---
title: "8 Tips to Boost Output from End-Cap Displays"
description: "This article introduces eight methods to improve the return on investment for special displays in FMCG retail, such as removing underperforming displays, switching products, adding items, adjusting placement, increasing promotions, changing display formats, enhancing visual appeal, and using purchase incentives. Before implementing these methods, it is crucial to establish a baseline cost ratio, for example, 10%, to identify problematic displays."
author: "New Distribution"
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published: "2014-09-18"
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# 8 Tips to Boost Output from End-Cap Displays

> This article introduces eight methods to improve the return on investment for special displays in FMCG retail, such as removing underperforming displays, switching products, adding items, adjusting placement, increasing promotions, changing display formats, enhancing visual appeal, and using purchase incentives. Before implementing these methods, it is crucial to establish a baseline cost ratio, for example, 10%, to identify problematic displays.

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Below are eight methods to improve the return on display investments. Before implementing these methods, it is essential to calculate a baseline to determine a reasonable cost ratio. For instance, using 10% as the baseline, any display with a cost ratio above 10% is considered problematic, while below 10% is reasonable. This baseline can be based on the overall cost-to-sales ratio for the entire country or a specific region, or it can reference the cost ratios of familiar competing brands.

**Method 1: Remove the Display**
For special displays with excessively high cost ratios, such as 40%–50%, unless the product is in its introduction phase or the manufacturer insists on promoting it, it is better to cancel the display. Even if sales staff manage to increase sales by 1–2 times, the cost ratio would still exceed the 10% baseline. Of course, canceling does not mean giving up; the associated costs can be redirected to stores with lower fees.

Take Wahaha's Nutri-Express as an example. A domestic hypermarket ordered 2,000 cases during the Spring Festival, with the manufacturer providing 5,000 yuan for two pallet displays. The store sold 1,500 cases during the festival, resulting in a cost ratio of 6.7% (based on a unit price of 50 yuan per case, cost ratio = 5,000 / (1,500 × 50)), which is reasonable. After the festival, sales dropped significantly to only 100 cases per month. The manufacturer's sales staff anticipated the post-festival decline and planned to stop the investment, but if they did, the store would return the remaining hundreds of cases as unsold inventory, which the sales and logistics teams wanted to avoid. So they decided to reduce the fee to 3,000 yuan, but relative to the monthly output of only 5,000 yuan, the cost ratio reached 60%. In hindsight, it would have been more appropriate to accept the returns and dispose of the stock elsewhere.

**Method 2: Switch Products**
Sometimes the high cost ratio is not due to the store but because the product on display is not suitable for the season. For example, Master Kong starts pallet displays for Oolong tea in spring, but some displays may sell fewer than 100 cases per month. Switching to fruit juice might yield better results and bring the cost ratio closer to reasonable.

Another reason is display fatigue: if the first week's sales are set as 100%, the second week's sales typically drop to around 80%, and the third week to below 70%. That is, a fixed product in a fixed position for a long-term promotional display will see gradually declining sales. This is why stores limit the duration of single-product promotions (such as flyers or stamps) to 7–14 days. Therefore, if a manufacturer has a rich product line, it is advisable to rotate products every half month to a month for long-term fixed displays.

**Method 3: Increase Product Variety**
Many salespeople are still puzzled: is it better to display a single product or multiple products? A single-product display stands out visually and can attract consumers with its presence, while a multi-product display offers more choices and sometimes generates higher sales. Which display is more attractive? This depends on several factors, including company strategy, sales staff evaluation criteria, promotional intensity, product life cycle, and holiday sales peaks.

1. If the company requires a specific product to be the main push and provides full support in advertising and budget, it is recommended to do a full display of that single product.
2. When a product has a strong promotional offer, a single-product display is advisable, as combining presence with discounts can attract consumers and boost sales.
3. While there is no concrete data for each stage of the product life cycle, salespeople can judge the stage based on similar products. During the introduction and growth stages, if the company is pushing the product, use a single-product display; if it is a penetration product, use a multi-product display. In the maturity and decline stages, unless there is a significant promotion, a multi-product display is recommended.
4. Holidays are golden sales periods for food and beverages, with more foot traffic and higher manufacturer investment. Therefore, the display should be visually striking and as single-product as possible. For each pallet, it is recommended to feature a single product; if sales are high and restocking may be delayed, 2–4 pallets can be dedicated to one product.
5. If the company's bonus evaluation heavily weights visual display (some manufacturers allocate up to 60%), then single-product displays are preferred. If sales volume is the primary metric, and none of the above four conditions apply, multi-product displays are recommended.

**Method 4: Adjust Placement**
Location is also critical to sales. Sometimes poor sales are not due to the product but simply a bad location.

There is a well-known Walmart case: beer and diapers. Walmart's marketing analysts noticed that sales of beer and diapers were always similar. Upon analysis, they found that young fathers buying diapers for their children often also bought a bottle of beer for themselves. So the store placed these two seemingly unrelated items together, and both saw a sales increase.

**Method 5: Increase Promotional Intensity**
Some salespeople, seeing high costs, try to cut expenses. But another approach is to increase investment and promotional intensity, thereby reducing the cost ratio by boosting sales volume. If the regional budget is fixed, this may be challenging, requiring reallocating funds from other areas to increase investment in this store.

Using Nutri-Express again: initially, 3,000 yuan in fees generated 300 cases, or 15,000 yuan in sales, with a cost ratio of 20%. At this point, you could try increasing the promotional discount by 3 yuan per case or more, boosting sales by 150%. The cost would rise to 3,900 yuan (3,000 + 3 × 300), but the cost ratio would drop to 3,900 / 37,500 (15,000 × 2.5) = 10.4%, approaching the reasonable baseline. This approach only requires a change in mindset, but it can be very effective.

**Method 6: Adjust Display Format**
Stores have varying fee structures for displays, with significant differences between pallet displays, end-cap displays, and shelf displays. Salespeople can leverage these differences to switch formats. For example, if pallet fees are too high, switch to end-cap or shelf displays. Of course, this is limited by product type; full-case products typically require pallet or bottom-warehouse displays. Although most conversions may reduce sales, the cost ratio may align closer to the baseline. This way, you might sacrifice one pallet but gain 1.5 end-caps or 2–3 large shelf sections, increasing overall sales.

**Method 7: Enhance Visual Appeal**
Visual appeal includes product presentation and auxiliary promotional materials. Improving product presentation follows display principles, while auxiliary materials include boards, decorations, etc., that convey product or promotional information. There is no specific data on how much sales improve with better visuals, as there are varying levels of quality, but multiple sources and experience suggest it is beneficial. Visual appeal adds value to the product; neatly arranged, layered displays with auxiliary materials will certainly win consumer favor and increase purchase opportunities.

**Method 8: Change Approach – Purchase Incentives**
Is an investment below the 10% baseline always optimal or reasonable? Initially, we set 10% as the average standard for the country or region. Once high-cost displays are eliminated, we can reset the baseline and continue applying the above methods to further compress the cost ratio and improve the quality of special displays. Additionally, we can leverage differences in store ordering models to reduce costs, such as by increasing store inventory to encourage them to display more proactively. This approach is more common in traditional channels and may not suit most international stores.

Again with Nutri-Express: if a 1 yuan per case ordering incentive encourages the store to display proactively, and the store sells 1,000 cases, the manufacturer spends only 1,000 yuan, resulting in a cost ratio of just 2%.

The above eight methods are not fixed; sometimes applying them simultaneously yields better results. A key issue in measuring their effectiveness is the lag in sales data—by the time you calculate output after half a month or a month, the cost may have already been wasted. Although adjustments at that point may seem like locking the barn door after the horse has bolted, it is never too late.

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