MERCHANDISING DISPLAY
A merchandising display system has gravity-feed containers that have a dispensing opening near the bottom in the front wall of the container, in which similar containers are arranged side-by-side and restrained from moving back and forth on the shelf by a cleat that restrains the container. A display bar that displays products such as electrical instruments is supported by pegboard and the products being displayed are dispensed from directly above the displayed product from a hook that extends from the pegboard.
This claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/676,371 filed Apr. 29, 2005.
STATEMENT CONCERNING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENTNot applicable.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates to merchandising displays, and in particular to such a display for small items that can be dispensed from a container.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONBig box retailers have proliferated. As is well known, these stores sell mainly based on price and must be operated efficiently to survive. It is normal that such stores stock many different items. Just keeping the shelves stocked and in reasonable order is a major task. In addition, each manufacturer whose products are sold in these stores has a natural concern that the big box retailer sees an advantage to doing business with that manufacturer and ultimately that the consumer will choose that manufacturer's products over a competitor's.
Retailers and consumers are surrounded by competing brands. Consumers more often than not reach first for the best displayed products with the most clear, easy-to-understand specifications, features and applications. Signage, packaging and display plays a large part in purchasing decisions, as consumers' perception of the product is determined in many cases by the display and packaging.
Many different methods of merchandising have been tried. A common form is simply to place products in bins that are open at the top for the consumer to pick the products from the bins. There is usually some sort of sign or placard at the front of the bin or on the shelf adjacent to the front of the bin that gives some information about the products such as specifications and the price.
Another common method of merchandising is by packaging each product in bags, blister or clam shell packs and hanging the packs from a hook. These can be relatively difficult to restock, and thought to be relatively unnecessary for small items which can be more efficiently bagged and boxed or simply boxed. Also, when the density of these displays becomes great with many different small products in a small space, it can be confusing for the consumer. Thus, merchandisers have an interest in effective merchandising to the consumer. Manufacturers who have a number of different products within a product family face particular challenges since limited shelf space will be allotted by the retailer to the entire product family, and it is in both of their interests to display the products in an appealing manner. Where there are multiple small products, the challenges are amplified. The present invention addresses these issues.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention provides a merchandising display in which product display and dispensing containers are supported on a shelf. In addition, a cleat or keeper is provided that fixes the containers forwardly and backwardly relative to the shelf.
In a preferred form, containers containing different products of a product family are supported on the shelf in side-by-side relation to one another. The cleat system aligns the boxes on the shelf so that their front panels form a plane. The effect created visually to the consumer is that analogous to a billboard so as to present a neat and organized solution to the problem of keeping multiple small products in the same product family organized, and presenting the family as such and in an appealing manner. The cleat preferably runs for at least the length of the shelf on which the products of a family are supported, and may run for the entire length of the shelf. Preferably, the cleat permits lateral shifting of the containers along the cleat while restraining fore and aft shifting of the containers.
Containers used to practice the invention are preferably gravity fed, with a loading opening at or near the top and a dispenser opening near the bottom. A consumer can reach into the dispenser opening to grab the product being sold or a bag, box, or other small container containing the products being sold.
Products will be fed by gravity toward the opening in the bottom of the box and if a consumer changes his mind after he grabs a product, the consumer can easily return the product to the top of the carton or to the opening at the bottom.
In another aspect of the invention, the gravity-feed containers are relatively tall compared to their width. If mounted high, the tall space of the containers can utilize space not normally reachable by consumers. Since the dispensing opening is at the bottom of the box, consumers can reach the bottom, but the space at the top of the box is used for storage and therefore need not be reached by the consumer in many cases. In these types of cartons, the opening for returning a product to the carton can be either in the front wall of the carton or in the top. Front wall openings are better for longer products, such as cable ties. Top openings are better for smaller products, such as wire connectors, since the smaller products may tend to fall out of the front opening otherwise. Also, for longer articles, such as cable ties, cartons of the invention may be of varying depths, generally matching the length of the cable tie.
Regardless of the depth of the carton, however, the front surfaces of adjacent cartons should be aligned so that they form a viewing plane. Also, the front of each box should bear descriptive information about the product contained, including, for example, a picture or other visual graphic of the product, the name of the product, information about how many products are in each bag if they are bagged or contained products, and possibly use information for the product, such as how many wires and what gauge wires can be used with a wire connector. The front face of such cartons may contain considerably more information than what is typically found on shelf placards.
In addition, the information on the front of each box can be arranged in a uniform manner from one box to the next, so that it is easy for a consumer to identify the particular product the consumer needs, and so that the display is presented as a product family to the consumer. Also, making the front faces of the cartons uniform in the information which they display creates a very neat and organized appearance.
In another aspect of the invention, a display bar can be used either in conjunction with a carton or cartons of the invention or by itself. The display bar holds a number of products, for example electrical meters, at a viewing angle to the consumer and is supported by a pegboard. The display bar can be made out of sheet metal for example.
These and other advantages of the invention will appear in the detailed description which follows. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Referring to
Each label is preferably the same in arrangement of the information that the label bears. Each label in the upper portion may have the trade name of the connector contained inside the carton 20, for example Uni-Lok®, and if provided below that is a picture of the product contained. Beneath the picture may be the description in general of the product, for example “Wire Connectors” and below that may be features of the product, such as “Compact/High Leverage”, “Premium Wide Range”, “Grounding Connector”, and other names. Below that may be more detailed features, such as “Streamlined design for compact installations” and “Mini-wing provides improved leverage”. The quality level may be given and the range of wires that the connector is intended for is may be given with a colored background generally matching the color of the connector, for example, “Wire Range: 22-10”. Below that more specifics of the wire range may be given, such as “Minimum: 4-#22, Maximum: 3-#12”. Below that in large letters may be the number of products per bag within the container, for example, “25 pk”, “10 pk”, “50 pk”, etc. This is the number of wire connectors that are in each bag that is in the container 20.
Each container 20 has a dispensing opening 26 through which the product can be dispensed by the consumer. The dispensing opening 26 is in the front wall 22 of the container 20, right beneath the product description label. The base 28 of the container 20 below the opening 26 preferably extends somewhat forwardly from the front wall 22 as illustrated to present products to the consumer, and a panel of corrugated cardboard that forms part of the carton 20 can be folded up, over, and into the carton 20 to slope rearwardly and block off the lower wall of the carton 20, through which a slot 36 extends as described below and also to generally direct the consumer's hand toward the product. The sloping downward wall formed by panel 28 also helps keep products inside of the carton 20 so that they do not fall out, since it slopes downwardly and rearwardly.
Referring to
An alternative way of connecting the cartons 20 to the cleat 30 to restrain them fore and aft on the shelf while permitting lateral shifting is illustrated in
In the case of the containers shown in
The cleat 30 preferably extends laterally relative to the containers for at least the length of the shelf that the containers that present the product family extend, and may extend for the entire length of the shelf if bottom-slotted containers are used on the whole shelf length. In addition, more than one product family may be aligned by each cleat.
Preferred embodiments of the invention have been described in considerable detail. Many modifications and variations to the embodiments described will be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, the invention should not be limited to the embodiments described, but should be defined by the claims which follow.
Claims
1. In a merchandising display in which products are dispensed from containers supported on a shelf, the improvement wherein a cleat having an upstanding restraint that extends laterally across the shelf in the width-wise direction of the container is fixed to the shelf and wherein the upstanding restraint is connected to the containers to restrain the containers from depth-wise movement relative to the shelf.
2. The improvement of claim 1, wherein at least one of the containers is taller than it is wide.
3. The improvement of claim 2, wherein at least one of the containers has a dispensing opening in the front wall of the container near the bottom of the container.
4. The improvement of claim 3, wherein at least one of the containers has a re-loading opening near the top of the container.
5. The improvement of claim 4, wherein the re-loading opening is in the front wall of the container.
6. The improvement of claim 4, wherein the re-loading opening is in the top wall of the container.
7. The improvement of claim 3, wherein at least one of the containers has graphics on the front wall pertaining to the product.
8. The improvement of claim 7, wherein multiple such containers are arranged side-by-side and the arrangement of graphics from one container to the next is uniform.
9. The improvement of claim 1, wherein the container is made of corrugated paperboard.
10. The improvement of claim 1, wherein the cleat is an angle bracket and the restraint is an upstanding flange of the bracket.
11. The improvement of claim 1, wherein the cleat runs for at least the length of the shelf on which containers of a product family are supported.
12. The improvement of claim 1, wherein the cleat runs for a length substantially equal to the entire length of the shelf.
13. The improvement of claim 1, wherein the cleat permits lateral shifting of the containers along the cleat while restraining depthwise shifting of the containers.
14. In a merchandising display in which products are displayed and that runs parallel to an aisle in which consumers can walk, the improvement wherein a product display bar runs parallel to the aisle and is supported by being hooked to a pegboard.
15. The improvement of claim 14, wherein products displayed on the display bar are lined up with the same type of product displayed from a hook that extends from the pegboard above the product displayed on the display bar.
16. The improvement of claim 14, wherein the display bar is made of sheet metal.
17. The improvement of claim 14, wherein the display bar displays electrical instruments.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 28, 2006
Publication Date: Nov 2, 2006
Inventors: Michael Onachilla (Menomonee Falls, WI), Toben Parker (Kewaskum, WI), Peter Everett (Collinsville, CT)
Application Number: 11/380,817
International Classification: A47F 1/04 (20060101);