You have a vision for how your products will be merchandised and displayed in stores. And it’s magnificent one.

Your SKUs are lined up neatly, shelves are fully stocked, and the packaging is gleaming with crisp edges as if it just came off the production line. You imagine yourself turning down the aisle and being blinded but the beautiful merchandise display. You marvel over how your brand will jump off shelf and are pretty sure the assortment will catch the attention of any shopper walking by.

And then reality hits. And it’s far from what you imagined.

The truth of brick and mortar retail is that your product will have made a long journey before it reaches shelf. And that journey will have jostled product in its master carton, collected dents from drops and bumps, and misshapen the contents from the crushing weight of other cartons.

FIVE LESSONS FROM STORE EXECUTION NIGHTMARES 

Lesson #1: You have some (not full) control over how your product and packaging will arrive and look at shelf.

Make sure you think through this journey before finalizing packaging colors (white gets dirty) and durability (corners crush easily, plastic and dolomite shatter easily, tin dents). Do drop testing. Wrap individual items with plastic or bubble wrap. Use inner cartons.