What materials are used for your custom cardboard counter displays?

Retail competition is fierce, and you cannot afford a display collapse. You need materials that balance strength with stunning print quality to capture customer attention immediately.

Custom counter displays primarily utilize corrugated cardboard, typically E-flute or B-flute, paired with a clay-coated news back (CCNB) liner for high-resolution printing. Sustainable options include Kraft paper and recycled pulp, while internal structures may use double-wall board for added durability in high-traffic retail environments.

Let’s break down exactly what goes into these displays so you can choose the right spec for your next product launch.

What materials are used in making board displays?

Choosing the wrong board grade leads to sagging shelves and damaged inventory. You need to understand the core composition to ensure your products stay secure.

Board displays are constructed from three main layers: the medium (fluting), the inner liner, and the outer liner. Manufacturers typically use Kraft paper for strength and test liner for cost-efficiency. The fluting, such as B-flute or C-flute, provides the necessary structural integrity and stacking strength.

The Anatomy of Structural Integrity

When we talk about the material strength of board displays, we are really talking about engineering. Corrugated board is not just a single piece of thick paper. It is a sandwich structure that relies on physics to hold weight. The most critical component is the "fluting¹," which is the wavy paper layer in the middle. This arch-shaped structure provides cushioning and stacking strength. In the factory, we select different flute profiles based on what you need to sell. For example, E-flute is very thin (about 1.6mm) and has a high number of flutes per foot. This makes it excellent for small counter displays because it provides a smooth surface for printing but isn’t very strong for heavy loads.

On the other hand, B-flute (about 3mm) and C-flute (about 4mm) are the workhorses of the industry. If your product is heavy, like a set of tools or beverage bottles, we cannot use a standard single-wall board. We have to use double-wall corrugated board, such as EB-flute or BC-flute. This combines two layers of fluting to create a heavy-duty material that can withstand the rigors of a chaotic retail environment like Costco or Walmart. Another major factor is the paper quality itself. We distinguish between "Virgin Kraft²" and "Recycled Test Liner." Virgin Kraft utilizes long wood fibers directly from pulp, offering superior resistance to humidity. This is a critical technical detail. Since ocean freight containers have high moisture levels, using cheap recycled paper for the structural liner can cause the display to absorb water and collapse before it even reaches the store.

I know that generic specifications often fail during transit or in humid conditions. We run dedicated crush tests on every batch of corrugated board to ensure the B-flute or C-flute mix matches your product weight perfectly, guaranteeing your display arrives at the retailer intact.

What materials are best for presentation boards?

A blurry logo or dull colors can ruin your brand image instantly. The surface material you choose dictates how sharp and vibrant your graphics look.

Clay Coated News Back (CCNB) is the gold standard for presentation boards requiring high-quality graphics. It offers a smooth white surface optimized for offset or digital printing. For a more rustic or eco-friendly aesthetic, natural Kraft paper is the best choice, though it absorbs ink differently.

Achieving Visual Dominance Through Surface Selection

The structural body of the display holds the product, but the top liner sells the product. In my years of manufacturing, I have seen great designs fail because the wrong face material was chosen. The most common and effective material we use is CCNB (Clay Coated News Back)⁵. This is a recycled grey board that has been coated with a white clay mixture on one side. The clay fills in the microscopic roughness of the paper fibers. When we run this through our offset printers, the ink sits on top of the clay rather than soaking into the paper. This results in sharp images, legible text, and vibrant colors that match your digital artwork files.

The standard specification we use for most floor and counter displays is 350gsm CCNB. "GSM" stands for grams per square meter. A 350gsm paper is thick enough to hide the "washboard effect" (where the flute lines show through the print) but flexible enough to fold without cracking. For high-end cosmetics or electronics, we might upgrade to SBS (Solid Bleached Sulfate)⁶, which is a purely white, virgin fiber board. It is brighter and smoother than CCNB but significantly more expensive. On the flip side, if you are selling organic food or eco-friendly outdoor gear, you might prefer a Brown Kraft back. However, you must understand that printing on Kraft changes the color gamut. Yellows and whites disappear, and dark colors become muted. We often have to print a layer of white ink first to make the other colors pop, which is a technical adjustment many designers overlook.

I insist on using high-grade 350gsm CCNB for all our premium clients because it holds ink without bleeding. My team calibrates our offset printers to match your specific Pantone colors on this material, ensuring your brand looks consistent in every store.

What are display boxes made of?

Shipping damages can wipe out your profit margins before sales even begin. The box material must survive the journey from the factory floor to the retail shelf.

Display boxes are typically made from single-wall corrugated board for lighter items or double-wall board for heavy merchandise. The material composition often includes a high-strength Kraft outer liner to resist tearing and moisture during ocean freight, ensuring the unit functions as both a shipper and a display.

Balancing Logistics Durability with Retail Function

A display box, often called a PDQ (Product Display Quick) or SRP (Shelf Ready Packaging), has a difficult dual job. It must act as a shipping carton that protects the goods inside, and then transform into a marketing tool on the shelf. This requires a specific material balance. If the material is too strong, the store employees cannot tear off the perforated header, and they might damage the box opening it with a knife. If it is too weak, the bottom corners will crush when pallets are stacked in the warehouse. We measure this strength using the ECT (Edge Crush Test⁹). For a standard counter display box holding about 5kg to 10kg of product, we typically specify a 32 ECT B-flute board.

However, the liner grade is just as important as the ECT rating. In China, we use a grading system for paper liners: K, A, B, and C. "K" represents the highest quality Kraft paper, which is rigid and moisture-resistant. "C" is a lower quality recycled test liner. For clients shipping from Shenzhen to the US, I never recommend anything less than an A-grade outer liner¹⁰. The humidity inside a shipping container crossing the Pacific Ocean can turn low-grade cardboard into a soft sponge. We also look at the bursting strength. If your product has sharp edges (like blister packs for hunting tools), they can puncture the walls of the display box from the inside. In these cases, we add an inner liner reinforcement or use a thicker medium to prevent internal damage.

I understand that a broken box means zero sales. We simulate shipping conditions in our factory by using reinforced K-grade outer liners for display boxes, so your products survive the long ocean journey from Shenzhen to your warehouse without a scratch.

What are cardboard displays called?

Industry terminology can be confusing when you are sourcing from overseas suppliers. Knowing the correct names ensures you get exactly the design and function you expect.

Cardboard displays go by many names depending on their placement and function. Common terms include Point of Purchase (POP) displays, Point of Sale (POS) units, floor stands, counter displays, PDQ trays, dump bins, and pallet displays. Industry professionals also refer to them by their structural style, such as corrugated shippers.

Decoding Industry Jargon for Accurate Sourcing

When you send an inquiry to a factory, using the right word can save you days of back-and-forth emails. The broadest term is POP (Point of Purchase¹³) Display. This covers everything. However, specificity helps us design faster. For example, a "Counter Display" sits on a flat surface. But if you ask for a "PDQ," we assume you mean a "Pre-Designed Quick" display, which is usually a tray that comes pre-loaded with product and slides right onto a shelf. Walmart and Costco have very strict guides for PDQs regarding dimensions and height. If you use the wrong term, we might design a unit that gets rejected by the retailer’s compliance team.

Another common confusion is between "Dump Bins¹⁴" and "Floor Stands." A Floor Stand usually has shelves and organizes products neatly. A Dump Bin is a large open container where loose products are "dumped" inside. This distinction matters because the structural engineering is totally different. A floor stand needs shelf support bars (often metal or double-folded cardboard) to hold weight horizontally. A dump bin needs strong vertical walls to stop the sides from bursting out due to the outward pressure of the jumbled products. We also have "Sidekicks" or "Power Wings," which are narrow displays designed to hang on the side of an aisle end-cap using metal hooks or plastic clips. Knowing these differences allows us to calculate the material usage accurately and give you a correct price quote immediately.

I find that miscommunication about display types causes unnecessary delays. We provide free 3D renderings based on your description to confirm the exact structure, ensuring my design team and your buyers are speaking the same visual language before production begins.

Conclusion

Materials dictate success. Choosing the right corrugated specs ensures your display is durable, vibrant, and profitable.