power wall

English

Noun

power wall (plural power walls)

1. (marketing) In retail selling, a large, visually appealing display of products intended to attract the interest of customers.
   • 1996 March 15, “SMALL BUSINESS: How to fight back when competition gets tough”, in Globe and Mail, Toronto, page C9:

     The small outlet has to adopt such marketing strategems as a "power wall" displaying goods most in demand as customers enter, or positioned at the back of the store so that they are led past other goods that may catch their eye.

   • 2007, Jennifer Marks, "Wal-Mart Adds Home Brand Exclusives," Home Textiles Today, High Point, vol. 28, no. 27 (29 Oct), p. 1,

     The new layout features a "room solutions" orientation, navigational signage, lower-profile fixtures and "power walls" for key categories like towels.

2. (marketing, Canada) Behind retail sales counters in jurisdictions where tobacco advertising has been banned or heavily restricted, a prominent, enticing display of tobacco products.
   • 2006 October 9, Jacqueline Nunes, “Can't find the smokes?”, in Maclean's, volume 119, number 40, page 26:

     They're called "power walls"—those highly visible shelves behind convenience store cashiers. Tobacco companies pay big bucks to use them ($100 million in Canada in 2005), admitting the walls are their single most effective advertising tool.

   • 2008, "Tobacco "power wall" displays banned," at www.toronto.ca, (retrieved 2 June 2008),

     When you go into your local convenience or grocery store after May 31, 2008, you'll notice the "power wall" displays of tobacco products behind the counter are gone.

3. (computing) The rapidly increasing loss of efficiency due to overheating as the power/speed of a CPU increases.