How to Get the Leading Display Boxes for Your Diverse Business Needs

A counter display lives or dies on its footprint. Retail buyers allocate counter space in inches, and a unit that runs wider than the space they offered gets sent back or left in the stockroom. Ask the buyer for the footprint first, then design inside it. Most counter units land between 6 x 4 and 12 x 9 inches, standing 4 to 12 inches tall including the header.

Display formats and their working specs

Board choice follows weight, not looks

Solid paperboard at 24pt prints beautifully and holds light product such as lip balm, sachets, or greeting cards. Once the loaded weight passes a couple of pounds the shelf sags in the middle and the unit looks tired within a week. E flute corrugated with a litho laminated printed liner gives you the same print quality on a wall that actually carries load. B flute steps up again for floor units and anything that gets restocked repeatedly.

The failure point is almost always the front lip, since that is the panel a shopper leans on when reaching. A double thickness front, formed by folding the panel back on itself, costs a little more board and removes the problem.

Do the facings math before the dieline

Count backward from the product. A lip balm tube is about 0.65 inches across, so a well pitch of 0.75 inches gives clearance for fingers. Four rows of twelve fills a 9 x 6 inch footprint and gives 48 units on the counter. Work out how many units you want visible, multiply by the pitch, and you have your interior width before anyone draws anything.

• Leave the front row at full height and step the back rows up on a riser, so every facing is visible from standing height.
• Angle the base by about 10 degrees for small tubes and jars, and the product presents itself without falling forward.
• Size dividers to the product at its widest point, including any cap flare.

Header cards and print area

The header is the part that does the selling from three feet away. Keep it between 3 and 5 inches tall, print both sides if the display might sit anywhere other than against a wall, and put the product name at the top rather than the logo. A header taller than about 6 inches on a small footprint tips forward when the unit is half empty.

Filled, flat, or assembled

If a retail account is placing the display, assume nobody at the store will read a diagram. An auto lock base that sets up in one push is the difference between your unit reaching the counter and your unit staying in a stockroom.

Restocking and shelf life on the counter

A display is used equipment. It gets refilled, knocked, and wiped down. Ask how long the retailer expects to keep it out, because a two week promotion and a six month placement call for different builds. For a long placement, laminate the printed surface so a damp cloth does not lift the ink, and specify a base that can be refilled from the top without lifting the unit.

Plan the restock pack too. Sending a case of loose product with no reference to the display leaves staff guessing. A case count that matches one full display refill removes the guesswork and keeps facings correct.

Minimums and cost behavior

Custom displays begin at 50 units. Because a display uses several times the board of a folding carton and often needs a second die for the insert, the unit price sits higher than a printed box at every tier. Long running programs still price from about $0.44 per unit at volume on the simpler formats.

• 50 to 100 units suits a regional pilot with a handful of accounts.
• 500 units is the point where a separate insert die stops looking expensive.
• 2,500 and up is where litho lamination and a full color wrap become the sensible print route.

Timing and the quote packet

Eligible in house display work may run in about 7 business days after proof approval, while specialty imported builds may take about 12 weeks. Read both as planning windows rather than commitments, and add time for a physical mockup, which is worth doing on any display that carries weight. Teal is a US company producing from West Chicago, Illinois and from Guangzhou, and display jobs are routed to the line that fits the board and the schedule.

Send the product dimensions and weight, the number of facings you want, the footprint the retailer approved, your artwork, and the quantity. Structural drawing is free, a digital proof precedes production, and US shipping is included. Order the sample kit at $19.99 to check board stiffness for yourself, and that charge comes off your first order. Tooled formats are listed on the display box range and the counter display page.