Single-Source Creative Support Boosts Sales for Home Improvement Brand | Retail
7/10/2023
RRD’s GO Creative™ streamlines leading retailer’s in-store signage, increasing efficiency and innovation across 2,000+ locations
CHALLENGE
A major U.S.-based home improvement retailer faced service, quality, and delivery challenges as it struggled to manage relationships with multiple niche creative agencies. Existing processes left the retailer frustrated with the slow speed of creative services and overall lack of innovation on ways to improve their business. Additionally, the retailer was overwhelmed with their existing issue resolution process and increasing costs due to service interruptions.
Seeking to produce high-quality, low-cost signage as quickly as possible, the retailer set out to identify an end-to-end provider that could become an extension of their team for both content creation and production execution. Ideally, this partner would also provide ongoing innovation as the business grew and evolved, bringing expertise across all aspects of their retail business — in-bay, operations, strategy, and signage.
SOLUTION
An existing relationship led the retailer to entrust RRD’s GO Creative to solve these challenges. Integrating directly into their in-store environment, RRD became the retailer’s end-to-end provider, handling the design, printing, kitting, and shipping of all in-store signage initiatives. RRD brought a comprehensive understanding of the retailer’s needs and was able to address them all with core capabilities, including:
- Extensive print services
- Creative services
- Project management
- In-house production excellence
- Sourcing (as needed to augment internal offerings)
- Kitting and delivery
RRD built an on-site and near-site team of over 100 RRD personnel who began working together with the retailer’s visual merchandising department. Eight director-level executives and 60 direct contacts were supported by RRD with project-specific work. This arrangement provided one-to-one coverage for departmental needs and a large support system for seasonal and quarterly projects.
RRD now trains the retailer’s new employees on processes and procedures related to day-to-day signage needs. Three categories of signage were created:
- Off-shelf: Seasonal, disposable, and weekly promotional signage, end cap product showcase signage, and all seasonal signage for events such as Black Friday and the Fourth of July
- In-bay: Signage down each aisle focused on brands and product-specific information
- Operational and strategic initiatives: Permanent in-store signage, including wayfinding, checkout, workshop, expert desk, and buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS) signage
RESULTS
Acting as a single-source provider, RRD partnered directly with the retailer’s support teams, ensuring the delivery of best-in-class creative — all on time and within budget. RRD’s bundle of solutions decreased production time and increased efficiency, and they ultimately became the vendor-partner that the retailer was looking for. Additional benefits included:
- Increased speed to market — from creative concept to signage landing in stores
- Cost savings across multiple departments
- Over 10K documents converted to print-on-demand
Specific to this client’s COVID-19 response, all employees were up and running remotely at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic — within 48 hours. Over 575K COVID-19 response signage items went into stores within the first nine weeks of the pandemic.