Avanti Taps Fixture Resource Group
To Create Cost-Cutting Displays

When Avanti Press looks for help in turning heads for its line of sizzling hot greeting cards, they turn to the display wizards at Fixture Resource Group. Creating a fitting sales environment for the Avanti brand goes beyond designing and producing card racks, and provides insight into the challenges in maintaining and strengthening a world-class image in a very competitive industry.

With the mantra of driving costs out of their display program while maintaining high quality standards, Avanti challenged Cincinnati-based FRG to develop a merchandising ‘system’ that would create a recognizable display with a unique look, at less cost.

Form, Function And Lower Cost

Having worked with Avanti since 1995 on developing solutions for their innovative card merchandising programs, FRG was very familiar with the premium the client places on distinctive appearance and quality in their racks.

Known for their beautifully art directed cards featuring patented colorful photos, Avanti was insistent on providing the right accompaniment to their product, but not to the degree of upstaging the product itself. The engineers at FRG cited the sometimes delicate line between designing a functional, good-looking display that is consistent with the ‘cool’ brand that Avanti has established, and one that does not overshadow the cards.

Showcase the cards, not the display is what Avanti wanted to do. But through their diligence and working hand in hand with the client, FRG came up with a beauty themselves -- a display that not only looks great, but reduces costs and creates benefits throughout the customer chain.

Experience told FRG that costs associated with producing displays could be reduced through: using newer, lighter, yet stronger materials; designing more efficient, easy-to-assemble components; and streamlining the packaging and delivery of the product.

Getting To Know You

So the team at FRG hit the drawing board, and working closely with Sheila O’Hara, purchasing director at Avanti, refined designs to drive out costs, while improving the display’s looks, versatility and functionality. In a real ‘partnership’ between client and supplier, Fixture Resource Group and Avanti worked closely to propose, refine and develop the total solution.

The project evolved, but in every phase, reducing costs, improving functionality and reducing damage drove their collective efforts. Having assumed an almost internal-like staff function over the years through previous engagements, FRG sales engineers have accompanied Avanti reps on sales calls to better understand the challenges facing their assignments.

“We had to look at ways to engineer manufacturing efficiencies,” said Bill Birmingham, president, FRG. “We created a whole new ‘architecture’ for their display by, in effect recreating their display based on a modular component four-pocket design.” The component features fabricated metal wire strips formed in the familiar Avanti ‘tulip’ shapes.

These strips snap into injection-molded polypropylene hubs to become either 40 or 48 pocket towers. This engineering breakthrough pays dividends to Avanti on their 48, 96 and 160 pocket displays, especially when combined with one of their distinctive, lightweight, but extremely durable roto-molded bases.

Once the design was approved, FRG sourced tooling and production alternatives to squeeze out costs. All told, FRG realized over 11 percent savings through re-engineering. But the bottom line cost savings go beyond hard costs.

Adding Up Total Savings, Total Value

Fixture Resource Group engineers not only engineered out costs, but factored in other features that contribute to the overall value of the new display. By making the display units modular, there were assembly and packaging efficiencies that, in addition to yielding happy retailers, huge freight savings, and reduced damage due to freight, also virtually eliminated customer and retailer frustration with receiving a broken display.

The compact, yet sturdy design, resulted in a more compact shipping carton that’s easier to handle. No more oversize UPS freight charges, and less square footage and warehousing costs for storage and fulfillment. At the retailer end, boxes arrive at the store intact, displays are likewise, and the retailer needn’t return the unit or file a damaged freight claim.

“It’s detrimental to all of us,” said Birmingham “if a unit arrives damaged. Usually a rep is there, and if the unit is broken, it reflects poorly on him or her too. Not to mention the lost opportunity to display the cards; after all, if the display’s not up, cards don’t move.”

No tools are required to assemble the Avanti 96, easing the frustration that can occur with larger, more complicated displays. Precision tooled parts and smooth bearings and other hardware combine to create a stable, quiet display that performs as well as it looks.

Not Your Average Display, Not Your
Average Display Supplier

When competing against what Birmingham refers to as run-of-the-mill standard displays, there is little FRG can offer. Preferring to work rather with companies like Avanti, where a premium is placed on the presentation of the product, FRG has carved out a valuable niche in the custom display market.

“Avanti clearly makes an investment in the marketplace,” said Birmingham, who has been working with the premium card producer since 1995. “They are a company known for having cool cards and equally cool displays. Their customers like to associate with them, just as ultimately the card buyer likes the experience of selecting an Avanti card.”

In addition to the Avanti 96-pocket display, FRG’s portfolio of displays for Avanti includes designing and producing slat-wall spinners, inline displays and a variety of small spinners -- each following Avanti’s insistence on unique design to promote maximum profitability for the retailer.

Blending functionality with aesthetics is a hallmark of the FRG brand. Choosing to work with clients, such as Avanti Press, who prefer unique display solutions for their products, Fixture Resource Group has carved out a special niche for themselves in the greeting card, gift and consumer retail markets.