concepts need more than print and board.
Imageco can combine printed elements with metalwork, joinery and 3D-printed components to create more substantial displays. That might mean a timber or MDF structure with printed graphics, metal elements forming part of the build, or bespoke connectors designed specifically for the display.
It’s particularly useful when the creative needs to feel like a genuine part of the store rather than something that has simply been placed there.
The important bit is that these elements can be considered together. The graphics, structure, and components all need to work as one finished piece, rather than three separate jobs awkwardly meeting in the middle.
One of the best examples of this approach is Imageco’s work for Vans at their Oxford Street flagship store.
The brief, developed by syn, was to bring Southern California skate culture into the London store. The centrepiece was a mirrored slope inspired by a skatepark quarter pipe, creating a pretty hard-to-miss focal point.
It was far from a straightforward print job.
Imageco created a bespoke scaffolding frame for the structure, then fitted 300mm square mirrored acrylic pieces using bespoke 3D-printed components. The team also produced POS plinths using breeze blocks, wooden bases and risers, with foliage completing the skatepark-inspired look.
CAD and 3D design were used to develop the slope before production, while Imageco’s Zünd cutting technology and joinery capabilities helped turn the individual components into the finished display.
The whole project went from design and engineering through to installation in just four weeks.
That’s the sort of project where print is only one part of the picture. The creative needed engineering, fabrication, 3D printing and installation to make it work in the real world.
For retail agencies, the final test is always the same: does the display work once it leaves the studio?
A beautiful concept that becomes a nightmare to manufacture or assemble isn’t much use to anyone.
Imageco works across the whole process, from designing and engineering the display through to installing the finished piece.
And that’s where a good production partner can make life considerably easier. You can bring the creative idea to the table; we can work through the practicalities together to develop something truly original.
Because when it comes to retail displays, the final artwork is only the beginning. The real job is making the idea work on the shop floor.
Discuss your next retail rollout with our team of experts.
