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‹ INSIGHTS  |  RETAIL BETTER BLOG

4 Ideas to Reduce the Pain of Rebranding New Acquisitions

SEPTEMBER 5, 2023 BY MARGARET SOTROP –A challenge with acquisitions is branding. The economies of scale for operating one brand make sense to nearly all convenience store chains, and the return on investment pays off with repeat customers and loyalty programs. However, a rebrand can be expensive. Here are some ways to reduce those costs.

  1. Create brand standards to define your “do and don’ts” for store décor that can be rolled out across the acquisitions. Define those parameters based on what you’ve already implemented in your existing stores.
  2. Tailor your investment. Although the brand standards should not change with each store, it’s safe to assume that each store is unique. The décor package required may diverge from store to store. Build a series of décor packages based on varying levels of investment and deploy them appropriately.
  3. Find efficiency in your designs. Your remodel plan should include what we call a “Visual Tool Kit” that identifies key décor components as defined by your brand standards. This includes colors, tiles, surface textures, and more.
  4. There are décor and design elements in your rebranding process that can be built in advance. This accomplishes two tasks. The first is that when it’s installation time, there’s no waiting. The second is economies of scale. The cost per unit of building 10 décor elements is significantly more than building 30 of the exact same item.

Follow those four steps, and I promise your efforts in rebranding your acquisitions will be significantly less painful.

Our Brand Story

GSP started as a printing company in1978. We found our niche supplying in-store signage for convenience stores when retailers guessed quantities they needed. This led to overage, waste and expense. To solve this, we developed software to guarantee on-time delivery of “the right size sign, to the right store, every time.”

In 2014, we started AccuStore with a dedicated team. As software helped drive our growth, we realized that new printing and fulfillment sites near customers could drive business and improve sustainability. We acquired companies that fit GSP’s technical excellence and superior customer service models.

First was Great Big Pictures in Madison, WI in 2015. They lead the field in large format printing and visual merchandising for iconic fashion retailers. Their standards for customer service include award-winning sustainability programs, and expertise to bolster retail environments services.

In 2020, GSP acquired Custom Color in Lenexa, KS. The company supplies printed graphics to leading retailers. Custom Color’s stellar quality in fabric printing also aligns with GSP’s values.

GSP provides branding and marketing services with a focus on site-specific execution to help transform our customers’ growth strategies into store-level success. We design retail environments to engage shoppers and provide superior customer experiences. AccuStore powers our retail marketing, execution and digital display technologies and ensures stores get only what they need. GSP is a forward-thinking company that’s here to serve retailers now, with a focus on their future.

GSP delivers graphics and digital marketing to over 75,000 retail locations. Our experts provide retail branding and marketing services, focused on site-specific execution. Our methods ensure stores get only the POP they need, at the lowest cost. Our Retail Environments team creates and deploys amazing, in-store shopping experiences.