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The true art of the seasonal display is to trick out products that don’t seem like obvious impulse buys\u2014like vacuum cleaners or tissue boxes\u2014in a way that makes shoppers grab first and think later. People are usually willing to spend more during special seasons, retailers and manufacturers say, especially if they are spending on their children.<\/p>\n

Products that may seem neither impulsive nor seasonal are finding ways to be both in order to be part of the prominent displays in stores.<\/p>\n

This summer Kleenex introduced boxes that look like ice cream cones. Shoppers could find the ice cream Kleenex in the actual ice cream aisle of Meijer Inc. stores, says a spokesman for Meijer, a Midwestern retail chain selling groceries and other goods.<\/p>\n

The Kimberly-Clark Corp. brand was following its cake slice-shaped boxes made for winter holidays and playing off success of triangle-shaped watermelon, lemon and orange Kleenex boxes last year. Those boxes found their way into summer displays and elsewhere beyond the paper products aisle in stores, says Christine Mau, director of design for the company. Kleenex sales typically drop in the summer when people have fewer colds.<\/p>\n

The company asked its design team, \u00ab\u00a0what can you do design-wise to get us to the front of the store in the summer?\u00a0\u00bb says Ms. Mau. After researching \u00ab\u00a0what summer means to people,\u00a0\u00bb the company realized watermelon resonated with people who think of summer as picnics, family gatherings, and fruity drinks, Ms. Mau says.<\/p>\n

Putting together a seasonal display is a high-stakes effort. If a customer can’t find something, \u00ab\u00a0she is probably going to walk,\u00a0\u00bb says Stacia Andersen, Target senior vice president of merchandising, following the consumer goods industry’s habit of referring to all consumers as ‘she’ because women make the majority of purchases.<\/p>\n

And making sure that one big-box store doesn’t look like the next big box is key. Target plans seasonal displays with product manufactures about a year in advance.<\/p>\n

A product’s color can make a difference. Target told TTI Floor Care North America, Inc. that if it wanted to get its typically red Dirt Devil vacuum cleaners into the retailer’s prime \u00ab\u00a0Back to College\u00a0\u00bb seasonal displays, it need to make hot pink, teal and black versions. Meanwhile, Jarden Corp., which makes small household appliances among other items, created hot pink and teal Sunbeam irons and toasters for the displays.<\/p>\n

Internal research at Target showed that college kids want to personalize their dorm rooms with bright colors. Fitting into the marketing scheme is worth it, says Stephanie Begley, associate marketing manager for Dirt Devil. Target’s college displays \u00ab\u00a0hit our market\u00a0\u00bb of first-time home owners and young adults on their own for the first time, she says.<\/p>\n

To slice the calendar into as many seasons as possible, retailers create sub-seasons. At Sam’s Club, the calendar reaches about 20 seasons with some overlapping.<\/p>\n

At Wal-Mart, the Christmas shopping season starts the day after Thanksgiving with children’s gifts and holiday home d\u00e9cor getting prime space. By December, stocking stuffers will get more prominent placement, along with holiday entertaining food and last-minute gift ideas, says Tara Raddohl, a company spokeswoman.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0We aim to be where our customer mindset is,\u00a0\u00bb so they don’t head to the competition, she says.<\/p>\n

In a suburb of Minneapolis, Supervalu runs a \u00ab\u00a0lab store,\u00a0\u00bb a model store not open to the public where the third-largest traditional grocery store company in the U.S. can test how new products look on its shelves and experiment with seasonal displays. Last month, Supervalu employees worked to create the perfect fall endcap, the shelves that anchor the end of the typical grocery store aisle. The goal\u2014easy meals for parents pressed for time at the start of the school year.<\/p>\n