Displays, Do They Help?

[James Combs]

I have a small shelf space at a local craft outlet and will be placing this on display come Friday Oct. 1st. Do you think it will help sell the products or does the display matter?:confused: If it helps how does this one look??

It combines a display of bottle stoppers and pens.
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I haven't posted any but one of the bottle stoppers so here are some close-ups of them. These are all firsts and are from a pack of 10 wood/silicone stoppers. The first photo above shows the silicone on the only one (my first one) that I have posted. The laminated one is a little unique so I will follow with a separate posting for it.

L to R: (all are CA finished)
Poplar, Box Elder, Cocobolo, Wormy Bitternut, Laminated(see separate posting), Spalted Maple, Claro Walnut, Mulberry, Unknowood
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These are close-ups of the pens which have all been previously posted.
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C&C requested.

[Tom Hamilton]

The short answer is yes, display matters.

It's retail, look at the effort everyone from Home Depot to Macy's/Sears places on the presentation. Your handsome pieces deserve the impact and importance of a well thoughtout, attractive, customer friendly display. With clear prices. Oh, and you'll sell more, faster too.

All the Best, Tom, in Douglasville, with a life-time career in retailing in the rear-view mirror.

[Betty Fox]

Don't know about the display helping or not but just wanted to say the stopper are beautiful. :)

[James Combs]

The short answer is yes, display matters.

It's retail, look at the effort everyone from Home Depot to Macy's/Sears places on the presentation. Your handsome pieces deserve the impact and importance of a well thoughtout, attractive, customer friendly display. With clear prices. Oh, and you'll sell more, faster too.

All the Best, Tom, in Douglasville, with a life-time career in retailing in the rear-view mirror.
Thanks Tom, always good to hear from experience. I am a retired automotive engineer so I don't have much retailing experience. BTW how is this one as to being attractive, hopefully not to cluttered etc.?:confused:


Don't know about the display helping or not but just wanted to say the stopper are beautiful. :)
Hi Betty, thanks for looking, I always appreciate the feminine perspective. How about you if you saw this in a craft shop would you at least look?;)

[Scott Hackler]

James, I am a firm believer in presentation. This display presents your items very well and it should be an eye catcher with the green bottle in the middle. Having clear pricing, even if you have different price ranges in like displays, would be helpfull for customers. I speak as a comsumer, not a seller. I haven't sold but 2 finger rings and 2 pens out of all my turnings so my outlook is in what I would like to see if I walked into a store.

[David DeCristoforo]

Anyone who does not think that presentation matters is going to lose a lot of sales. Think about it. How many products do you buy that arrive in a crumpled up grocery bag? Most of the time, the packaging is far more attractive than the product itself. Good presentation says a lot to a prospective buyer. For one thing, and possibly most importantly, it tells the buyer that you value the work as much as you want them to value it. Those stoppers and pens look much nicer displayed as you have them than they would if they were simply tossed loosely into a basket. Those who see them are going to understand, maybe even unconsciously, that they are to be taken seriously. The only thing I don't like about your display is the green bottle. To me it's hugely distracting. A clear bottle would work much better (MMHO!)

[Tom Hamilton]

James, your displays are attractive and functional. Now for a little sizzle.

If you can get the real estate to spread the two bottle stopper racks and put your studio name and artists statement in between, matted and framed on an easel, it will give the customer another reason to stop and explore. You want to reinforce, in your studio name and artist statement, that your are an artist/craftsman, not a production plant in Taiwan. Like David, I think the bottles are a distraction. I'd get one in darker green and put it out to the side and to the rear of your display to demo what the product is. Use the two spaces in the rack for more product.

All the best, Tom

Finally, labels on all the product with species and price.

[Greg Just]

as others have said, displays do work. They keep your products upright and easier to see. I have wine bottle stoppers at a local shop and they are in a display that I made. Workd very well.