Bringing retail products to the consumer eye is both a function of the packaging artwork, size and display position.
Supermarkets are places that can have thousands of different products on display and standing out amongst those products is a challenge. Often it is very difficult for the smaller suppliers to get prime display positions or to be given a very large area to display their product.
An often used method is to use Hang Strips which are often placed at the end of shopping isles or between supermarket shelves. Usually made of plastic, hang strips have a series of evenly spaced fingers that enable products with hanging holes to hung vertically one on top of the other for the height of the hang strip. Where products do not have packaging with a hanging hole such as small boxed items they can use sticky hooks to give them the hanging capacity and then they can hang from the strip.
Hang Tabs are also referred to as Scotchpads™ or Do Its, however, this is the same as calling a vacuum cleaner a Hoover, where the item is referred to by using the name of the manufacturer associated with the product.
In very high volume Hang Tabs, are applied using machinery at the point of product manufacture. In lower volumes they are often applied using semi-automatic or hand application at the point of manufacture. Usually the very high volume products that display by hanging try to build the hanging feature into the packaging so they do not need to apply a separate hang tabs. This can save cost and also cut out a packaging process. There are some high volume cases where incorporating a hanging feature is not practical such as products that are sealed by the packaging and the integrity of the seal can be compromised by creating a hanging feature. As an example, condoms are often boxed and then wrapped in a clear shrink film to insure they are dust free and not tampered with. To have a hanging facility on this product would require a hole in that shrink film and this would defeat the purpose of the shrink film in the first place.
In lower volume products Hang Tabs become a viable option for a hang sell feature because the set-up costs to create packaging with the hanging facility are too high.
But, it is not only the manufacturer that is thinking how best to display their products. Often it is the point of sale or retail outlet that is keen to display as many items as possible at eye level. This may involve hanging products that were not packaged specifically to hang but lend themselves to the easy application of hang tabs to enable hang sell display. Invariably the application of self-adhesive hooks or Do Its as them may be known is done by hand at the retail outlet level. One of the most convenient format of hang tabs for retail staff to carry around and apply throughout the store are the PAD FORM. These are essentially booklets of Hang Tabs stacked one on top of the other usually in stacks of 5 or 10 pieces. The brand name Scotchpad alludes to this format of hang tabs.
Another key advantage of the Pad form hang tab is its environmentally friendly footprint. Because the tabs are stacked on one another there is only one piece of “backing paper” thrown away for every 5 or 10 pieces of hang tabs used.
In summary Hang Tabs are applied at the point of product manufacture and at the point of sale for products to enhance the eye catching chances of the product and to efficiently utilise available retail display space.