5 Must-Have Displays for a Convenience Store

Convenience stores rely heavily on eye-catching, strategic displays to drive sales for in-store product success. While these stores thrive on impulse purchases, the principles of visual merchandising apply across retail industries. 

By leveraging creative and purposeful display designs, your company can solve common pain points like limited visibility, impulse-buy challenges and space constraints while reinforcing your brand and boosting sales. 

Common examples of convenience store displays include countertop, floor and endcap displays, each serving a unique purpose.

The Importance of Creative Displays

Convenience stores generally operate on a small scale, which leads to the challenge of making your brand stand out in a limited space. Choosing the right display type for stores, especially in this scenario, is a strategic tool that can transform the shopping experience and significantly impact sales. 

Nowhere is this more critical than in convenience stores, where fast-paced environments and high customer turnover make every second count. This purpose-driven approach can help your brand grow three times faster than your competitors. Thoughtfully crafted displays offer several benefits:

• Ease of navigation: Fixtures and displays can guide customers to your product, which is especially helpful for convenience store go-tos like movie night snacks or a morning pick-me-up.
• Product visibility: A display that positions your product at eye level can highlight promotions or introduce new offerings.
• Impulse buying: Creative displays can contribute to 73% of impulse buying, thanks to their appealing presentation. The right design, from countertop setups to themed promotions on endcaps, nudges shoppers into adding extra items to their baskets.
• Space optimization: As convenience stores are often limited in size, displays that balance functionality with visual appeal help make every square foot count.

5 Displays for Convenience Stores

Designing a display for your product is both an art and a science. It is about telling a story, solving a shopper’s problem and making the most of limited space. From eye-catching endcaps that draw customers into custom-printed displays that tell your brand story, each display type serves a unique purpose while seamlessly integrating into the available space.

1. Endcap Displays

The prime real estate for top sellers is the endcaps. Positioned at the end of aisles, they naturally draw attention and are ideal for promotions, seasonal items and best-sellers. For example, a beverage brand can showcase a variety pack alongside a discounted snack, creating a compelling bundle offer. Missing out on well-designed endcap displays means losing out on high-traffic opportunities.

Maximize their potential by using bold colors and large, easy-to-read signage to communicate offerings. Adding lighting or tiered shelving can create depth, making products stand out more. 

Choose endcap displays for your new product promotions to highlight seasonal items or cross-selling opportunities.

2. Point-of-Sale Displays

Point-of-sale (POS), otherwise known as retail counter displays, are the impulse purchase powerhouse. Where checkouts have limited space, these pack a punch for smaller, grab-and-go items like single-serving snacks, energy shots or gum. The location of your in-store products matters, as the right placement can increase sales by over 11%. Investing in vibrant, interactive designs, for example, using QR codes that lead to discounts or loyalty programs, can maximize your last-second sales potential.

A candy brand can benefit from featuring a small, colorful countertop unit with individually wrapped sweets and a sign reading ‘Treat Yourself Today!’

3. Floor Displays

Flexibility meets visibility in freestanding floor displays, allowing you to highlight specific products anywhere in the store. Think of a soda brand featuring a themed display during a major sporting event. These options promote products by telling a story, sparking interest and encouraging impulse buys. The key is to keep the design aligned with your branding while making assembly straightforward for store staff.

Leverage themes or storytelling in these designs. For instance, create a corrugated cardboard display shaped like a beach umbrella to promote summer products like sunscreen or hats. Use tiered levels or compartments to organize these items and create a polished look. These work wonderfully for new product launches or running limited-time promotions as they grab attention from across the store.

4. Temporary Displays

Temporary displays are a short-term solution that can make a big impact. These options are primarily designed for seasonal promotions and limited offers. They can be used to make a bold statement and create urgency around new products by focusing on clear, time-sensitive messaging like ‘Limited Edition’ or ‘While Supplies Last!’  

These displays are often also easy to assemble and dismantle. Opt for a temporary display in your seasonal campaigns, like promoting Halloween candy in October. Coffee brands can also use these to spotlight a pumpkin spice flavor in the fall, complete with autumn-themed graphics.

5. Custom-Printed Displays

Whatever type of display you choose for your products stocked in convenience stores, custom-print it. These serve as an extension of your brand, helping to build recognition and loyalty. 

Unlike stock displays, customization allows your brand to differentiate itself from the competition by elevating its retail presentation. Focus on high-quality printing with vivid colors and detailed branding elements like logos and taglines.

Reinforce brand identity during product launches and highlight your flagship products with a sleek, branded display featuring embossed logos or metallic finishes.

Measuring Display Strategy Efficiency

When you are stocking your product in-store, especially in high-turnover environments like convenience stores, data-backed insight is the key to optimizing your display strategy. Here are key ways to measure your strategy’s success:

• Sales data: Compare pre- and post-display sales for the featured product to determine whether the display is driving incremental revenue. A 20% spike in snack sales after launching a new endcap, for example, is a clear indicator of success.
• Customer traffic: Analyzing foot traffic patterns and POS data can reveal your displays’ effectiveness at capturing attention and converting interest into purchases.
• Customer feedback: Simple in-store surveys or QR codes linking to quick feedback forms can provide insight into what customers think of your displays.
• A/B testing: Run experiments by deploying two versions of a display in different locations or stores to test variables like messaging, color or product placement.

Start Your Display Project With Creative Displays Now!

The in-store display is more than a stand — it’s a silent salesperson working around the clock to promote your offerings. Investing in the right options for your products in convenience stores can capture attention and secure long-term loyalty in a competitive landscape. 

Position your brand as a trusted partner by providing retailers with well-designed, easy-to-install displays — complete with data on sales potential. Investing in durable, user-friendly materials for your displays may also help them perform consistently.

Creative Displays Now has over 60 years of experience in the packaging and display industry. With an ISO 9001:2015 certification, we provide high-quality in-house structural design for custom displays with various print capabilities, from digital to flexo, litho and more. Contact us today for an estimate or to order your custom convenience store displays.