Have you noticed? Black Friday crept into Thanksgiving Thursday a few years back, shocking some, burdening retail employees while pleasing many shoppers eager to leave dirty dishes and Dallas Cowboys at home. Cyber Monday made its appearance in 2005. Then #GivingTuesday came on the scene in 2012, tugging on our heartstrings to atone for the commercialization and consumerism of post-Thanksgiving.

In a race to attract your attention and gain your business, retailers and brands alike have pushed Black Friday deals out earlier and earlier, many appearing as soon as our calendars turn to November, especially this year with an early US Thanksgiving. Why the rush? Marketers know that those who spend earlier tend to spend more. Those early &ldquo...

In business, everyone knows about ROI: Return on Investment. Surprisingly, many display clients don’t explicitly think about ROI. We think this is a mistake.Often brands feel pressure to provide “free” merchandising equipment to gain entrée into a retailer. Brands willingly spend it because it invariably increases sales. The best marketers use Return on Merchandising Investment (ROMI) to measure the bang for their buck.Beyond the specifics of doing matched-store tests, A/B testing and similar research techniques, we encourage clients to carefully consider the key cost-side variables like design development, equipment, graphics, logistics, time to install, maintenance, restocking, refreshing the unit, and eventual...

As most of you know, Tusco just passed our ISO9001:2015 with Design Stage I audit. We have invested a great deal of effort in upgrading our quality management system, so we can confidently deliver products on-time, on-spec and on-budget for our clients. A successful Stage II audit later this year will allow us to join an elite group of display producers with such a designation.Friday, Oct 5th is MFG Day, established to celebrate and promote manufacturing careers, especially among the next generation. The United States remains the highest producer of gross domestic product per person in the world – by a wide margin. Taken alone, US manufacturing would be the ninth-largest economy in the world. Tusco is proud to contribute to that su...

The average homeowner spends about 4 hours a week on lawn and garden activities. According to the 2013 National Gardening Association Survey, do-it-yourself lawn and garden activities showed an increase of 2 million more households (2%) in 2012 compared with the year before, translating into an extra $354 million (1%) in retail sales of Lawn and Garden products across the nation. In total, U.S. households spent $29.5 billion on their lawns and gardens last year. This has translated into more dollars invested into lawn and garden displays at retail.

A new survey question added last year and continued in 2013 asked households how much they spent at each type of retailer selling lawn and garden products confirmed that big-box stores and mass...

One of the challenges of designing effective in-store merchandising equipment is figuring out how to capture shoppers’ attention so you have a shot at converting them into buyers. But stores are noisy places. Shoppers are bombarded by messages on packages, signs, displays, radio, shelf tags and more. Our brains filter out the grand majority of that noise for self-preservation – they can’t function well when overwhelmed.Brands turn to companies like Tusco Display to “cut through the clutter.” We apply our decades of experience to engineer great solutions with space, budget, product and other parameters. How does the best display get chosen? Most often the choices are driven by buyers’ likes and dislikes...

When we speak or write about retail environments, we usually envision places like Macy’s or Target, Home Depot or CVS, Kroger or Staples, Circle K or – moment of silence, please – Toys’R’Us, right?

In reality, retail environments cover a much wider range of shopping experiences. How about optical stores? Doctors’ offices? Auto dealers? Restaurants? The break room at work?

Vending machines in the US sell about $7 billion in goods annually. Kiosks in quick-service restaurants (QSR) impact your lunch purchases as McDonald’s rolls out order kiosks at a pace of 1000 US stores per quarter. Subway and Panera employ order kiosks to speed order entry and increase the timely delivery of food. And Carvana is...

As we approach Independence Day 2018, it’s worth considering the many freedoms that we as Americans enjoy. You know the ones guaranteed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights like freedom of speech, freedom to bear arms, freedom of assembly and association, to say nothing of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Let me add one that we often overlook: Freedom to shop. Today, more than ever, if you have the means, you have the freedom to buy what you want when you want it and from whom you want to buy it. Stores are open more hours than ever. Does anyone remember “blue laws?” They used to prohibit not just alcohol sales on Sundays but ALL retail activity. Online has ushered in 24/7/365 availability to b...

A recent study cited by Retail TouchPoints found 71% of shoppers believe in-store employees aren’t helpful. Stores are living down to shopper expectations when they fail to hire, train and manage staff effectively.

See for yourself. Visit a favorite store. How engaged, knowledgeable and truly helpful is the staff? Are they attentive without being pushy? Do they genuinely and creatively engage or simply say, “Can I help you?” which generates an equally automated response, “Just looking” and everyone pretends some customer service just happened.

Stores are more than physical places to showcase products. At their best, they are intriguing locations for shoppers to enjoy exploring, for staff to truly assist, for b...

Recent studies have shown that shoppers often leave stores without purchasing anything. Why? One study found two-thirds of the time the store didn’t have or the shopper couldn’t find the desired product. Fifty-one percent of the time they found lines were too long and nearly 40% of the time shoppers left due to poor customer service.

A Wall Street Journal study published today finds that big chains are slashing head counts faster than store counts. Over the past 12 months alone, 86% of U.S. consumers say they have left a store due to long lines, according to a survey conducted by Adyen, a credit-card processor, and payment system. Adyen estimates that it resulted in $37.7 billion in lost sales for retailers.

Jessica Tokarski re...