Thermoformed
- Suits large, shallow trays and one sided shapes
- Tooling often costs less up front
- Hard to form hooks, clips, and snap features
Industry
Injection Molding for Retail Displays
A store display has a fixed launch date, a brand color that must match the packaging, and a shopper who will pull on every hook. Missing the date is often worse than any defect.
The calendar
Displays are built backward from a store date
A product launch, a seasonal reset, or a promotion sets the deadline.
Display programs start from the day the fixtures must be in stores and work backward through shipping, molding, sampling, and tooling. That makes early design review worth more than usual. A change found after steel is cut costs time the launch does not have.
Quantities swing widely. A pilot in a handful of stores comes first, then a national rollout if the pilot works, then years of replacement hooks and trays. One tool that serves all three, with no minimum order, fits that pattern.
Process
Injection molded or thermoformed display parts
Both are common in stores. They suit different parts.
Injection molded
- Suits hooks, pushers, dividers, and anything that clips on
- Detail on both sides, with snaps and mounting features built in
- Often a lower cost per part once volumes build
On the shelf
Common display parts and the usual resin
Most display parts trade a little performance for looks and cost.
| Part | What matters | Usual resin |
|---|---|---|
| Peg hooks and scan hooks | Holding weight at the tip without drooping | Polycarbonate or glass filled nylon |
| Pushers and dividers | Smooth sliding and a spring that keeps product at the front | Acetal slides, polystyrene or ABS dividers |
| Clear covers and product windows | Clarity, and surviving shoppers and cleaning | Acrylic for clarity, polycarbonate for toughness |
| Sign holders and shelf clips | A firm clip onto shelf edges of many sizes | Polypropylene or ABS |
| Counter display bases | Brand color and a finished look | ABS or HIPS, painted or printed |
Clear parts
Clear parts that still look new after the first month
Shoppers touch clear covers constantly, and staff clean them with whatever spray is at hand.
- Acrylic is clearer and scratches less, but cracks if it is dropped or overtightened
- Polycarbonate survives hits but scratches more easily and can craze under some glass cleaners
- Gates and flow lines show through clear parts, so gate position is decided with the visible faces in mind
- A polished tool surface is what makes a clear part clear, and it has to be protected in the tool for the life of the program
FAQ
Questions from display and fixture teams
Can you match a brand color from the packaging?
Yes. Send a physical sample or a color standard. The resin is colored to match, and the approved color is kept for later orders.
Can logos go on the display parts?
Yes. Pad printing, silk screening, hot stamping, and painting are all available after molding, and simple logos can be molded in.
Can a whole display kit come from one tool?
Often. A family mold can make a set of related parts, such as a tray, its divider, and its clips, in one shot, which keeps kits complete.
Can you pack parts by store?
Assembly and packaging are available after molding, so parts can be kitted and packed to suit how they ship to stores.
Keep reading
Related guides
Trays, clear resins, and printing on display parts.
Trays
Product trays and inserts.
TraysAcrylic
The clearest option.
AcrylicInjection molding vs thermoforming
Which process for which part.
Injection molding vs thermoformingPad printing
Logos on curved faces.
Pad printingFamily molds
Display kits in one shot.
Family moldsConsumer products
The products on the shelf.
Consumer productsIndustries hub
Every sector page in one index.
Industries hubNext step
Start from the store date
Upload CAD with the date fixtures must be in stores, the brand colors, and the pilot and rollout quantities. DFM reviews the parts early to protect the schedule. NetProto manufacturing is ISO 9001 certified.