Retail & Display Printing in Dubai
Sun Studio prints retail displays and point of sale material (POSM on most agency briefs) at our Al Quoz studio in Dubai, for retail brands, agencies and shopfitters across the UAE: counter units and plinths, shelf talkers and danglers, display panels and headers, window and feature graphics. We print direct onto acrylic, rigid board, ACP, aluminium, foam board, glass and stone rather than applying vinyl over them, on pieces you supply or that we source for the job, cut to size by our partners.
We print the rigid parts of a display. We do not design, die-cut or build cardboard floor-standing units: that is structural display manufacturing, and we can print the rigid panels and headers that go with such a unit. We also make oversized product replicas, such as a giant perfume bottle for a window or a launch, by resin 3D printing. Retail runs on dates. Campaigns, seasonal pushes, launches and Ramadan and Eid activations all land on a fixed day, in small quantities across many SKUs, which is exactly the shape of work direct printing handles well.
What we can print
Retail work spans materials, and the item usually decides the substrate:
- Counter units and plinths: acrylic, board and aluminium panels, printed here and assembled by your fabricator or one of our partners.
- Shelf talkers, danglers and wobblers: small pieces printed in batches.
- Display panels and headers: the graphics that sit above and behind a fixture.
- Window and door graphics: printed onto acrylic or direct onto the glass. See glass printing.
- Menu boards and price lists: where fine type has to stay legible.
- Feature and back-of-counter panels: the large graphic that defines the space.
- Exhibition and pop-up elements: stand panels, fascias and plinth faces, often as ACP panel printing.
Printing capabilities
What retail needs most is speed, colour accuracy and consistency across a set of pieces:
- Direct UV printing Onto the display material, no applied vinyl.
- Full colour Campaign photography, gradients and brand colour.
- White ink and reverse printing For clear acrylic pieces seen through the front. See acrylic printing.
- Print onto cut shapes Pieces routed or laser cut first, then printed to the profile.
- Short runs across many SKUs Five of forty different pieces is a normal order here.
- Consistency across a set Everything for one campaign printed as a single batch.
- Raised and textured effects Where a premium display needs to feel different.
Printed displays or applied vinyl on blanks
Retail POS is traditionally made by applying printed vinyl to cut blanks. It works, and for very large volumes it is often still right.
Vinyl on blanks
Blanks are cut in volume and a printed, laminated sheet is applied. At high quantities the economics are good and the process is well understood.
The costs show at low volumes and short notice: every piece needs applying by hand, small and shaped pieces are fiddly to trim, and the edges are where a display starts looking tired after a few weeks in a busy store.
Direct printing
The graphic goes onto the material, so there is no applying stage, no trimming and no edge to lift. Small quantities cost what small quantities should, because there is no setup to amortise.
That suits how retail actually orders (many SKUs, few of each, on a deadline), and it means a shaped piece can be cut first and printed to its profile rather than trimmed by hand afterwards.
Who this is for
Retail and display work comes from:
- Retail brands: campaign and seasonal POS across stores.
- Shopfitters and retail contractors: fixtures and fitted display.
- Marketing and creative agencies: producing what they have designed.
- Exhibition and event builders: stands, pop-ups and activations.
- Malls and property teams: common-area display and promotional graphics.
- Hospitality: menu boards, counter display and in-venue graphics.
What to send before we can quote
For a campaign, the item list and the date do most of the work:
- The item list: what each piece is, its size and quantity.
- The deadline: the in-store date, not the collection date.
- Materials: or tell us the application and we will suggest them.
- Whether pieces are cut to shape, and whether you have the cutting files.
- Artwork, per piece, with brand colours flagged.
- How many stores and whether kits need packing per store.
- Whether anything is going outdoors or into a window with direct sun.
- Any existing display the new pieces have to match.
Not sure which file to send? Our artwork preparation guide covers file formats, vector conversion and what each surface needs.
How it works
The item list, quantities, deadline and artwork.
We confirm materials per item, how shaped pieces are cut, and whether the date works.
For a rollout, one of each piece is printed and approved before the full run.
The campaign is printed as one batch, checked for consistency and packed per store where needed.
Retail and display work
Sun Studio work, printed direct onto the material in Al Quoz. Two jobs are written up in full: the printed glass interior features for McDonald's at The Dubai Mall, and a Nike retail display with its lettering UV printed on grey marble.
Technical considerations
Retail has a shorter life and a harder deadline than most of what we print. The technical questions follow from that: consistency across a batch, colour that matches the brand, and materials chosen for where the piece stands.
What matters:
Consistency across the set
Brand colour
Material per application
Cut first, print second
Acrylic handling
Window exposure
Packing per store
Common questions
Do you build display stands, or print the panels for them?
Is there a minimum order for display printing?
How quickly can a campaign be produced?
Can you print pieces cut to shape?
How large a display panel can you print?
Can you match our brand colours?
Are printed displays suitable for a shop window?
Can you kit the order by store?
Do you supply the display blanks or should we?
Can you print on a stone or marble display piece?
Have a campaign to produce?
Send us the item list, the quantities, the in-store date and the artwork. We will confirm the materials, print one of each for approval, and run the campaign as a single consistent batch.
Retail & Display Printing projects
Real Sun Studio work involving this service. See the full portfolio.
Technology used
Direct Color Systems UV84: a flatbed with a 4 x 8 ft bed (about 1.2 x 2.4 m), for rigid display pieces.
IQDEMY EVO 2500: a belt flatbed 2.5 metres wide, for display panels and board at campaign scale. See the full printer fleet.
Sun Studio belongs to the same Dubai group as PRO TECHnology, which distributes Direct Color Systems and IQDEMY equipment in the Middle East, so read our view of the machines with that in mind.