Outsourcing display building? Your Dutch retail display partner

What is a retail display?

A retail display (also referred to as a POS display, point-of-sale display or cardboard display) is a presentation tool placed in store to make products visible and appealing. Displays are used for promotions, seasonal campaigns or permanent placement on the retail floor, the shelf or near the checkout. For brand managers and trade marketers they are a central part of any second placement strategy. There are several common types:

• Dolly display: a cardboard display sitting on a dolly or roll cage that goes straight into the store. Ready for the floor, with no extra handling required in store.
• SRP (Shelf Ready Packaging) or shelf display: a smaller display placed directly on the store shelf. The retailer takes it out of its outer pack and puts it on the shelf, and the products are immediately presentable to the consumer.
• Floor display or pallet display (FSDU): a larger floor display, often two to a pallet, used for pallet presentations in store. Also known as a Free-Standing Display Unit (FSDU).
• Counter display: a smaller display placed on or next to the counter, often used for impulse buys near the checkout.
• Promotional display: a temporary display tied to a promotion week, product launch or seasonal campaign.

Which display type fits your product?

Not every type fits every product or campaign. The choice depends on volume, your retailer's shelf format and the kind of activation. As a quick guide:

We build all the types above and can help you choose based on your retailer, product dimensions and campaign goal. What they all share: they must be assembled, filled and inspected accurately before they leave the door. That requires a structured process, sufficient capacity and attention to detail.

When does outsourcing display building make sense?

Outsourcing display building often makes sense quickly. Thanks to our experience and the volumes we build daily, our cost per display is in most cases lower than running it in-house. And if you have not set up a workshop, workbenches or warehouse space for this kind of work yourself, you do not need to invest in or staff one. Below are the situations where outsourcing display building most often plays a role for brands:

• You have no workshop, workbenches or warehouse space set up for display building
• You run multiple campaigns per year and do not have the fixed capacity to absorb this internally
• Your displays need to be delivered in phases to multiple stores or distribution centres
• The build calls for specific instructions from your retail customer (Albert Heijn, Jumbo, Lidl) that need to be followed precisely
• You want to combine displays with labelling, repacking or storage at the same partner
• Peaks in your production planning collide with the capacity needed for display building

What does outsourcing display building cost?

"What does it cost" is a logical first question, but there is no fixed price per display. The cost of outsourcing depends on a number of concrete factors that vary from campaign to campaign. The most important:

• Volume per campaign. Larger runs (1,000+ displays) deliver the biggest economies of scale, because workbench setup, quality control and logistics stay in place across multiple days.
• Cardboard complexity. A simple click-together display takes less build time than a model that requires a glue gun and staple gun, or that has multiple inserts and topper cards.
• Number of operations per display. Filling alone is faster than filling plus bundling, plus a promotional label, plus a foreign-language sticker. The more operations, the more minutes per unit.
• Storage duration. The longer completed displays stay with us before delivery, the more warehouse space they occupy.
• Delivery structure. One delivery to one distribution centre is cheaper than order-picked delivery to multiple DCs in separate shipments.
• Lead time. Standard planning is more efficient than rush work where we have to work overtime to still hit a retail deadline.
• Transport. Whether or not we organise it, and the distance to your customers.

For an honest price indication we need at minimum the display type, the volume, the retailer and the number of operations per display. Request a quote and we'll work it out concretely, with no surprises later.

What does a specialised display builder do?

A specialised display builder delivers a controlled process where every display meets your specifications and those of your retail customer. We have experience with every step, from unloading the first pallet to phased delivery to your retailer. These are the steps:

Receipt and storage. Products and display cardboard arrive at our facility on pallets, and regularly in full sea containers. We unload, inspect and store everything until the moment of building. Deviations are flagged before production starts, not after.

Building to specifications. Every retailer has its own requirements: display height, product placement, packaging instructions. We build the display in full, using a glue gun or staple gun where needed, and execute every instruction without errors, even on large runs.

Filling and inspection. Only once the display is fully built do we fill it with products. Each display is checked individually for quantities, placement and finish. At Service Pack BV, no display leaves the floor without inspection.

Phased delivery. Displays are rarely all delivered at the same time. We store the completed displays and ship them out at the moment the store or distribution centre needs them, in batches and on the right schedule.

Lead times and planning

How much time should you allow between briefing a campaign and the moment the displays arrive at your retailer? It depends on volume and complexity. A few rules of thumb that hold for most campaigns:

• 500 to 1,000 displays standard: count on 2 to 4 weeks between material receipt and delivery, depending on complexity and operations per display.
• Large campaigns (2,000+ displays): the build itself often runs in similar time thanks to scaled staffing, but materials and planning need more lead time at the front end.
• Rush work and last-minute: we usually pick up last-minute requests by scaling up or working overtime. A few hundred displays within 5 to 10 working days is realistic, even in peak season.

What speeds up the lead time:

• Delivering display cardboard early, before product receipt
• Sharing retailer specs (Albert Heijn, Jumbo, Kruidvat, Lidl) completely and on time
• A frozen design, not iterations during the build
• One point of contact on your side for planning decisions

The reason we can also handle rush work is the combination of permanent staff and our in-house social workshop: we have the capacity to scale up without depending on temp agencies. For a concrete timeline for your campaign, just get in touch.

Why brands choose Service Pack for their display building

From a distance, display building looks simple: assemble cardboard, add products, done. In practice, it is series work that only goes consistently well when routine, capacity and planning fit seamlessly together. Here is what sets us apart.

A display that holds up

A retail display never arrives ready-made. The display cardboard is delivered flat, in sheets or pre-folded sections, and needs to be assembled according to the display supplier's build instructions. Some models click together; others require a glue gun or staple gun to make the structure sturdy. A filled dolly display has to carry tens of kilos of product weight without sagging or deforming, so the base must be built without deviations. For models with inserts, topper cards or trays, we fit these during the build, so the display is fully ready to be filled without anyone having to push parts between products afterwards.

The routine of thousands of displays per year

We build more than 10,000 retail displays per year for a wide range of retailers, from Albert Heijn and Jumbo to Kruidvat and DM. That scale means retailer specifications are baked into our process: height, product placement, packaging instructions, all of it sits in the workflow. Our people work in series at workbenches, so each display goes through the same steps, in the same order, with the same checks. Smaller volumes are of course also possible. The approach stays the same.

Capacity that scales for your deadline

Volumes vary widely with us, from a few hundred to thousands of displays per campaign. If a planning calls for it, we scale up our staffing, including during peak periods like Christmas, Easter or seasonal launches. We can scale up thanks to the combination of permanent staff and our in-house social workshop. A retail deadline is rarely up for discussion as a result: if we agree on a date, we hit it.

CSR and supply chain transparency

For a growing number of brands, it matters that their supply chain is not just efficient, but also socially and ethically defensible. At Service Pack BV, CSR is central. Our in-house social workshop provides structural employment to people with a distance to the labour market, without compromising on quality or lead time. For companies that take socially responsible commerce seriously, or that need to demonstrate to their stakeholders that their supply chain is in order, this is a natural fit. We are ISO 9001, Skal and Sedex certified, so every link in the process is verifiable.

Quality control and traceability at every step

Everything is checked here. Every incoming product first goes through a goods-in inspection where we look for defects or deviations, before it goes into storage. Our warehouse runs on a system that tracks per batch where products and displays are located, so traceability is always immediately available. If a recall comes from your side or your supplier's, we know exactly which displays contain which batch and we can pull them from storage or recall them from distribution centres in a targeted way. The entire supply chain is documented, in line with the requirements of our ISO 9001, Skal and Sedex certifications, and we often go beyond that because we are a professional company.

Sustainability and FSC cardboard

For brand managers of A-brands, sustainability in the retail supply chain has shifted from "nice to have" to "knock-out criterion" in just a few years. Albert Heijn and other major retailers have, since 2023, set explicit FSC- or PEFC-certified cardboard requirements on multiple product categories. In display building this touches two links: the cardboard supplier and the display builder.

FSC cardboard in the build process

The display cardboard itself is usually delivered by your cardboard supplier or display designer. When you choose FSC- or PEFC-certified material, we process it in our build without compromising on quality or lead time. We administer the batches in our system so the chain of custody is retrievable on request and your reporting to retailers or stakeholders stays watertight.

Social sustainability in-house

Beyond material sustainability there is social sustainability. Our in-house social workshop provides structural employment to people with a distance to the labour market. That gives you, in one partner, both the environmental angle (FSC cardboard, controlled supply chain) and the social angle (meaningful work, no hidden subcontracting). For stakeholders who want the entire supply chain accounted for, this fits naturally with your own CSR policy.

Local production, less transport

By concentrating the build on one location in Etten-Leur, 30 minutes from Rotterdam and Antwerp, and delivering in phases, the number of transport movements stays limited. No extra handover between partners, no intermediate transport for labelling or bundling. Read more about our CSR approach and certifications, or request a tour to see it for yourself.

Combining displays with other services

Display building rarely stands alone. Most campaigns also call for additional handling: fitting products with a promotional label, bundling them with another item, or storing and delivering them straight after the build. When those services are with the same partner, you save time, costs and logistical complexity.

At Service Pack BV, display building for retail displays, labelling for EAN, FNSKU and promotional labels, assembly and kitting and warehousing with phased delivery are all in-house. Everything at one location, without intermediate steps. So we do not just build your displays. We handle the entire process from materials to retail-ready delivery.

What to look for when choosing a partner

Choosing a display building partner is more than a price question. These are the criteria that genuinely matter:

• Reliability and keeping commitments: Does the partner stick to deadlines and agreed terms? In practice, this is by far the most important factor and the most common reason brands switch co-packers.
• Experience with your retail customer: Does the partner know the delivery specifications of Albert Heijn, Jumbo or Lidl? Errors in display building lead to returns and fines.
• Capacity for your volumes: Can the partner absorb your campaign peaks without quality loss?
• Combined services: Can the partner also label, bundle or store? Or do you need a second party for that?
• Storage and phased delivery: Does the partner have enough warehouse space to store completed displays and deliver them in phases?
• Quality assurance: Is each display checked before it leaves the door? Is there an ISO certification?
• Accessibility: How close is the partner to your production facility or to the distribution centres of your retail customers?

Why reliability comes first. We see it regularly in the market: brands switch to a new co-packer because the previous one did not keep its commitments. A missed deadline, a delivery that did not arrive at the distribution centre on time, half a campaign that gets pushed to the following week. With a retail deadline (a promotion week, a seasonal launch or an appointment with the buyer), that is not a small delay but a missed opportunity, and often direct damage too.

At Service Pack BV, we do not make commitments we cannot back up. Our rule is simple: do what was agreed, at the moment that was agreed. In practice, that means we scale up when planning calls for it, including during peak periods, so campaigns are ready on time. We are a commercial company with an in-house social workshop. That combination delivers attractive rates, but our focus stays commercial: meeting deadlines, delivering quality and keeping our commitments. Our planning is built on that, not on the hope that things will just work out.

Frequently asked questions about display building

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Service Pack BV builds more than 10,000 retail displays per year from 45,000 m² in Etten-Leur, 30 minutes from Rotterdam and Antwerp. We work for brands in food and beverage as well as non-food, and handle the complete process: from receipt to phased delivery to stores and distribution centres. ISO 9001 certified.