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Option Print · Published 12 March 2026 · Updated 28 August 2026 · 7 min read
A quotation is only as good as the brief it came from. Ask five manufacturers for a price on “a four-shelf floor stand, roughly six feet” and you will get five numbers describing five different stands — different board thicknesses, different shelf supports, different print coverage.
This article lists what a manufacturer actually needs, and why each item changes the price. If you send all of it, you get a comparable quotation. If you send some of it, you get a range and a few questions.
Height, width and depth of a single unit of the product, in centimetres. Height sets the shelf spacing and therefore how many shelves fit in a given overall height. Width and depth set the shelf area needed per facing.
Approximate figures are usable as long as you say they are approximate. A five-millimetre error in pack height across four shelves changes the overall unit height by two centimetres, which can matter if the stand has to fit under a shelf or inside a cabinet.
This is the number most often missing and the one that changes the structure most. Multiplied by the facings per shelf, it gives load per shelf — the figure that determines board thickness, shelf span and whether internal supports are required.
Weigh one unit. If the product varies (a range of pack sizes on the same stand), give us the heaviest.
State the arrangement: how many facings across, and how many deep. Two rows deep doubles the load on the same shelf area.
Also mention how the shelf is refilled. A shelf refilled from the front is loaded differently over the day than one refilled from behind, and a shelf that is routinely over-filled by store staff needs margin built in.
If you have a target overall height and footprint, send it — retail chains often specify a maximum footprint for aisle units, and it is better to design to that from the start.
If you do not, the shelf count plus the product height will produce a sensible overall height, and we will come back with it for approval.
Floor, counter or shelf. Indoor or outdoor. Modern trade or general trade. Dry aisle or chilled aisle.
Each of these changes the material recommendation. A chilled aisle rules out unlaminated paper board. A general trade store may not have the floor space for the footprint that works in modern trade.
Two weeks, three months or a year — say which. Duration affects thickness, support and whether the fold pattern needs to survive repeat assembly. It is also the honest basis for comparing two quotations: a stand specified for two weeks should cost less than one specified for six months.
Total stand quantity, and how it splits across locations. Quantity drives the per-unit price more than any other commercial factor, because print set-up, cutting set-up and design time are spread across the run.
Delivery locations and PIN codes drive freight, and packed volume drives it further. A hundred units to one warehouse and a hundred units to eighty stores are very different consignments at the same unit price.
Send your logo in vector form where possible, along with any brand colour references and the product photography you want on the header. If artwork is not ready, that is fine — we can quote on structure and print coverage and finalise artwork later.
Tell us if colours are critical. Board printing gets close to a coated paper proof but is not identical, and on colour-critical work we will recommend a printed sample first.
Copy this, fill it in and send it by WhatsApp or email — it is enough for a real quotation in most cases:
We quote anyway, with the assumptions stated. That way you can see which assumption is doing the work — for instance “quoted at 3 mm board assuming 4 kg per shelf; if the load is higher we will need 5 mm, which changes the price”.
Stated assumptions are the difference between a comparable quotation and a number you cannot interrogate.
We can quote a lookalike, but only as a starting figure with assumptions stated. The photograph does not tell us the board thickness, the internal supports or the load the original was designed for.
No. Structure, size, quantity and print coverage are enough. Artwork affects the print stage, not the structural specification.
Usually because they are quoting different stands — thinner board, fewer supports, less print coverage, or a shorter assumed working life. Ask each quotation to state board thickness, shelf support and the load it is designed for, and the numbers become comparable.
Working through this for your own product? Send the product size, weight, quantity per shelf, stand quantity and usage period. Share your product details.