Custom Costco Retail Displays
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At Great Northern Instore, we can help you create structurally sound and compliant Costco retail displays that sell through on the warehouse floor. We are more than a manufacturer. With over 60 years of experience and over 100 designers, our team offers partnership throughout every stage from design to distribution. With us, we can meet all testing requirements for Costco approval. We also optimize designs for the warehouse selling environment.
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If you are looking for an effective way to get your products into the hands of buyers, Costco end cap displays are an excellent starting point. Great Northern Instore has a wide array of Costco display shelf merchandising solutions that will be sure to boost your sales and bring success to your business.
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Navigating Costco's Strict Display and Packaging Requirements
If you sell consumer packaged goods (CPG) in Costco stores, you must meet strict requirements to get your product listed and kept on the floor. You also face a unique selling environment with several distinctions compared to traditional retail stores.
At Great Northern Instore, we know the rules and can help you meet technical compliance requirements. Our Costco displays can help:
Pallet and Structural Specifications
Product displays for Costco must fit on 48-by-40-inch block pallets with no overhang. The warehouse club chain also requires that pallets hold 1500 pounds of bottom-layer weight when loaded with less than 750 pounds and 2500 pounds of bottom-layer weight when loaded with more than 750 pounds. This specification offers durability to avoid crushing during stacking or transit. Our teams can specifically design and engineer display units to meet design standards and structural requirements.
Material, Durability and Shipping Standards
The warehouse environment includes concrete floors, forklifts moving goods and high traffic, all of which could cause damage to a display. Before your display reaches the warehouse, it must also hold up throughout transit. To help meet these requirements, Costco only accepts general-use block pallets from certain manufacturers, while others require approval before use.
Great Northern Instore will use approved pallets and meet all requirements so your pallets and packaging will withstand transit and in-store display while passing pallet inspection processes.
The 5×5 Rule and Shoppability
Displays in warehouse club environments, such as Costco, should also meet the 5×5 rule. In other words, the display should communicate what the item is and why it is needed from five feet away within five seconds. Our design team can help maximize the limited space available on Costco retail displays to clearly showcase the product and its value to shoppers. We also ensure displays are easily shoppable, enabling members to shop products and increasing sell-through.
The Types of Retail Displays We Engineer for Costco Sellers
At Great Northern Instore, we have the knowledge and capabilities to meet display needs in club stores, including Costco. We focus on matching displays to your branding for a seamless and consistent customer experience. Our strategies can also target specific customer segments, such as impulse buyers, to increase the likelihood of sales. By helping you sell at Costco, a great display can increase your sales velocity and improve your brand’s success. We can also customize your club store packaging to help sell your products.
Pallet Displays (and more)
Pallet displays are the most common types of displays used in warehouse club stores. These displays are the workhorses of these retail locations. When designing Costco pallet displays, we prioritize shopability from three sides to encourage sales from every direction, rather than just the front. We can create skirtless designs or fully branded shrouds, depending on the budget and product category. Our services extend across full, half and quarter pallets and different displays for other retail environments.
Product Display Quickly (PDQ) Trays
While Costco displays mainly take the form of pallets, you may also need other display types, such as PDQ trays. These displays can elevate your customer engagement and may provide additional opportunities to showcase the product on shelves above pallets or in different locations. We focus on making PDQ trays stackable while still being easy for members to access. This type of display is an effective way to drive impulse buys.
In-Aisle Displays
In Costco warehouses, in-aisle displays are on pallets, with designs optimized for their specific placement. These displays work well for established products. When designing these displays in Costco stores, we prioritize front visibility so your product catches the eyes of members as they move down the warehouse aisles. Our displays can create interruption moments that encourage sales even in less visible locations. We focus on custom Costco pallet displays with elevated structural integrity to hold up to higher traffic exposure. We can also design, engineer and produce demo displays that are popular in some Costco departments. We have expertise in metal, wire, plastics and interactive displays that help showcase your product to Costco’s members.
Our Proven Process for Successful Costco Displays
We handle all the complexity on your behalf to ensure an efficient process and a high-quality result.
Strategy and Design
When creating displays, we start by fully understanding the product and then adding our knowledge of Costco category requirements. From there, our designers balance brand aesthetics with strict structural constraints to provide a sense of the final design.
Engineering and Prototyping
Once we have developed a concept, we engineer and create a prototype so you can approve the design. This phase helps us test the structural integrity by simulating the supply chain stress your product might endure from shipping to the warehouse display.
Manufacturing
After prototype approval, we will handle the manufacturing process. We have all the printing capabilities you need under one roof, and we invest in our processes and facilities to create reliable delivery. During manufacturing, we scale from test quantities to national rollouts while maintaining the same high quality standards.
Logistics
We offer a turnkey advantage, going beyond printing to assemble and kit-pack displays, as well as handle other logistics. Our fulfillment services enable you to deliver a floor-ready unit to the Costco depot for use in their club warehouses.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are a few answers to common questions we receive about our services.
What Is the Difference Between a Club Store Display and a Standard Retail Display?
A club store display is larger and designed for high durability, making it easy to transfer from truck to store. These displays sit on pallets and are designed to hold high-volume, bulk products.
Does Great Northern Instore Handle the Structural Testing Required by Costco?
We can validate displays to meet compliance requirements set by the International Safe Transit Association (ISTA®) standards 1A/3E and required by Costco for their displays.
Can Great Northern Instore Ensure Graphic Design Meets Costco’s Style Guide?
Our creative team specializes in ensuring that graphics meet any distinct Costco requirements.
Start Your Costco Display Project Today
With decades of experience, our award-winning team of designers has created solutions for industry-leading clients. We offer high-quality engineering and manufacturing in our turnkey process to streamline the development of your displays. Contact us to discuss your needs and secure placement on the warehouse floor.
