Should You Go for a Glass Display Showcase?

Glass display showcases are everywhere in retail stores, and hold a myriad of items: perfume, cosmetics, and jewelry are just some examples. Should you go for glass display showcases in your store, too? Consider the following disadvantages and advantages before you decide:

Disadvantages

Unless you put your glass display showcases on casters, they can be very difficult to move. Unlike many modern fixtures, which can be set up and broken down easily, glass display showcases generally need to be much more stationary.

A glass display showcase loses some of its effectiveness if you don't clean and shine it regularly. Smudges and fingerprints not only make viewing difficult, but they reduce your display's attractiveness (and therefore selling potential) in general.

While many fixtures are virtually indestructible, glass display cases are not. They are fragile. While usually shatter resistant, glass scratches and even breaks quite easily so that replacement is sometimes necessary.

Staff can certainly remove items from showcases for customers if they ask, but customers are not in control; that can make the shopping experience less enjoyable and may impede the buying process for some. Most customers want to see, touch and feel merchandise at will before they buy, and glass display showcases prevent that to at least some extent.

Advantages

When you properly display merchandise in glass showcases, you automatically make its perceived value go up in customers' eyes. Why? Because putting merchandise "under glass" makes it appear precious, something to be protected and cherished. This automatically makes your customers think that merchandise is more valuable. While you most certainly are selling good quality items regardless, glass showcases can give your merchandise – and your store – an extra touch of class.

Glass display showcases are unique in that the glass itself can help your merchandise shine. By encasing merchandise such as jewelry or even cosmetics like nail polish, lipstick, etc., in glass and then lighting it appropriately – perhaps with a dark velvet backdrop and some soft or focal lighting, for example – you'll present your merchandise most attractively so the customers will be drawn to it and will want to buy.

While no one wants to mistrust customers, shoplifting is an unfortunate reality that every retailer must worry about and protect against. Glass display showcases protect valuable merchandise like jewelry from theft so that it (and your profits) are safe.

If you've just set up an intricate thematic or seasonal display that tells a story (merchandise placed for eager children under the Christmas tree, or a beach-themed display that presents related and complementary products like bathing suits, umbrellas, sunscreen and sunglasses together to prompt customers to buy,) you can protect your display from curious hands by enclosing it in a glass showcase. This way, customers get to enjoy what you've put together and you don't have to worry about damage.

Should you, or shouldn't you?

For most retailers, it's advantageous to use glass display showcases judiciously along with other types of retail fixtures. Use them to showcase merchandise that's of higher value or that has a higher perceived value, while you use fixtures that are made of plastic, metal or wood for other items – especially items that customers should have direct access to.