Point of Sale Displays comprise a major product group for including within the 'Graphic products'  study area.  They are usually made from card (generally cheaper) or from moulded plastic. The main principle being that they are disposable, have a deliberately limited life and are easy to manufacture and assemble.  They may also be used as cheap display shelving for fairly light (weight)  products. Supermarkets have begun to pack tinned or packed products on display trays that stack before delivery, and are then shrink wrapped in thin plastic sheet - for protection during transit.

This innovation means products are handled less - In fact they are only handled once after leaving the factory and being
delivered to the store in that they are wheeled out in stacks and unwrapped.  As 'trays' of products are sold the 'shelving' gets lower.  Less handling means lower costs and lower costs means more profit.. Printing on the packs can enhance the product too..

Whilst large-scale ready assembled and filled point-of-sale displays are a comparatively new  innovation they still conform to the criteria for their original creation…. they enhance the product and can easily be altered and redesigned as the product itself is repackaged or as the product change.  More conventional POS displays may arrive at the retailer -
or display point as a flat pack. This is clearly so that transport is easier and cheaper and damage is less likely to occur. 
Of course making a product as a flat - retailer assembled product means that assembly costs don't fall onto the
manufacturer

Remember that the POS display is designed to support the sale of products and so may be a 'stand' - as in this plant display seen on the right. The plants 'sell' themselves….

Notice that the card from which many of these products are made is corrugated and therefore light, fairly rigid and gains much of its strength from its three-part structure
and also from the other component parts of the POS display itself.  In the magazine displays shown above, the pack has only to contain the magazines - it has little weight to support. Whilst in the curved shelving unit the shelves transmit the weight of the items on the shelves into the strongest parts of the structure - the side panels.

Shelving units do not need to be simple to look at - the more they can attract the customer the better will be the sales.  Large scale POS displays that feature people are
attractive and grab attention. 
Walking into a store and being greeted by a full size - card-person can have considerable impact.