Display racks are an essential necessity of a store no matter what industry you are in. While not much thought is given to their use, there are certain practices that you can adopt to make sure they are used as efficiently as possible. Doing so can also impact your business’ success. Here are some of the best practices when it comes to display racks in your store.
1. Saving space
How you organize and arrange your display racks is very important. It helps define the overall look, determine product placement, and dictates the overall feel and look of your store. There are many factors that are likely to affect how you organize and arrange your display racks including the type of products you sell, layout, and size of your store.
Most stores know that the way they arrange their racks can help them save on a lot of space. This means they can stock more products in relatively small areas. Refrain from arranging your racks in short rows. Instead, arrange them in long aisles as this will significantly maximize the space available. It is not efficient to use the perimeter system where you arrange your racks along the outer walls of your store as this limits your storage capacity. Avoid display racks that are L-shaped. These are not only difficult to access and manoeuvre but also cause a waste of about 5 percent of your storage space.
2. Flexibility & adaptability
Using the normal static display racks has the downside of being too rigid, therefore limiting functionality. Most stores and warehouses are beginning to use movable rack systems in order to counter this problem.
Movable rack systems make use of castors that allow them to be pushed from one place to another. They can allow storeowners to avoid having unused aisle space and instead play a role in increasing space. Additionally, they can work within any ceiling restrictions, and can be reconfigured with ease if a change is needed. This makes them extremely adaptable and flexible.
3. Safety
Safety of customers and workers walking along the aisles is often overlooked when installing display racks. When a customer bumps into a structurally unsound or unstable display rack, it may collapse and subsequently cause injury and disruption. This is why you need to take necessary precautions with display rack safety.
Fortunately, most store owners take many steps to minimize the risk of storage rack failure. For example, anchoring display racks to the store’s floor using concrete rack bolts allows them to stay put until such a time when they need to be moved. Never exceed the display rack storage capacity. Loading the rack with more products than it can take is likely to compromise its structural integrity and lead to collapsing.
Ensure that the aisle space is wide enough to ensure that the people walking and working can easily travel through. This reduces incidents of people bumping into the racks. Conducting frequent display rack inspections to ensure they are in good condition. Check that no display rack suffers from sagging or leaning. Other red flags include twisted supports, loose footings, and dents.
4. Choosing correct material
Display racks are crafted using different materials. Most store owners do not consider a display rack’s material because they think it is not important. However, the material they are made out of is essential due to many different reasons. Choosing the correct material sets the foundation for good material handling solutions.
Different materials are generally associated with certain characteristics that can say a lot about your brand. Glass shows sophistication and can go well with luxury items such as jewellery and perfumes. Wood is perceived as eco-friendly, classy, and artistic. Metal is seen as sleek and modern, making it appropriate for grocery, fashion, and convenience stores.
