Trade show gives retailers ideas on how to attract shoppers

Vendors offered such items as curvy counters and 3-D displays.

Mark Chediak
Sentinel Staff Writer

March 28, 2006

Curvaceous counters, lilac-scented aisles and 3-D holographic product displays may soon be coming to a store near you.

These and a variety of other ideas designed to woo shoppers are being showcased in Orlando at the GlobalShop 2006 trade show, which ends today at the Orange County Convention Center.

Drawing more than 20,000 attendees from around the world, the convention, which is the largest store-design and visual-merchandising show for the retail industry, features more than 900 exhibitors displaying products ranging from metallic mannequins to flat-screen TVs.

With consumers becoming ever more distracted by a multitude of entertainment and media outlets, stores are exploring ways to attract shoppers and get them to buy more stuff.

"It's getting harder and harder to reach consumers," said Doug Hope, group vice president of VNU Expositions and director of the GlobalShop show.

To cope, stores are focusing more on in-store media and displays, Hope said.

On the extreme end, one company has come up with a 3-D imaging system that can be used to highlight promotions for in-store products.

"What we do is get people to stand and look for more than two seconds," said Daniel Maffeo, president of HolograFX, a New Jersey company that sells the technology to companies such as Pepsi and Kellogg's.

The hologram, which appears as 3-D digital image floating in space, is produced by projecting light through a series of lenses.

Other innovative concepts on display include a technology that allows retailers to inject a particular scent into the air to inspire a certain mood or provoke a particular craving.

ScentAir, a Charlotte, N.C., company that works with big retailers ranging from Bloomingdale's to Albertsons, says its scent technology makes an emotional and sensual pitch that can't be made through other traditional marketing methods.

It says scent is closely linked to memory and can make a lasting impression on the customer.

Econoco, a store fixture and display firm in Hicksville, N.Y., is promoting curvy counter displays and egg-shaped store fixtures designed to capture the look and feel of natural shapes.

The company was one of several at the show featuring organic-type displays designed to give customers a cozier and more comfortable feeling while shopping.

Still, it may be some time before a majority of retailers adopt some of the innovations at the convention, said Eli Portnoy, president of the Portnoy Group, a brand strategy firm with offices in Orlando and Los Angeles.

"The budgets really aren't there," Portnoy said.

Mark Chediak can be reached at 407-420-5240 or mchediak@orlandosentinel.com.