A carton is used to transport products to the store. With PDQ Display Boxes, no one has to open a single package to get it on the shelf! That might seem a mere fraction, but it affects the amount of labour a retailer has to put into stocking a product— labour cost as to why more brands are going this route rather than sending loose product in a plain carton.
Staff open the box, slice open along a perforated line, and the box is on display. No need to sort, no separate packaging stage and no time to hand arrange products on a shelf.
What Does "PDQ" Actually Stand For, and Why Does It Matter?
There's a pretty darn quick loop of information, and that's what PDQ is designed to be. A PDQ Display Boxes setup is ready with products; store employees can simply set it up on a shelf or counter with very little additional handling.
This is especially important for high-traffic stores with a limited number of employees. Minimize even a few minutes per-store stocking time and the savings will add up across hundreds of stores, hence the fact that the large retailers have specs on the size and durability of these trays.
How Custom PDQ Display Boxes Cut Down on Store Labor
Custom PDQ Display Boxes eliminate the need to separate and arrange boxes separately. A store employee opens the shipping container and a wooden box; one is the same piece of merchandise and the other is the display, so it takes a few seconds to open as opposed to minutes to hand-sort the product onto a shelf.
Here custom sizing matters a lot. When the tray fits tightly, rather than being too big or too small there is no extra space or room for items to move while being transported which stops damage from happening and cuts down the time needed to fix a display after it has been taken out of the box.
Building a Tray That Survives the Trip From Truck to Shelf
A PDQ tray must be strong enough to endure as it passes through a warehouse, delivery truck and multiple handling before arriving at a shopper's hands.
Stacking Strength
When the corrugated structure is on a pallet for shipping, the pallets can be stacked on top of one another, requiring the box to be strong enough to hold the weight without crushing the bottom layer of the pallet. One of the most frequently occurring causes for rejection of a display before it even reaches the sales floor is the weak stacking strength.
Tear-Away Design
- No tools are needed to open the tray in seconds using perforated panels.
- Repeated handling is supported by reinforced corners that hold the structure together.
- Low fronts help to maintain visibility and accessibility of products within the opened package
Are Custom PDQ Boxes Worth the Setup Cost for a Small Brand?
Obviously, there is more initial design effort required for a Custom PDQ Box than a basic shipping carton, because the box needs to serve two purposes: as a package and as a display stand. Expenses like this typically improve shelf placement and/or lower the likelihood of a retailer declining the shipment because of handling requirements, which is a good return on investment for a small brand.
Brands testing a new retail relationship may be better served by rolling out a smaller-scale test first, and committing to a full-scale rollout later, so as to minimize initial investment and gain proof of the retail format.
When Does PDQ Display Boxes Wholesale Pricing Start to Pay Off?
PDQ Display Boxes Wholesale is cost effective when a brand is shipping to several store locations on a routine basis. One-offs of smaller runs are more expensive per unit and may also introduce minor variations in strength or print quality from one print run to another, particularly if a retailer is demanding a consistent quality from all print runs.
When moving to wholesale pricing the right time is not only based on the amount of money a brand wants to save per unit, but on how consistent the retail relationship has become.
Kwick Packaging and Two Other US Manufacturers to Know
There are several American companies that have established a good reputation for their PDQ trays and ready-to-use packaging. Landaal Packaging is creating PDQ displays in conjunction with tear-away cartons and club store trays for the purpose of simplifying and expediting retail stocking. Bennett makes bespoke PDQ trays and shelf displays, and its structural engineers verify designs to satisfy the individual retailer handling requirements prior to production.
Choosing a manufacturer who makes the trays as opposed to a broker will generally eliminate delays when a design has to be modified to suit a certain retailer's requirements.
A Quick Checklist Before Approving a PDQ Design
- Verify stacking strength of pallets with actual pallet shipping height planned
- Look for the tray to meet any size or durability requirements the retailer may have
- Check tear-away opening with an unfamiliar person
- Look at a physical sample with the actual product before going into full production.
All of these are not much of an extra effort, but they are often overlooked, which leads to a lot of rejected shipments or displays that fail to put together when it's time for stocking.
Final Thoughts on PDQ Display Boxes
Packaging that saves retailers the time and effort are what this format does directly. PDQ Display Boxes convert a shipping container into a finished product display without any additional unpacking and display time. The basic things are more important than any one design trend: getting the fundamentals right, forming stacks with strength, and using a tear-away design that fits the product.
If brands are looking at switching to another manufacturer, they typically will have a reduced wait for retailers to request changes to the design of the PDQ trays. The direct production relationship also facilitates testing of a smaller production batch before committing to a full production rollout for the retail market.
