A world of possibilities

Companies from all over the country will be convening in Las Vegas this month for GlobalShop 2014. Design and marketing ideas can be used to create a more effective retail environment. That is the simple premise behind GlobalShop 2014, the annual event for retail design and shopper marketing. This year’s conference is taking place March 18 - 20, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. Show-goers looking for insight into retail trends need to go no further. GlobalShop’s multiple pavilions practically guarantee something new to see for the wide range of attendees. The show also provides retailers with the opportunity to discuss their needs with vendors. Conference tracks this year are designed around sharing emerging retail developments and evolving consumer behavior. A number of experts will be on hand to discuss the latest consumer, store, international and independent retail trends, including Kip Tindell, chairman and CEO of The Container Store who is the keynote speaker. Several special evening events are also set to take place including the Opening Night Party. The A.R.E. Design Awards are on tap for Tuesday, March 18th and the POPAI Awards Celebration and a Retail Roundtable are scheduled for Wednesday the 19th. On the show floor, many of the industry’s top suppliers will be displaying their latest solutions to help retailers build their brand and stay competitive. Here is a brief look at some of the exhibitors, the types of products or services they offer and what they will be highlighting at the show. Bitro Group The Bitro Group will highlight its T-Luxe series of linear LED Bars with patent pending “Spectrum Color Series” multiple static color options with no MOQ and their new tune-able (from 3K to 8K white) Lattice cavity system. They will also be showing their patented DuLite, Resno and other additional products. The Hackensack, N.J.-based company offers LED lighting solutions for a wide range of high-end signage and lighting needs including Resno jewel-like architectural letters, cavity and sign cabinet lighting, linear LED bars for shelves, indirect and landscaping, DuLite color altering cast acrylic and ELP POP thin profile signage. Fritz Meyne, Jr., vice president of sales, says year after year GlobalShop has proven to be a great venue to display their commodity and boutique LED solutions. “Trade shows such as this one offer attendees a chance to see what is new, meet industry people and experience new opportunities. To be engaged and gain knowledge in the industry you work in is everything in today’s market,” he says.  Dana Industries Dana Industries, known for producing innovative shelf talkers and signage designed to create a better in-store experience for customers, will be introducing its latest evolution of shelf signage, the iQtalker. According to Frank Borges, vice president of the Toronto-based company, the iQtalker lets retailers instantaneously communicate any message at anytime to their customers at shelf level. “We see this as a critical tool that can help retailers increase sales and give customers an even better in-store experience,” he says. Borges says attending GlobalShop gives his company the opportunity to feature a wide range of the shelf talkers they offer and introduce new signage concepts. “At the show, retailers can better appreciate and understand our passion and see the results of our retail shelf signage solutions,” says Borges.  FFR Merchandising FFR Merchandising provides comprehensive retail solutions designed to increase sales, improve category management, limit shrink and reduce labor at the point-of-sale, say company officials. These products include merchandising and loss prevention systems, label, sign and literature holders, product merchandisers and display components, as well as fresh area merchandising products, supplies and backroom organization solutions. “Retailers who attend GlobalShop will discover new partners, products and solutions to their challenges,” says Paul Bloom, vice president of marketing for the Twinsburg, Ohio-based company. “We appreciate serving as a resource in that discovery.” FFR Merchandising will be introducing its 2014 FFR Total Retail Solutions Catalog, with 350-plus new products and more than 4,000 stock products. New products being highlighted range from crystal-clear self-facing systems and loss prevention merchandisers, to wind-resistant sign stands and fresh area display solutions.  Forté Product Solutions Forté Product Solutions manufacturers standard and custom POP displays and fixtures that fulfill a crucial need for merchandising innovation, durability, labor and cost savings, say company officials. The Kansas City, Mo.-based company’s merchandisers are made in the U.S. with quality materials and come in various sizes and colors and can be used for a variety of applications. Forté’s aim at GlobalShop is to connect with people who are searching for novelty, differentiation and simplicity, say officials. “Display and merchandising fixtures are sales enablers and finding the right company to source and partner with is a great advantage to retailers,” says Yasmina Dhimes, director of sales. “When you visit with us, we want you to have an ‘aha’ moment that tells you ‘I found it,’ if not the product itself, the concept and visual that we can then translate into a tangible item.” At the show, Forte will have an array of merchandisers that fit a wide range of markets, focusing on Round Merchandisers and U-link merchandisers.  Juno Lighting Group The Juno Lighting Group has created an advanced line of energy-saving solutions for a wide range of lighting needs, say officials for the Des Plaines, Ill.-based company. From track, multi-heads and recessed to display, linear and outdoor solutions, Juno’s LED lineup is designed to deliver energy-efficient, high-performance illumination. “We offer an exceptional luminaire for every retail application, whether it’s display lighting, wall washing, casework, or everyday general lighting,” says Bill Morreal, vice president of marketing. Juno’s GlobalShop booth will include walk through retail vignettes featuring various lighting applications, product training and presentation areas. The company will also have a team on hand to answer lighting questions. Juno will be showcasing a wide selection of LED track fixtures including the Conix II LED family. The five new fixtures in the Juno Conix II LED Trac lighting family, including the 19-watt T261L, 24-watt T262L, 33-watt T263L, 40-watt T265L and 64-watt T267L provide outputs ranging from 1,000 to nearly 4,400 lumens, which can reduce energy consumption by up to 20% when compared to equivalent ceramic metal halide fixtures. The fixtures have a long service life of 50,000 hours and can operate virtually maintenance free for 11 years in a typical retail setting, dramatically reducing re-lamping and labor costs, add officials.  LEDingEDGE Lighting LEDingEDGE Lighting is a manufacturer of linear LED lighting solutions based in Camarillo, Calif. The company’s T-8 LED replacement luminaires fit in existing fluorescent tombstones and its driver drops-in to replace the old ballast. This retrofit, using existing wiring and hardware, requires little to no rework of reach-in and multi-deck display cases, say company officials. “Our Configurator allows simple kit packs to be sent out to stores based on inputting just the manufacturer’s model,” says Robert Semerau, marketing and sales manager. The company will be presenting its new Extension Connector, which allows them to link up several Mini-Orion luminaires in series for easy, seamless installation. “Our Mini-Orion is a brilliant linear LED solution that is both versatile and durable, but smaller than most products on the market today,” says Semerau, adding that the easy-to-install system allows quick retrofit or the addition of LED to existing displays. Semerau says GlobalShop offers LEDingEDGE Lighting the chance to get together with existing clients to exchange ideas and compare results of recent installations of their LED linear solutions. It also provides an opportunity to meet prospective clients and show their latest product developments such as their new LoTrak low voltage, track based power distribution system with TwistConnect.  LSI Floors LSI Floors, best known for its luxury vinyl tiles and planks and for its ideas for branding a space, supplies designed flooring for high performance applications in public spaces. LSI has chosen GlobalShop to launch an addition to the Imagination Series. SAND is a collaboration between the Toronto-based company and photographer Randal Ford. “The concept of applying a single image across the surface of a floor requires the right balance of color, detail and interest. Randal’s image has all of these elements and allowed us to turn this into a very dynamic flooring material,” says Rick Moffatt, creative director. SAND is intended to complement the other images of nature within the LSI collection including water, grass and river rock. “GlobalShop is the pre-eminent show for the retail environment bringing together all the best suppliers of products and services to this industry,” says Moffatt. “For LSI, it is the show that allows us to tap into this community and help the attendees think about the floor as a creative opportunity.”  RGIS RGIS specializes in resets, store remodels and merchandising. With a dedicated staff and a network of nearly 200 U.S. offices, the company’s focus is on completing projects on schedule, and of the highest quality, say officials. One of the key reasons RGIS attends the show is to develop a better understanding the current trends so that they can improve their offerings and better help their customers achieve their goals, say officials for the Auburn Hills, Mich.-based company. “GlobalShop is all about networking and research,” says Mickey Rihtarchik, vice president of retail sales. “Not only does it help spread the word about our services, it also lets us take a pulse of the industry.” The comprehensive services offered by the Retail Service Division at RGIS include fixture moves and installations, gondola moves, signage and graphic installation and merchandising. Additionally, RGIS does not subcontract its workforce meaning anyone assigned to a given retail services task is an RGIS employee.  Se-Kure Controls Se-Kure Controls tries to help retailers reduce loss due to shoplifting via its stock and custom product solution offerings. By doing its own plastic injection molding, as well as metal fabrication and electronics, they can control the quality and the cost from concept to production. The result, according to John Mangiameli, vice president of business development, for the Franklin Park, Ill.-based company, is a high-quality, reliable, affordable product. “New ideas, new leads and new products always are a result of our interaction with customers at GlobalShop. The event serves as a source for all of those and is one of the most important trade shows at which we exhibit,” says Mangiameli. Se-Kure officials will be demonstrating ways to attractively display, power up and protect tablets and smart phones with new items from their Vantage II Display system. Mangiameli says these new products deter theft and include an alarm component that provides both security and the five volts of power required by tablets and smart phones. It requires only a single electrical outlet to power up as many as 12 SKUs, eliminating the wire “confusion” that can occur under retail displays.  Southern Imperial Southern Imperial will be featuring a number of solutions that help retailers maximize their product merchandising space and increase sales. These items include their NEXT System, the AutoFront Roller Shelf and FACER for wine bottles and similar packages. The Rockford, Ill.-based company will also be displaying new solutions to help retailers in the area of loss prevention with products like the SONIQ alarm hook, which emits audible cues that there is activity on selected items and alarms at suspicious activity. Tom Valiulis, vice president of marketing, says Southern Imperial attends GlobalShop because it is a great opportunity to meet their current and future customers and show off the company’s capabilities. “Retailers truly benefit from attending GlobalShop because they get hands-on with the latest display and fixture innovations,” he says. Southern Imperial is best known for its display and fixtures solutions for merchandising product at retail. These range from simple items like peghooks, sign holders, data strips and impulse strips to complex items such as product facing and shelf management solutions and full, custom displays.  SPC Retail SPC Retail, a Holly, Mich.-based division of Structural Plastics Corp., designs and builds modular display solutions made with recycled plastic and a patented Kit of Parts merchandising display system. Harry Newton, director of sales and marketing, says the displays are easy to assemble without tools, affordable and can be used to create thousands of configurations. SPC Retail’s goal at GlobalShop is to introduce retailers to the company and demonstrate how its patented Kit of Parts system and innovative displays can help increase sales and improve their customer’s shopping experience. “We will be highlighting new ideas and display configurations for Pop-Up retail, Front Porch merchandising and our growing line of in-store displays,” says Newton. SPC Retail will also be showing off its Mini Tilt-Top mobile display, which has a small 2’x3’ footprint designed to maximize selling space in floral, produce and impulse checkout areas—indoors or out. The Mini Tilt-Top has heavy-duty caster bars and a bottom shelf area for storage as well as a tilted slant top.  Trion Industries Trion Industries offers merchandise display solutions including display and scan hooks, label holder systems, shelf management, tray and bar merchandisers and anti-theft options. “An event such as GlobalShop gives us the opportunity not only to show retailers what Trion does, it gives us a chance to promote our merchandising solutions as well as learn what the needs are,” says Stephen Matsko, director of sales and marketing for the Wilkes-Barre, Pa.-based company. Trion will be highlighting several products, including its Pouch Hooks which have peg, slat and bar options designed to help retailers maximize displays featuring pouch packaging. Additionally, Trion officials will also be talking to retailers about their merchandising solutions for water flavoring/enhancer products featuring a revised tray and their Shelf Works shelf management system.  VersaCart Systems VersaCart Systems is a manufacturer of hand baskets, shopping carts, material handling carts and accessories. Its in-house staff designs, develops, markets and sells its products. “VersaCart’s goal at GlobalShop is to introduce our company and its latest innovations to as many retailers as possible and to work with them to plan product purchases and deliveries for 2014 and beyond,” says Kimberly Steury, business development manager for the Boulder, Colo.-based company. She says the show also gives the company a chance to gather feedback from customers on their latest products and provides an opportunity to share their pain points to help drive future innovation. VersaCart will display its newest backroom innovations along with its shopping carts that highlight how equipment can complement and enhance overall store design. According to Steury, the company will unveil two carts that will revolutionize the way employees stock while saving valuable back room space when the carts are not in use.