How do you handle tags on metal shelving?
With on metal tags, or by moving off the metal entirely onto a plastic edge strip or a standing label holder. Retail fixtures are steel almost everywhere, so this is a budget line to plan for rather than an exception to work around.
Steel is everywhere
Gondola shelving, uprights, brackets, back panels, gridwall, rails and most display frames are steel.
An ordinary tag on any of them reads nothing at all. The failure is total rather than partial, so there is no gradual degradation to notice during installation.
Painted board fitted over a metal frame is the trap. It looks and feels like a good surface, and the frame behind it decides the outcome.
A magnet is the fastest survey tool in a shop. Where it sticks, an ordinary tag will not work.
Three options
On metal tags. Built with a ferrite layer that redirects the field so the steel stops cancelling it. Several times the price of a plain label, thicker, and reliable. For fixtures, this is usually the answer.
Move off the metal. A plastic edge strip, a ticket holder, a shelf talker or a standing card. Free if the fitting already exists, and often better placed than the shelf itself.
Stand the tag off. A label holder that keeps the tag away from the surface, provided the tag is not sandwiched against the steel.
Foam spacers are not on the list. They recover part of the loss and leave the tag marginal, which across a shop means a proportion of tags that work sometimes.
The edge strip route
Most shelving already carries a plastic price strip along the front edge, which is the right height, faces the shopper, and is not metal.
A tag behind or beside the strip is at hand level, squarely presented, and costs nothing beyond an ordinary label.
Check what is immediately behind the strip. On some fittings it clips directly onto the steel shelf edge, which puts the metal right behind the tag.
And check that stock does not sit in front of it, which is the commonest way a well placed retail tag stops being used.
Practical points in a shop
Shelves move. A deployment planned around a fixture layout needs revisiting after every reset, and the tags should be easy to relocate.
Tags get covered. Stock is stacked in front of them, promotional material is taped over them, and a covered tag is an absent tag.
Cleaning happens. Adhesives on shop fittings meet degreasers regularly, and a tag lifting at the corners is a tag about to be thrown away.
And verify after installation rather than before. A tag tested on a bench and installed on a bracket has not been tested.
Frequently asked questions
Can I put a tag directly on a steel shelf?
Only an on metal tag. An ordinary one reads nothing at all when applied to steel.
Is a plastic shelf strip safe?
Usually, and check what is immediately behind it. Some strips clip onto the steel shelf edge, which puts metal right behind the tag.
Are spacers a cheap alternative?
They recover part of the loss and leave tags marginal. Across a shop that means a proportion working sometimes, which is worse than a known cost.
How do I survey a fixture quickly?
Carry a magnet. Where it sticks, plan for an on metal tag or a different mounting.