Sip back and relax: Celebrating the art of drinks retail displays

There are plenty of interesting, engaging and theatrical drinks retail displays and experiences around the world right now, and we love to help drinks brands as much now as at any time in our past. We thought we would share some of what we have seen recently in this toasty-warm summer. From water and soft drinks to wine and spirits across lots of different retail channels in different countries – enjoy!

Brilliant basics: Brands creating points of interruption

Drinks of all types are frequently unplanned impulse purchases. Locating displays that put drink brands in front of shoppers where they are inclined to be attracted, engage with displayed products and then make a purchase is essential for optimised brand success. A few standout solutions that have stopped us in our shopping tracks include the following: The USA market often leads with great cross-merchandising and displays in places that people notice – we included a few!

From left to right:

Red Bull Parasite (Tignes Grocery Store, France)
Globally consistent branding with single cans in easy reach of passing shoppers.

Fireball Push-Up Display (Dublin CA Liquor Store, USA)
Singles alongside the display for Fireball multi-packs at the checkout are in easy reach, perfect impulse placement.

Smartwater Side Cap (Walgreens, USA)
Great sidecap placement between snacks and a wine endcap for Smartwater.

Glenmorangie and Cigars (Louisville, USA)
Only in the USA we think! Scotch Whisky floorstand next to off-shelf Cigar displays. Bachelor parties or a Stag Do come to mind.

Great brand standout: Displays reflect the brand

A brand’s personality should be obvious, on-brand and create a speed bump for shoppers in the store. From semi-permanent and straight-forward solutions to others that use fun props to highlight brand heritage, we have seen some high-performing brand displays out there. We confess, you might notice a very English theme here… there’s nothing like a great summer gin and tonic!

From left to right:

Hendricks Gin, Singapore
We love the Hendricks bathtub, harking back to old-timey ways of doing things!

Fevertree, IGA in Montreal, Quebec
Sure, this is a pretty straightforward floorstand, but cocktail recipes with Fevertree mixers are on the header, easy to read, and easy to shop for Fevertree.

Gordon’s Gin Endcap, Sainsbury’s, UK
Highly visible from the top header to the floor, and conveniently located next to greeting cards. A solid grocery store solution.

White Claw Endcap, USA
Materials and design evoke White Claw’s seaside brand personality and provides plenty of capacity for multipacks.

Hendricks Gin, UK
Another single-brand display that brings this brand to life. We love the inclusion of faux-cucumbers, highlighting a key ingredient differentiator.

Got to love some retail theater!

From dramatic in-store displays to pop-up experiences and grand travel retail (airport) solutions, retail theatre always has an impact.

From left to right:

Coke Zero, Mexico
We love the drama and stopping power for shoppers! Plenty of easy-to-shop stock close by.

Glenfiddich, China
Wow – Glenfiddich went really big at the Taoyuan Airport. As usual, travel retail in Asia is really different than the rest of the world!

Jägermeister Pop-up Experience, London
Jägermeister contracted a short-term pop-up space in London for super fun brand immersion.

Camus Flowered arch entry, USA
Simple effective arch display merchandises lots of cases and sets the stage for a picnic.

Jim Beam
How about this for a great case stack display? Highly visible across the store, evokes summer hangout time.

Disappointing: Better effort is needed

We are always looking for continual improvement with our brand and retail clients. We try to note what works well and what doesn’t work well. These inspire us to try harder.

From left to right:

Corona Boat, Bulgaria
At this beachside store there are outdoor fridges and this theatrical Corona Beer display. If only it had some product!

Coke freezer filled with RTDs, Germany
How frustrating for Coke! They pay for and brand this great fridge which is filled with ready-to-drink cocktails. No Coca-Cola products in sight!

Walmart locked up spirits aisle, Walmart, USA
Retail theft rates are up substantially and many retailers are suffering. Locked display cabinets do help reduce theft, but they likely reduce sales as well.

Pretzel display co-opted for drinks, USA
Dot’s Pretzels funded these lovely floorstands – only to have it filled with mini spirits bottles! Great outcome for the drinks, not a great result for the brand who paid for the display itself.

Video games plus Red Bull, Meijers store, USA
This is fantastic co-merchandising of Red Bull with video games. Truly a strong pairing. The ankle-height placement of the mini-cooler could be better!