Planning a Point-of-Purchase Campaign Timeline: Working Back from the Shelf

Most late displays were late long before anyone noticed. The date a display must be in store is fixed by the retailer; everything else on the plan has to be counted backwards from it.

Start from the in-store date, not the brief date

A retailer sets the window in which a promotion runs: the week a range goes on offer, the day a new product launches, the start of a seasonal reset. That date does not move when a project runs behind. So the first line on the plan is the day the display must be standing and stocked, and every earlier stage gets a deadline derived from it.

Write that date at the top of the brief. Then add the date by which stores must receive the units, which is earlier, because stores need time to unpack and build, and some will miss the first delivery slot.

The stages, in the order they happen

• Brief and sign-off of the idea — the objective, the product, the stores, the budget and who has the final say. Unclear ownership here is the most common cause of later delay.
• Design and engineering — structure, graphics and the way the unit is packed flat or assembled. A display that looks good on screen but needs six people to build it will not survive a store floor.
• Prototype — one real unit, built by someone who has not seen the drawings. If it takes them an hour to assemble, the plan for hundreds of stores has a problem.
• Retailer approval — footprint, weight, fire and safety requirements and position in the store. Allow for a round of changes.
• Production — print, fabrication, kitting of components, and the product-specific parts such as headers and price points.
• Distribution — consolidation, delivery to stores or to the retailer’s regional depots, and instructions that travel with the units.
• Installation and checks — either by store staff following a one-page guide or by a field team, followed by photographs back from a sample of stores.

Where the slack should go

Teams tend to spread buffer evenly across the plan. It works better to concentrate it in two places: retailer approval, which depends on people outside your control, and distribution, where a single missed lorry can leave a region without units for the first week of the promotion.

Production is usually the most predictable stage once the prototype is approved, so it needs the least padding. The stage that most often overruns is the one before it: a design change requested after prototype sign-off pushes every date behind it.

Freeze points

Agree in advance the moment after which the design can no longer change, and put it on the plan as a date, not a feeling. After the freeze, a request to alter the graphics or the structure has a visible cost in days, and the person asking can decide whether it is worth it. Changes to copy for prices and legal wording should have their own, later, deadline, because those details are often confirmed by the retailer at the last minute.

Plan for the end of the campaign too

What happens to the display when the promotion finishes? Stores either need collection, a clear instruction to remove and recycle, or a unit that can be reused for the next promotion. Deciding this at the brief stage affects material choices, and it avoids half-dismantled units standing in aisles for weeks.

A short checklist

• One date for the in-store start and a separate, earlier date for delivery to stores.
• One named person who approves the design.
• A prototype built by someone fresh to the project.
• A written freeze date and a separate deadline for price and legal copy.
• Instructions short enough to be read standing next to the pallet.
• A plan for removal when the promotion ends.

A timeline like this also makes results easier to read afterwards. If you intend to compare stores with and without the display, as described in measuring the ROI of in-store displays, the installation date in each store becomes part of the data. And if you are still deciding what the display should achieve, the guide to point-of-purchase marketing is a sensible place to begin.