Choosing Racks for Floor and Countertop Displays

Whether it’s a convenience store, bookstore, or gift shop, nearly every kind of retail store uses display racks to showcase its merchandise.

As you’re determining the kind of display racks that will work best for your store, keep three things in mind:

1. The merchandise you plan to display.
2. The amount of display space you have to work with.
3. What will be the most convenient for your customers.
   

1. Consider Your Merchandise

The first thing you should consider as you’re thinking about the kinds of racks to use for your floor and countertop displays is the merchandise you plan to display.

Some items, such as small bags of chips, peanuts, or trail mix, are designed with holes at the top the bags to hang from pegs. Pegboard floor and countertop racks work well for these kinds of merchandise.

Other kinds of items, such as liters and cases of soda, are heavier and work best with traditional convenience store racks with sturdy shelves.

If you plan to display small items like wrapped candies, children’s toys like bouncy balls, or craft items like beads, containers of glitter, or spools of lace, display racks with buckets might work best. Like many display racks, bucket racks are available for both floor and countertop displays and designed to hold as few as four buckets or as many as thirty buckets.

2. Consider Your Display Space

Considering your display space will help you determine whether you need to use fixed position or revolving displays, and whether those displays would work best on the floor or on your countertop.

No matter what kind of rack you want to use, chances are you can find it in a model that will work best with the space you have to work with. Most racks for displays are designed with two versions in mind: One that will work well for countertop displays and one that will work well for floor displays.

For example, you can find both fixed position bucket racks and bucket racks that rotate. The same is true for traditional convenience store racks, wire display racks, and pegboard racks.

3. Consider Your Customers’ Convenience

In the end, no matter how attractive your display is and no matter how well it works with the flow and space of your store, if it’s inconvenient for customers, it’s a failure.

Follow these tips to make sure you showcase your items in a way that’s as convenient for customers as possible:

• If you’re using fixed position racks, make sure the side that doesn’t hold any merchandise is facing away from the customers. For countertop racks, this means the empty side should face your side of the counter. For floor racks, this means situating the empty side against or close to a wall or another stationary display.

• If you’re using rotating racks, make sure the racks are situated far enough away from other displays that customers can easily spin the racks without the merchandise getting caught on other items.

• Regardless of what kind of rack you use, make sure it’s never situated in a place that blocks a customer’s path.

Showcasing Merchandise: Fixed Position Versus Rotating Display Racks

Racks designed for countertop displays and floor displays are available in a wide variety of shapes, styles, and sizes and perfect for retail businesses, restaurants and specialty food shops, bookstores, gift shops, and hospitality establishments like hotels and motels.

It’s important to think about the kind of merchandise you want to display as you’re considering the kind of display racks you should choose for your business. Obviously, small and lightweight items will work well with small display racks, while larger and heavier items will work best with larger, sturdier display racks.

However, you must also consider the amount of display space you have to work with, and this is when you need to think about whether fixed position display racks or rotating display racks will work best.

Using Fixed Position Display Racks

Fixed position display racks are ideal for both countertop displays and floor displays.

If you want to use a fixed position rack for countertop displays:

• Choose a rack designed to showcase merchandise on only one side. Some fixed position display racks are designed to hold merchandise on all sides, and these racks are inconvenient if you plan to situate them on your checkout register’s countertop because customers can’t move to the other side.

• Choose lightweight items you can easily display on the particular fixed position rack you’re using. For example, some fixed position countertop racks are designed to hold plastic containers or buckets, and some are designed to hang merchandise from pegs.

If you want to use a fixed position rack for floor displays:

• Choose a rack designed to showcase merchandise on just one side, or on three sides (depending on where you plan to situate your rack).

• Situate your rack in a place where the back of the rack isn’t visible, such as against a wall or at the end of an aisle rather than in the center of your store.

• Feel free to choose either lightweight or heavier items to display on your rack. Some fixed position floor racks are designed to hold plastic containers and bucks or hang items on pegs, just like countertop racks, and some are designed with sturdy shelves for display heavier and larger items like family-sized bags of chips and liters or cases of soda.

Using Rotating Display Racks

Like fixed position display racks, you can find rotating display racks designed for both countertop displays and floor displays and perfect for either small and lightweight merchandise or large and heavier merchandise.

Still, there are a few points you should keep in mind as you’re determining whether revolving display racks will work for your display.

• Spinning display racks are best situated in open spaces where the merchandise is least likely to get caught on anything as your customers rotate it to see each side.

• Like fixed display racks, there are revolving display racks designed to be sturdy enough to hold heavy merchandise. However, you must be careful not to overstock the rack; otherwise, the rack will be at risk for toppling over and possibly harming customers. If you want to display quite heavy items, choose a fixed position display rack.

• Be careful about display items on top of the rack, as these items could fall off as customers rotate the rack. If your spinning display rack has a flat surface at the top, it’s best to either leave that space clear or – at the very most – securely fasten a display sign on it.