Types of Retail Displays Explained: A Guide for Brands and Retailers

POP49 designs and manufactures custom retail display systems in-house, covering POP displays, countertop units, retail shelving, and branded kiosks for brands across North America.

What Are Retail Displays?

Retail displays, also called in-store displays, retail display fixtures, or store display solutions, are the physical structures brands use to present products in retail environments. The range is wide: compact countertop units at checkout, freestanding floor displays in high-traffic aisles, branded shelving systems built into the store environment, and retail kiosks standing on their own in shopping centre concourses. 

Marketing professionals, brand managers, and retail operators use merchandising displays across product launches, seasonal campaigns, and permanent in-store programs. The timeline is almost always tight, the brief is almost always specific, and generic off-the-shelf fixtures almost never fit either. 

Choosing the right display type matters. The format that works in a high-traffic grocery aisle is not the same as the one that performs at a brand activation or a checkout counter. Each display type has a specific job in the retail environment, and understanding that job is what separates a display that moves product from one that gets ignored.

4 Common Types of Retail Displays

POP Displays (Point-of-Purchase Displays)

Floor-standing and freestanding units placed where shoppers decide what to buy: in-aisle, at endcaps, near checkout, wherever foot traffic is highest and purchase intent peaks. POP49 designs and builds custom POP displays from compact countertop units to large freestanding floor formats. Every unit is Pantone-matched and built to spec. 

POP displays are the workhorses of in-store retail merchandising. They intercept buyers at the exact moment they are deciding, which makes format, placement, and brand accuracy non-negotiable. A display that looks off-brand or sits at the wrong height for the environment loses that moment. POP49 builds to your specifications, so the display performs exactly where you place it.

Countertop Displays

The checkout counter is the last chance to influence a purchase, and most brands waste it. POP49 builds countertop displays for checkout zones, service desks, and point-of-sale positions: small footprint, high visibility, built to your brand standards. 

The best countertop displays do two things at once. They hold the product at the right height for an impulse grab, and they carry the brand clearly enough that the shopper connects the product to the campaign they saw before they walked in.

Retail Shelving Displays

Generic racking holds products. Branded shelving systems sell it. There is a difference, and shoppers feel it before they consciously notice it. POP49 builds custom retail shelving for environments where the fixture is part of the brand: dimensioned to your space, finished to your standards, and fabricated in-house.

Retail Kiosks

When you need a branded presence without a permanent store footprint, a kiosk does the work. POP49 builds retail kiosks that create a defined brand environment in spaces that are not set up for one. 

On a shopping centre concourse, at a brand activation, or on a retail floor between permanent fixtures, a well-built kiosk stops traffic and holds attention in a way that a banner or a table cannot. 

One Vendor. Every Display. Built In-House.

Most retail display projects involve at least three parties: a designer, a printer, and a fabricator. Each interprets the brief independently. Each introduces variation. By the time the display reaches the floor, it reflects three different readings of what was approved. 

POP49 is one party. Design, printing, and fabrication happen in our Mississauga facility using our own equipment, including CNC machining, laser cutting, large format printing, and 3D printing. The team that draws it is the team that builds it. There is no handoff where something gets lost. 

What that means in practice:

Exact brand accuracy. Pantone-matched colour. Approved dimensions. The right materials. Not approximately right. Actually right.

One point of contact. One timeline. One person accountable if something needs to change. No emails bouncing between vendors while your event date gets closer.

No minimums. Test a single display before committing to a national rollout. Order one unit for a pop-up. Scale up when you are ready.

30+ years of custom manufacturing. POP49 was founded in 1989. Every display that leaves our facility has been designed, printed, and built by our team.

Where Retail Displays Have the Biggest Impact

In-store displays and retail display fixtures show up wherever marketing professionals are trying to move product in a physical environment. POP49 manufactures displays for:

• Retail store floors and endcaps
• Supermarkets and grocery environments
• Pharmacies and health and beauty retail
• Big-box and specialty retail chains
• Pop-up shops and short-term retail installations
• Brand activations and product launch events

Every display needs to look right, hold up under real-world conditions, and represent the brand accurately across any of these environments. That only happens reliably when the same team controls design and fabrication from start to finish.

Brands That Trust POP49 With Their Retail Displays

POP49 has designed and built custom displays for Pepsi, IKEA, Sol Cerveza, and marketing teams working at scale across North America.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to Build Your Retail Display?

POP49 designs and manufactures custom retail displays entirely in-house. One team, one facility, one point of accountability from concept through delivery. No minimum orders. No third-party fabricators between you and your finished display. Tell us what you need built.