Struggling to create fresh, eye-catching displays on a tight budget? Old fixtures are expensive and static. Temporary cardboard displays offer a smart, affordable way to boost your visual merchandising.

Temporary cardboard displays are a smart choice because they are incredibly cost-effective, lightweight, and fully customizable. They allow brands to quickly launch targeted, seasonal, or promotional campaigns with minimal investment and environmental impact, maximizing visibility and sales in any retail space.

As someone who's spent 16 years in this industry, I've seen firsthand how the right display can make or break a product launch. Many designers, like my colleague Peter, are constantly balancing creativity with practicality. You might be wondering what really makes cardboard so special for this job. Let's break down the specific advantages and see why it's become a go-to material for designers and brands alike. If you want to understand how this simple material can transform your retail strategy, keep reading.

What are the advantages of using cardboard as a modelling material?

Need a material that brings complex designs to life without breaking the bank? Restrictive options can stifle creativity. Cardboard offers incredible design freedom, making it perfect for detailed modelling.

Cardboard's main advantages as a modelling material are its versatility, light weight, and structural integrity¹ when engineered correctly. It can be easily cut, folded, and printed, allowing for intricate and creative shapes. This makes it ideal for producing quick, cost-effective² prototypes³ and final display stands.

In my experience, designers need materials that can keep up with their imagination. Cardboard is a fantastic partner in the creative process. It allows for a seamless transition from a digital CAD file to a physical object you can touch and test.

Unlocking Creative Freedom

Cardboard can be precision-cut, creased, folded, and layered to create nearly any structure imaginable. Whether it's a simple counter display or a life-sized, multi-tiered floor stand, the design possibilities are vast. This flexibility is crucial when a client wants something truly unique that captures their brand's personality.

Prototyping Made Simple

Before a full production run, we always create prototypes³. For a designer, this stage is critical. Cardboard is inexpensive, which means we can build and refine multiple versions of a display without a huge financial commitment. This lets us test for structural soundness, product fit, and visual appeal, ensuring the final design is perfect.

Balancing Strength and Weight

Different types of corrugated cardboard (like E-flute for high-quality printing or BC-flute for heavy-duty strength) offer a range of structural properties. We can engineer a display to be surprisingly strong and durable while remaining lightweight⁴ and easy to handle.

What are cardboard displays called?

Ever feel lost in industry jargon for cardboard displays? Using the wrong term creates confusion. Knowing the right names helps you communicate clearly with suppliers and get exactly what you need.

Cardboard displays are known by many names depending on their function and placement. Common terms include Point of Purchase (POP) displays⁵, Point of Sale (POS) displays⁶, temporary displays, floor stands, countertop displays (or CDU for Counter Display Unit), and FSDUs (Free Standing Display Units).

Communicating clearly is key to getting a project right. Over my 16 years, I’ve found that when clients and designers speak the same language, everything runs more smoothly. Talking about displays can get confusing because the terms are often used interchangeably, but they do have specific meanings.

Understanding Point of Purchase (POP) vs. Point of Sale (POS)

Though they sound similar, their location is the main difference. A POP display can be anywhere in a store—on an aisle endcap, in the main walkway—to grab your attention. A POS display is located right at the checkout counter, for those last-minute impulse buys.

Common Display Types by Location

The industry uses acronyms and descriptive names to classify displays. Knowing them helps you specify exactly what you need for your product and retail environment.

What are the advantages of using cardboard?

Looking for a display solution that's both cost-effective² and eco-friendly? Many materials are expensive and bad for the environment. Cardboard offers a winning combination of affordability, sustainability⁷, and practicality.

The key advantages of using cardboard are its low cost, sustainability, and light weight. It is highly recyclable and often made from recycled materials. Its light weight reduces shipping costs and makes installation easy, providing a high return on investment for temporary marketing campaigns⁸.

Every client I work with is looking for value. They want a solution that looks great, performs well, and makes financial sense. Cardboard consistently delivers on all these fronts, making it a reliable choice for businesses of any size.

Cost-Effectiveness at Every Stage

The upfront cost of cardboard is significantly lower than materials like plastic, metal, or wood. But the savings don't stop there. Because cardboard displays are lightweight⁴ and can be shipped flat-packed, they drastically reduce transportation costs. I once helped a client save nearly 40% on their logistics budget just by switching from pre-assembled plastic units to flat-packed cardboard FSDUs.

A Commitment to Sustainability

Today, brands and consumers care about the environment. Cardboard is a champion of sustainability. It’s typically made from a high percentage of recycled paper and is 100% recyclable⁹ itself. At the end of a campaign, the display can go straight into the recycling stream, minimizing its environmental footprint. This is a powerful story to tell your customers.

Lightweight and Easy to Handle

The practicality of cardboard cannot be overstated. Store staff can easily carry, assemble, and position these displays without needing special tools or extra help. This ease of setup means your promotion can go live in minutes, not hours.

Why should we use cardboard instead of plastic?

Choosing between cardboard and plastic for your displays? Plastic seems durable but has hidden environmental costs. Cardboard offers better sustainability⁷ and design flexibility¹⁰, making it a smarter modern choice.

Cardboard should be used instead of plastic for temporary displays primarily for environmental reasons. It is renewable, recyclable⁹, and biodegradable, unlike most plastics. Cardboard also offers better print quality for branding¹¹ and is far more cost-effective² for short-term promotional campaigns, providing greater flexibility.

This is a question I get all the time. While plastic has its place for permanent fixtures, it’s often the wrong choice for temporary campaigns that last a few weeks or months. It’s about using the right tool for the job.

The Environmental Equation

This is the biggest differentiator. Cardboard is a paper-based product from a renewable resource—trees from managed forests—and is easily recycled. Most plastics used in displays are derived from fossil fuels and are much harder to recycle, often ending up in landfills for centuries. Choosing cardboard aligns your brand with responsible, eco-conscious values.

Customization and Branding Impact

Cardboard is a printer's dream. It provides a fantastic surface for high-resolution, full-color graphics that make a brand's message pop. You can achieve vibrant, photorealistic images directly on the display. Plastic often requires applied vinyl or other methods that can be more expensive and less seamless. For a designer like Peter, the superior printability of cardboard is a major creative advantage.

Comparison Table: Cardboard vs. Plastic

Conclusion

In short, temporary cardboard displays¹² offer an unmatched blend of affordability, customization¹³, and sustainability⁷. They are a powerful, strategic tool for any brand looking to enhance its visual merchandising¹⁴ effectively.