Why Do they Keep Moving Things Around in the Supermarket?

You are lucky. They block the aisles with display boxes in my store all the time. And yes, the carts are a problem, especially when they have a big yellow toy car attached and mom is talking on her cellphone!

3 Likes

Yeah, those carts are pretty unwieldy. Our store only has 2 so it’s not a huge problem.

You have better markets than I do!!!

Haha! Yes, we are lucky. Family run local chain (well, plus 2 in Illinois) with the most helpful and happy workers, really good prices and selection, nice produce, never a long checkout line. And it’s clean!__

Nice. We have a place like that a few minutes from us, but it’s not a place you can really do all,of your weekly shopping in.

1 Like

Well, that stinks. Heinen’s is my go to store for everything except bulk spices (which I usually order online) and corona beans.

As someone who does consumer psychology work - most of this is driven by non-psychologists making stuff up to justify their design and adjacency decisions - no science required, just add dollars to the proposal.

1 Like

Years ago I worked in a public library and we had cardboard display units/ book dumps for paperbacks that were provided by publishers or jobbers. I hated them as they were always in the way and were easily knocked over.
Fed up after having to pick up one that some kid “accidentally” bumped into, I permanently relocated the dump to the staff bathroom where it actually proved to be quite useful as a storage unit for rolls of toilet paper. Scott tp brought to you by Harlequin Romance…

5 Likes

I don’t doubt it - but I thought there were some pretty established “truths” supermarkets exploited to drive buying behaviour.

For example the smell of fresh baked bread or roasted coffee increases spend and draws people in so these are located at the rear of the store. Products at eye level sell more. Shoppers have routines so you move favoured products to break the routine.

Not sure if they still do it but I also understood they used different colour lighting tubes with more red frequencies in the meat area to emphasise the meatiness of the meat.

I’m sure there are excellent, deeply researched reasons for doing what they do. But really, not even bothering to teach staff the new location of items or, even worse, whether an item is still even being offered? That’s annoying; it alienates customers and it’s bad management.

Well at least at Foodtown they give it to you for free if it’s in the ad but they don’t have it in the store.

Went to Stop and Shop today. This was the soda aisle

Ay yi yi!!! That would make me crazee! I would be very tempted to just put the displays in the middle of the aisle. I would also tell the manager he/she is a moron.

2 Likes

I have been known to move them. And on top of that, they were stocking shelves. Why wouldn’t they do that before the store opens…

1 Like

Me too … sometimes intentionally sometimes not

1 Like

At a New England supermarket chain (Market Basket), 95% of stocking occurs during the day while the store is open to shoppers. They compress the hours that they’re open (7am to 9pm), so the associates stock the shelves while the customers are shopping. It puts them in close proximity to the customers, and long-time employees begin to recognize long-time customers. It also keeps costs and prices down, since they’re not stocking pre-opening.

Arthur T. Demoulas, the cousin who was fired by the MB board, which started the two month walkout of both employees and customers back in the summer of 2014 until he was rehired and the other side of the family (Arthur S.) was bought out "(See: “We Are Market Basket”) says it allows the associates to get a real-time idea of what customers are buying at any time during the day, and to allow them to see what items are bought together, and the interaction allows the associates to learn that they are providing a service to their customers.

Yeah, it can sometimes be a PITB on a busy shopping day, but you also know that someone who can help you is going to be in an aisle nearby - and I’ve learned if the kid you ask doesn’t know which aisle something is in (although they usually do) they will go find someone who does know.

4 Likes

LOL -not necessarily!! Many barely speak English at my store. Though I had a lovely guy help me the other day. I mentioned to him that I cant’ find anything in the store because they keep moving stuff around and he totally agreed with me! Apparently the bosses come in - all different ones - with their own ideas where things should go. Yesterday he helped me find the Muir Glen tomatoes - they were with the organics in an aisle marked Nuts. I kid you not.

1 Like

I’m pretty sure someone is paying for those being there. Whether that’s a good thing is a separate question.

Well, that is nuts, wouldn’t you agree? :slight_smile:

3 Likes

To keep us in the store longer.

1 Like