Custom Retail Display Boxes
Custom retail display boxes — shelf-ready cases that open into a tray, floor-standing units, pallet displays — built for the store and sized to your product, from 100. Dieline and price the same working day.
Packaging the store staff will put on the shelf without complaint
- Board
- B flute for cases and trays; BC for floor and pallet units
- Builds
- Shelf-ready case, tray and shrink, floor-standing unit, pallet display
- Sizing
- To the retailer's shelf depth and case pack
Get a price for Retail Display Boxes
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
Shelf-ready packaging: the five rules
Most retailers publish a version of these. We design to them, and the dieline shows the tear line and the shelf orientation.
- Easy to identify — the product and the count readable on the case in the back room.
- Easy to open — a perforation or a tear tape, no knife needed.
- Easy to shelve — the tray slides onto the shelf in one motion and fits the depth.
- Easy to shop — the product faces forward and is visible when the tray is half empty.
- Easy to dispose — the outer folds flat and recycles as corrugated.
From shelf-ready case to pallet display
| Shelf-ready case (SRP) | A shipper with a perforated hood; hood removed, tray shelved |
|---|---|
| Tray and shrink | A printed tray with the product shrink-wrapped on it; hood-free |
| Floor-standing display (FSDU) | A free-standing unit of trays on a printed base; promotions |
| Quarter and half pallet display | Pre-loaded on a pallet; wheeled onto the floor |
Board and the shelf depth
B flute for shelf-ready cases, with a white liner where the tray is printed; BC for floor units and pallet displays that hold real weight. The tray is sized to the retailer's shelf depth and the product count per facing, and the hood is sized to the case pack. Our product display boxes for counters are the small-shop version of the same idea.
Print on the tray, information on the hood
The hood carries the logistics: product, count, barcode, orientation arrows. The tray carries the shelf presence: the brand, a color, a front lip with the name. One or two colors on kraft for the hood; full color on a white liner for the tray where the retailer allows it.
Retailers specify the shelf-ready format in their supplier guidelines. Send them with the brief; the dieline is drawn to them.
Floor units and the promotion calendar
A floor-standing display is a promotion: a run of 100 to 500 units for a launch or a season, shipped flat or pre-loaded. It is designed with the product weight, the store aisle and the assembly time in mind — a unit that takes a store colleague ten minutes to build does not get built.
Retail Display Boxes — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Board
- B flute for cases and trays; BC for floor and pallet units
- Builds
- Shelf-ready case, tray and shrink, floor-standing unit, pallet display
- Sizing
- To the retailer's shelf depth and case pack
- Opening
- Perforated hood or tear tape; no knife
- 1–2 colors on hood; full color on tray with white liner
- Assembly
- Designed for under two minutes; pre-loaded option
- Minimum
- 100 units
On every job
- Print process
- Flexo in one to four colors straight onto the liner; litho-lamination where the box needs full color or a photograph.
- Color
- Flat colors on kraft. Full color needs a white top liner or a laminated sheet, because brown shifts every color warm.
- Tolerance
- Cutting plus or minus 1.5 mm. The flute compresses, so corrugated runs wider than folding board.
- Tooling
- No die on a regular slotted box, which is cut on a slotter. Die-cut mailers and trays need one, made once and kept.
- Food contact
- Food-grade liners and a vented build where the box carries hot food.
- Sustainability
- High recycled content through liners and flute as standard, and the box recycles whole if it is sealed with paper tape.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build retail display boxes on
Corrugated is a fluted sheet glued between two liners, and the flute decides nearly everything: how it prints, how it dents, how high it stacks. These are the grades we run.
E flute
About 1.5 mm. Prints well and folds crisply; dents under a stack. Retail boxes, mailers and light shippers.
1.5 mm, single wallB flute
About 3 mm. The working default for parcels — takes print reasonably and stacks reasonably. Most shipping boxes are B.
3 mm, single wallC flute
About 4 mm. More cushioning than B, slightly less stacking strength per weight. Common on grocery and produce cases.
4 mm, single wallBC double wall
B and C glued together, about 7 mm. Heavy or fragile goods, pallet stacking, anything over roughly 15 kg.
7 mm, double wallKraft liner
Brown, strong, absorbent. One or two flat colors flexo print well on it; photographs drink into the brown and go muddy.
Outer and inner linerWhite top liner
A bleached outer liner for full-color print on corrugated. Costs more and marks more easily than kraft.
Outer liner onlyRecycled-content corrugated
High post-consumer fiber through liners and flute. The default for shippers; a slightly greyer brown and no loss of strength at grade.
All flutesCoated and water-resistant
A coating or a wax-free barrier liner for damp stores and cold chains. Check the recycling stream before printing a claim on it.
B and C fluteNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Corrugated takes fewer finishes than folding board, and the ones it takes it takes well.
Flexo on kraft
One or two flat colors straight onto brown. Cheap, fast, honest.
Litho-lamination
An offset sheet glued to the flute: full color and photographs on a shipper.
Aqueous varnish
Scuff resistance with no film, so the box still recycles whole.
White top print
Full color flexo on a bleached liner; brighter, and it marks more easily.
Inside print
A second pass on the inner liner — the panel a customer sees first.
Printed tape seal
The brand applied at the last moment, on paper tape that recycles with the box.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing a corrugated box against the carrier, not the catalog: retail display boxes
Corrugated is cut to your internal size, so the box goes round the product rather than the product going into a stock size. That is where the money is: a box 20 mm smaller each way is often a whole postage band cheaper.
- Internal dimensions
- Length, width and depth of the space you need. Board thickness is added outside that, and the flute is thicker than people expect.
- Clearance and void fill
- 5–10 mm a side for a rigid product. Size it properly and you need no void fill at all, which is cheaper and better received.
- Stacking
- Tell us how high the boxes stack on a pallet or a shelf. Edge crush grade is specified from that, not guessed.
- Weight
- The contents weight sets the flute and the liner grade. Over about 15 kg we move to double wall.
- Score allowance
- Corrugated needs more room at the folds than boxboard. The dieline accounts for it; a box drawn from flat dimensions comes out tight.
- Cutting tolerance
- Plus or minus 1.5 mm on corrugated, wider than folding board because the flute compresses.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Build your Retail Display Boxes in 3D
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a board and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about retail display boxes? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
What is shelf-ready packaging?
A shipping case that opens into a display tray with one cut or tear, so store staff shelve it in a single motion. Most large retailers require it.
Do you design to retailer guidelines?
Yes. Send the supplier guidelines with the brief and the dieline is drawn to them.
What board is used?
B flute for shelf-ready cases and trays, BC double wall for floor and pallet units.
Can the tray be printed in full color?
Yes, on a white liner, where the retailer allows printed trays on the shelf.
How does the hood come off?
A perforation or a tear tape, designed so no knife is needed.
What is the minimum order?
100 units.
Do you make floor-standing displays?
Yes, for promotions and launches, shipped flat or pre-loaded, designed to build in under two minutes.
Can a display be delivered pre-loaded?
Yes, on a quarter or half pallet, wheeled onto the floor.
How is the tray sized?
To the retailer's shelf depth and the number of units per facing.
Where does the barcode go?
On the hood, on a matte patch, with the count and orientation arrows.
Do you keep the dies?
Yes, per format, so reorders skip the tooling.
Do you ship outside the US?
Yes, to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, quoted in the delivery currency.
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