44 • November / December 2026• abasto.com The Next Step: Multi-Product Displays But there’s another development that I personally find even more interes- ting. Why does a display necessarily have to contain only one product? Why do we keep designing promo- tions based exclusively on the manu- facturer’s logic rather than the con- sumer’s? Suppose a manufacturer has four different products. Traditionally, the retailer might have to purchase a full case of each SKU to create a display. That means a larger investment, more inventory, more storage space, and—especially in a small store— greater risk. The alternative could be a single display or a single logistics unit con- taining different products in prede- termined quantities. Instead of buying full cases of A, B, C, and D, we receive a multi-product solution A+B+C+D, ready to be pla- ced directly in the store. This way, we won’t design logistics around how the manufacturer produces, but around how the consumer buys and how the retailer sells. Christmas is the Best Example Let’s consider the end-of-year holi- days specifically. At Christmas, our customers don’t buy isolated product categories—they buy experiences. They prepare a dinner, host family, bake desserts, organize a party, and shop for gifts. So why can’t we also build our lo- gistics solutions around those expe- riences? A Holiday Baking display could bring together the different products needed to prepare desserts. Another display for Holiday Entertaining could combine products related to family gatherings and celebrations. And within our multicultural market, we can go much further. We can develop concepts related to a Latino Christmas, bringing toge- ther products with strong consumer appeal—even from different catego- ries or cultures. The opportunity is enormous be- cause our communities already shop this way. I explained this recently when discussing the new shopping cart: consumers long ago stopped respecting many of the boundaries that we continue to create inside stores. In a single shopping cart, we find American, Mexican, Central Ame- rican, Caribbean, and European products, plus private-label brands, premium products, and value-priced items. If consumers are already mi- xing categories and cultures, our merchandising solutions should do the same. Democratizing Good Merchandising For years, we’ve talked a lot about helping independent retailers com- pete. But competing doesn’t mean demanding that they replicate, with fewer resources, the same processes as a chain with hundreds or thou- sands of stores. It means developing tools tailored to their reality. An independent supermarket has to control labor costs, keep shelves stocked, receive merchandise, serve customers, manage promotions, and resolve dozens of operational issues every day. That’s why every process we can simplify has value. When a display is set up correctly from the start, it can reduce handling, speed restocking, ensure consistent presentation, and get a promotion to the sales floor much faster. Here, ma- nufacturers and distributors must take on greater responsibility. Time Is Also Inventory Another factor takes on enormous importance during seasons like Christmas: speed. A seasonal pro- duct has a limited sales window. If it arrives at the store’s warehou- se but sits for several days waiting to be assembled, organized, or moved to the sales floor, we’ve lost part of its shelf life. That’s why we should start paying much closer attention to something as simple as the time that elapses from when we receive the product until it’s actually avai- lable to our customers. When Logistics Drives Sales, Too For a long time, we’ve opti- mized manufacturing; then we optimized transportation; later, we began transforming our distribution centers using technology, automation, and better inventory management systems. Perhaps now is the time to also optimize that “last meter”—the distance between the merchandise the store receives and the product our customer ultimately finds. Especially for our indepen- dent supermarkets, making that final leg easier can make a huge difference. It will save time handling boxes, redu- ce inventory risk, improve displays, speed up fulfillment, and free up more time to focus on something no box or sys- tem can replace: serving our customers. This Christmas, perhaps one of the best gifts that manu- facturers and distributors can give independent retailers isn’t introducing yet another new product. The real gift is making it easier to sell the pro- ducts we already have. • Continuation of page 42 • ADVICE