Predicting your customers.

Being one step in front of your customers - knowing what they want before they know it themselves has to be the holy grail of retailing.

Systems have been developed which gather the information which when used correctly can second guess your customer and make the most out of  a shopping opportunity.

Store cards build comprehensive picture of shopping habit. When coupled with face recognition software customers can be targeted with tailored adverts and promotions in harmony with past purchases. For some time now online adverts have been using this technique - bespoke adverts based on sites previously visited.

Although there is an obvious Big-Brother-Is-Watching issue with techniques like this, most people don't particularly like advertising. If they must be advertised at then making the adds relevant is surely a good thing for both the customer and retailer.

To make the most out of a retail display, eye tracking software has been developed to actually monitor where a customer fixes their gaze and how they visually interact with display stands and adverts.

Visual Stunner

Shine on

The big lights of Vegas are one of the many tried and tested mechanisms which draw crowds in droves.

Replicating this in your own restaurant of bar may be a little impractical but you can certainly go some way towards packing a visual punch for the all important first impression. After all it can make the difference between fine wines being poured in your bar or the next bar, so why not.




Back-lit menu boards provide great interaction with potential customers; catching their attention and drawing them in with vivid colors and approachable information display stands.

Italian design ensures they also look great in daylight. The easy-open acrylic frame makes it simple to swap the artwork and as LED back-lit display frames run on low voltage it makes them both efficient and safe.

The price of acrylic on the day .. smells fishy.

You've got to hand it to the far east; they know how to hike the price of acrylic.

For future reference you throw 3D televisions at the west faster than your average ninja hurls a shuriken, and Bob's your uncle - you get the uncontrollable desire to start melting any spare acrylic down into ingots and lock them away in a fire proof safe.

Oddly enough the 3D screens are not made from normal acrylic. They do, however, require huge amounts of the raw chemical used in acrylic manufacturing which has caused the world acrylic price to spike. This has placed unprecedented pressure on the companies in the acrylic display market as their customers expect the highest quality and the best price.

There are options, magnetic acrylic display blocks could become poly carbonate display blocks. Poly carbonate has very similar properties to acrylic - it comes in sheets and can be heat bent. The sudden shift to P/C could then effect the price of that too and then we'll be trying to use ice (which could work well in the frozen food industry).

Enlighten me please.

There are some super slim light panels around, but when it comes down to how good they are, application is everything. Generally speaking there are two different types of light box:

LED light boxes
LED's provide the light. You can get both back lit and side / edge lit light boxes. The main advantage of this type of light box is that whiteness of the light can be regulated by the specification of tube you fit into them. Typically 5500k is classed as colour corrected which means that if you are trying to reproduce specific colour shades / tones, the light from the tubes will not distort what you can measure.


LED lit also produce a greater intensity of light which penetrates through paper up to 450gsm. It makes them the only sensible choice for designers or artist who are  looking for a tracing light box and really scrutinise the details in their work.




LED lit light boxes 
If you are looking to display artwork on an illuminated light panel then LED will be much more suitable. Designed for high efficiency and constant use they are a great way to catch the eye of a potential customer. However, without the light intensity of the tube lit light boxes, your artwork needs producing on a clear film / acetate.

There are LED light panels on the market which have been designed for simple tracing work, but if you don't have the right tool for the job it can leave you wanting.

Although there are slim light boxes available for design work, if you go too thin you end up with something which can only really be used for display purposes. Designers really benefit from the colour corrected light; something which you don't get from LED light panels so be wary when choosing a light box - make sure it's fit for purpose.

Euro Shop Exhibition Dusseldorf

One key event on the display systems calendar was earlier this year at the Euroshop Trade Fair in Dusseldorf, Germany. Companies from all over the world came together to show off their innovations and concepts in the world of product placement.

If you were prepared to walk around all the 20+ halls which make up Messe, you could find a display system for pretty much any application.

Orchard were over there for 3 days helping out the lads at Tecnostyl who had a prime spot display stand right in the entrance to one of the main halls.

Quite a noticeable proportion of the weird and wonderful creations people had devised involved 3D in one form or another.

Depth perspective when presenting products on screen or virtually seems to be the in-thing; providing a novelty factor which draws a crowd if nothing else. I guess the whole point is to get people looking at your product, 3D makes that almost too easy.

Failing 3D, good old fashioned illumination is always a crowd-pleaser. LED poster displays were pretty much everywhere and you had to admit they were effective - guiding your eyes and telling a story at the same time.

Even though none were like the artistic light boxes used for photography or tracing they still pack a visual punch with colourful printed acetate graphics.