Corrugated board is a popular material for POP displays because it can support the weight of merchandised products.
While many POP display formats have remained steadily popular over the years, the issue of structural design is apparent in how specifically those formats are accomplished. As they are dimensional pieces, there are countless ways to put them together.
Corrugated board is the industry’s primary material of choice, as it is light and can fold flat for inexpensive shipping, yet also support the weight of retail products when standing.
“The space and freight savings are significant,” explains Rob Stahler, a sales executive for Stephen Gould, a retail product packaging manufacturer that has worked with Poptech.
In some cases, designs integrate wood, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or glass for longer-lasting POP displays.
“Corrugate doesn’t have a long life in retail, usually only up to 90 days, but some requests come out for displays to last all year,” says Minister, “so the idea is to combine the low price of corrugate with the tougher durability of these other materials.”
In other cases, while a corrugated board construction will suffice for the length of the POP campaign, a wax or corrugated plastic base is added to prevent the sponge-like material from absorbing moisture from retail floors, such as that left behind by winter-season shoppers’ boots.
Structural flexibility
Poptech’s range of displays runs the POP gamut, from countertop brochure holders to stacked shelves to multi-angle dimensional displays and life-size standees. As the company has grown, it has outsourced much of its fabrication work. It still sources its own paper and corrugated board, but leaves the printing, die-cutting, mounting and lamination to other companies, before bringing projects back in-house for assembly, packing and shipping.
“We’re stronger as a middleman than as a manufacturer,” says Minister. “We can turn out products much quicker, since we can just work with more companies as needed. And the printing technique is determined by volume. If our customers need 100 to 150 pieces, they’re directly printed on a digital press. Anything above and beyond that goes to litho.”
Even after displays come back to Poptech from its printers, the company does not deliver them directly to the end customers, i.e. the retailers. Rather, it ships in bulk to the merchandisers and wholesalers. And its capacity to do so has grown through licensing on an international scale.
“Our strength is really in structural design,” Minister explains, “so we license our technology to other companies with their own solid client lists and a background in distribution to handle the actual sales. This approach has helped us grow fast. We now have 12 patents, which can encompass a wide range of displays, and we really focus on servicing our licensees.”
With files from Poptech. For more information, visit www.poptech.ca.
