“Corrugated cardboard is an ideal material for modern promotion“

Carsten Böttcher: Offset printing already pays off starting at 20 to 50 pieces. © spot

Interview with Carsten Böttcher, Managing Director spot display, Osnabrück

spot GmbH from Osnabrück, Germany, was founded in 1993 and specializes in displays and packaging made from solid or corrugated cardboard. The spot customers are from Germany and other European countries. Managing Director Carsten Böttcher points out many good reasons, which speak in favor of cardboard in his opinion. Even for small production runs, offset printing is cheaper than digital printing, he says. Moreover, displays made of cardboard can be well combined with electronic displays.

Why do you need displays in a store?

Online competition is one of the most important topics for retail these days. That is why it is even more important to turn shopping at a store into an experience. Creative product portfolios, haptic materials and surprising presentations – in short: shops that are fun will also be frequented. It is even better if the product is also consumer-friendly to get. This can be perfectly implemented with changing corrugated cardboard displays.

Why displays made of corrugated cardboard?

Corrugated cardboard is an ideal material for modern promotion. Thanks to low cost of production, new trend-oriented sales campaigns can be done over and over again in a short amount of time. The design possibilities are nearly endless. Corrugated cardboard is strong and flexible at the same time. Special shapes, contour die cutting or 3D effects can be combined with high load bearing capacity. Our shelving for instance holds up to15 kilograms per tray. Corrugated cardboard displays are made of 100 percent recycled material and are disposed of the same way. The look-and-feel can be colorful and interesting, yet the material nonetheless signals environmental sustainability. Since 2010, our production has been sustainable by using our own solar energy. In addition, we have installed a CO2-neutral heating system.

Hat or cap? Here a cardboard display is combined with a real cap. © spot

What do you have to look out for with displays to increase sales results?

Aside from creativity, the display quality is also vitally important. A high quality display promotes the perceived product quality – and vice versa. Run of the mill displays are common as well as displays that are not correctly set up in retail due to their complicated construction process. Cardboards that are too thin and that bend easily are also not uncommon. High quality solutions do not have to be expensive.

What amount of display pieces justifies offset printing? When does digital printing make sense?

Here is what amazes many customers: offset printing already pays off –depending on the project- starting at 20 to 50 pieces. Displays produced with offset printing clearly have a higher quality in print image and workmanship than digitally produced models. Retail increasingly finds offers by pure digital printing suppliers that want to appear particularly reasonable. We are specialists for short runs up to 5,000 copies and offer both production methods in-house. Our laser-based production system for low-priced cutting dies contributes to cost effectiveness. Digital production makes sense for color patterns, single copies or models for trade shows.

The load bearing capacity of cardboard is very high. Bottles can be displayed just like on a shelf. © spot

What is possible for displays in terms of size and technology

We produce one-piece large formats up to 2050 mm. High-resolution picture motifs are used just as much as brilliant custom colors or metallic effects. Interactive elements such as monitors, LEDs and speech output can be newly combined repeatedly with corrugated cardboard displays.

Do you also offer standard solutions?

Currently we offer a combo set for special sales offers for instance – consisting of an elliptical column, decoration cubes that can also be used as hanging displays and a contour die cut ”%“ hanging display. The ”Sale“ displays are available as individual pieces or can be combined with many other decoration ideas.

Interview by René Schellbach, EuroShop.de

01.04.2012

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