So often the simplest ideas are the most effective. This is certainly true of the ‘POP Shelves’ recently launched by Big Skies Limited in their quest to make life simpler for the staff on the shop floor. The shelves look like any other until the ‘POP’ – that’s Pull-Out Platform is drawn forward from inside the shelf to provide a temporary work surface to aid filling and rotating stock.
Conway Daw, director at Big Skies says that while POP Shelves can be made to match virtually any shelved fixture, the biggest benefits for retailers are realised with chilled food. “Fresh meat and dairy stock is usually, or at least should be, rotated every fill. The convenience of POP Shelves saves colleagues juggling with trays of yoghurt, or constantly twisting and lifting to temporarily park stock elsewhere, on a trolley, or even the floor.”
Many retailers agreed at the National Convenience Show in April when visitors voted POP Shelves the best new idea at the show. The proof is on the shop floor though and Daw says that trials with the larger multiples are already showing strong results. “Filling staff love the investment in their core role and get the hang of the platform straight away, saving time from the outset. Also, because stock rotation now happens more reliably, our customers are starting to see reductions in food waste, which of course is a benefit straight to the bottom line.
They are finding the business case very strong, even for retrofit.” POP Shelves and brackets can be made as direct replacements or alternatives to ordinary shelves for virtually any type of multi-deck fridge. On top of the argument for installing them in their own right for single or tray stock, they are a great complement to other merchandising systems.
When on-shelf pushers, rollers, or glide systems are applied to fresh food categories, stock filling and rotation often become slower and more awkward. These impacts can be offset if POP Shelves are used with those systems, providing retailers with the best of both worlds – well rotated and self-facing products.
Founded in 2003, Big Skies provides an equipment design and project management consultancy service as well as teaming up with UK manufacturers to produce the patent pending POP Shelves to order.
Conway Daw
Tel: 01223 208266
Email: conway.daw@bigskies.net
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