MAIN TAKEAWAYS:
The 2025 trends in retail display manufacturing focused on helping brands create custom in-store shopping experiences without sacrificing flexibility or versatility. These core themes will carry into 2026, but the new year will introduce fresh trends that will shape the look and feel of retail displays.
While some trends emphasize new print and design elements, many center on fabrication processes and materials — which play a vital role in the quality and effectiveness of visual merchandising.
Here, we’ll explore the retail display trends to watch in 2026 and how Franklin Display Group’s knowledge, experience, and resources can help brands create exceptional displays.
Experiential retail displays — often called interactive or immersive displays — will take center stage in 2026 as brands seek ways to make brick-and-mortar shopping feel special and exclusive. While static displays remain functional, they lack the "wow" factor of those that encourage physical interaction or engagement. Experiential displays also provide greater opportunities to reinforce brand recognition.
Demo displays are a prime example, prioritizing hands-on product testing for customers. They're ideal for sporting goods, tools, electronics, and health and wellness products.
We created this demo display for a leading golf brand to let customers test and evaluate clubs before purchasing. We can build a custom experiential display like this to meet your exact specifications.
Making retail displays stand out tops the list for most companies in 2026. While eye-catching design elements and interactive components are effective, color offers a relatively simple way to create visually engaging displays that build brand awareness and encourage impulse purchases. The challenge lies in partnering with a retail display manufacturer that can accurately and reliably match colors to your unique branding.
Several methods can add color to retail displays, including paint and powder coating. Regardless of the finishing method, precise color matching is essential for brand consistency.
We have helped a variety of companies create vibrant color displays that match their brand identity and create word-of-mouth among customers. For example, we partnered with this multinational brewing company to create a display for its Redd’s Apple Ale — something that would be easy to spot in the store and instantly associated with the brand.
Sustainability is no longer a nice-to-have — it's a must-have for companies in nearly every industry to meet their goals and align with customer expectations. While this often refers to the products and services retailers offer, it also applies to the in-store displays used to drive interest and sales. Choosing easily recyclable, eco-friendly manufacturing materials helps brands connect with consumer sentiment while minimizing environmental impact.
This is why we encourage companies to select steel as the primary construction material for retail displays. Not only is steel one of the most recyclable materials available, it also supports a "closed-loop" production cycle.
Steel used in display fabrication can be reused rather than landfilled. Opting for recycled steel saves significant energy and raw materials compared to producing new steel from scratch.
Franklin is dedicated to producing the highest quality retail displays with minimal environmental impact. We prioritize making continuous progress on reducing our carbon footprint and improving the environments in and around our community.
2025 brought economic and supply chain uncertainty, challenging companies to do more with less — including tighter in-store marketing budgets. This uncertainty will likely persist into the first half of 2026, making modular retail displays essential for companies deploying fixtures across diverse environments, from big-box stores to distributor showrooms.
The flexible, highly customizable nature of modular displays allows tailoring to variables like product type, customer demographics, or space constraints.
Interchangeable parts make them easy to maintain or troubleshoot without specialized tools. They're ideal for retailers using many displays per location; those with fewer may prefer traditional displays. Creating modular, reconfigurable displays requires a firm understanding of the 4 Fs of display fabrication: function, form, fit, and finishing.
Manufacturing these multi-use, reconfigurable displays also requires deep experience across retail applications. With decades in the field, our in-house, end-to-end design and fabrication process reduces lead times and ensures the final product matches initial plans — this helps avoid costly alterations or fixes.
At Franklin Display Group, we have the in-house design, prototyping, and manufacturing experts to create custom retail displays that help you attract new customers and grow your business. Our state-of-the-art steel, wire, and tubing fabrication services can produce durable, reliable displays quickly to accelerate your speed to market and differentiate your brand from competitors.
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