This invention relates to a tag display device for identifying items positioned on hook means so that information, including item description, inventory codes and selling prices, may be located at the front of the hook holding the merchandise for sale, and without substantial reduction in space on a display base.
A variety of methods are used to display products stocked in retail outlets such as department stores, hardware stores, grocery stores or drug stores. These methods include placing items on shelves, in refrigerated cases, or suspending them from hooks. Displaying merchandise by hooks, such as on a peg board, is a much used technique. Some of the advantages of this method of display are that it provides: (a) an effective utilization of space, since a larger variety of products may be displayed on a peg board as compared to shelving; (b) an easier system for stocking and removing merchandise; and (c) a convenient way of displaying odd-shaped articles. Displaying merchandise by hooks also reduces the amount of stock required to make an attractive display and requires less capital outlay for fixtures used to attract customers.
Providing easily readable tags for items displayed on shelves is important in giving the consumer price information, e.g., item price and price per unit, as well as allowing store personnel to keep accurate inventory records. A number of different tag designs have been developed to provide pricing information to the consumer and aid in stock control for store personnel. Many of these tag designs or labels require a channel structure to serve as the base support, as may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,140,224; 3,977,109; 3,706,150; and 2,850,820. Channel base structures have also been used for labeling items displayed by hook means, e.g., by hooks inserted into peg boards. For examples of these devices see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,236,336; 3,707,049; and 3,531,879. The problem with using these channel structures for items displayed on hooks is that the needed information is displayed in close proximity to the display base. Thus, if the hook holding the merchandise is of greater than minimal length, the hook is holding a large quantity of merchandise, or other hooks with merchandise are in close proximity to the particular hook in question, it is difficult to see what information is contained in these channel display structures. As more stores rely on machine readable pricing codes such as the Universal Product Code and discontinue marking prices on individual items, the need for clear visual displays of price information for merchandise displayed by hooks becomes extremely important. For store personnel using devices such as pen scanners to read inventory information, it is important to have easy access to the information contained on the item labels used for merchandise displays such as the types of merchandise displayed by attaching the items to card structures and as frequently found in grocery stores or drug stores.
Previous attempts to make tags suitable for use with items displayed by hook means have produced tag displays that reduce the amount of usable space on a display board, and are expensive, e.g. made from metal, hard to read, and of fixed length.
Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a tag display device suitable for use with items displayed by hooks that does not appreciably reduce the amount of usable space on a display board.
It is another object of this invention to provide a tag display structure that is inexpensive to fabricate and easy to produce.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a variable length tag display structure that displays information at the front of the items displayed by suspending such items from a hook.