What Is “Pretty Darn Quick” in Retail?
PDQ is an American acronym meaning “Pretty Darn Quick.” The term was made popular in Walmart stores as the early name for today’s Retail-Ready Packaging (RRP) or Shelf-Ready Packaging (SRP).
The goal of the PDQ was to save time at the store level stocking shelves. PDQs are filled with supplier merchandise and designed to taken out of a shipping box and placed directly on display. Store employees are able to stock multiple items in one motion versus many separate motions over a longer period of time. Speed and efficiency were improved in stocking practices.
PDQ vs. RRP
As with all things in retail, systems, and processes evolve to make shopping easier for the customer. Today’s Retail-Ready Packaging is a vast improvement over the PDQs from years ago. The new idea of RRP benefits the customer as well as the employee stocking the shelf.
Early PDQs were very simple in design and application. From the standpoint of the supplier designing the unit, the focus was on the store employee.
To make stocking the shelf easier, the PDQ was easy to deal with; it could be a simple perforated box with a knock-out panel full of product.
The box itself may have been orange for Halloween candy or green for Holiday bows, but nothing else in the way of information or graphics.
Why PDQs Had to Evolve
While early PDQs served a valuable purpose in making stocking shelves easier and faster, today’s Retail-Ready packaging takes more into account. Graphics on the outside of each unit benefit both the shopper and store employee.
Supplier logos, icons, and other graphics on today’s RRP make the product easier to locate in a store’s crowded backroom. This benefits both the store and supplier to ensure items can easily get in front of the customer.
For the supplier and customer, messaging on the RRP is a powerful communication tool. It can serve as the last line of sale for graphic call-outs, text, even QR codes to provide marketing information for the product.
