Perimeter design to-do list:

  • Light it up. The most important decision you make might very well concern lighting. Great departments won’t perform like you want them to unless they’re lit properly.
  • Make it memorable. Today’s consumers, especially younger ones, want an experience when they go grocery shopping. Engage them with interactive experiences and other things they can’t find online.
  • Remember ROI. Redesigns can be expensive, but keep in mind the sales increases — often in the double digits —they can produce.
  • Take risks. Brick-and-mortar stores need to do everything they can to remain relevant in the digital age. That means swinging for the fences, even if you don’t always hit a home run.
  • Think shrink. Many of today’s design experts recommend smaller or creatively designed merchandisers that require less stocking — and hence reduce shrink —but still  move product effectively.

On Trend:

·         Labor Savings. With the cost of labor increasing dramatically over the past couple of years along with a shortage of skilled and unskilled labor in many US markets, retailers are looking for ways of lowering labor costs through their merchandising. 

·         Food Safety. With more attention being given to food safety by governing safety entities, retailers need merchandising products that provide safe, food contact surfaces to display their product along with merchandising equipment that is easily cleaned. 

·         LED Lighting. Over the past 10 years, the cost of LED lighting has dropped dramatically while the quality of LED has improved greatly.  LEDs produce a very clean, very clear light which bring out the colors of food and packaging. 

·         Inventory Management. With a growing number of product SKUs, retailers are strained to find enough merchandising space in their perimeter cases.  Merchandising maximized the available space in cases along with flexibility of their equipment to capture voids / lost space. 

·         Custom Laser Engraving. Allows your shelf fencing to become more than a product stop by creating a more engaging experience with customers and your brand.

Source: Carlsen AirFlo

 

Beat the heat

Heat projection is a major problem with conventional light sources, especially halogen lamps, which can really dry out fresh produce in supermarkets. Also problematic are UV rays, which older light sources emit. Heat and UV rays are recipes for droopy produce and wilted flowers in supermarkets.

Modern LEDs, on the other, emit miniscule amounts of heat and almost no UV rays, making them not only safe, but ideal for supermarkets.

Amerlux takes heat management further by integrating it into its SPEQ fixtures. This delivers a clean and minimalistic fixture that blends into the environment and puts the spotlight on the merchandise. Contrast that with designs that feature visually distracting heat sinks and vents, drawing attention towards the light and away from perimeter products. 

 

Count up the savings

It’s no secret that LEDs are highly energy efficient. But a lot people don’t know just how much LEDs can trim from their electric bills. “We’ve installed LEDs into spaces where they were able to slash their electric costs by 90 percent, such as the Queens Museum in New York City,” says Bill Plageman of Amerlux.

That savings is far from unique to museums. Consider the average Amerlux supermarket project:

 

·         Total cost for new fixtures including installation: $23,730.00

·         Annual KWh saved: 61,120.15

·         Cost per KWh: $.129

·         Annual energy cost savings: $7,884.50

·         Rebate collected: $8,305.50

·         Net cost after rebate: $15,424.50

·         Payback based on energy savings alone: 1.96 years

·         Payback including savings on lamp maintenance: 1.2 years

 

A revolution in bread making — and perimeter design

Today’s grocery perimeter craves transparency and experiences, and the new BreadBot from Wilkinson Baking delivers on both counts.

Designed specifically for grocery stores, the BreadBot is a standalone unit for the instore bakery where customers can watch their bread being made, through a fully automated process, before their very eyes.

Capable of baking ten loaves per hour, the BreadBot can adjust for water temperature, mixer speed, proofer humidity, loaf height and other considerations. Once dry mix is added to the product’s hopper, production is fully automated. The BreadBot sends a message to an employee when the hopper is ready to be filled with more mix or when bread needs to be emptied from the cooling cabinet.