Customer: Meijer
 Many SKUs in a small space
The category manager for gift bags at Meijer was faced with a common challenge for retailers – maximizing the use of space. The gift bag category was particularly challenging because of the varied sizes of bags to be displayed. In fact, in this case the buyer was faced with shrinking space for this line of products. Compounding the problem was that the competition in this category had a similar product line but enjoyed the luxury of a great deal more space for display.
The customer’s challenge was to display 36 different SKUs within this line in a space not exceeding the 4 feet of shelf space she had available. By comparison, the competition had utilized 12 feet of shelf space to display the same quantity of gift bags.
 We worked with this buyer, pulling together all the different size bags and discussing the finer points of her need – the maximum height available to us; ensuring the fixture would be easy for consumers to shop; ensuring the display would be easy for the merchandiser to keep full; and finally creating a display that would allow the product’s attractiveness – the primary selling feature – to shine through.
To meet these needs we determined a fabricated wire display was the only answer. The material choice for this display was critical and while an acrylic display might deliver a better visual presentation it simply would not hold up to the abuse of the environment.
In the end, after prototyping and testing we delivered a multi-pocket wire display to hold a dozen each of (4) different size bags. The customer then positioned (9) of these displays in one 4 foot section of shelving space. The result was a display that increased the sales of this line, decreased space required for display and, compared with the competition, opened up eight additional feet of selling space for generating profits.
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