Thursday, May 5, 2011

A Little to the Left...One to the Right...Perfect!



The placement of products throughout a store has a direct relationship with how well those products sell. There are many ways to influence a consumer's purchase. Three of those strategies include the placement of inventory on shelves, the placement of catchy signs, and the placement of unnecessary products. These tactics are what make stores thousands and thousands of dollars every year.



Walk down the cereal aisle at your local grocery store. Notice how there seems to be a certain organization of the boxes on the shelves? The store brand ones are all the way up at the top out of sight, the sugar infested cereals are low where the children can easily grab them, and the healthy options are right at eye level. There's no accident here. Stores plan out their displays very carefully, even going to the specific detail of the average shopper's height. Stores use certain tricks to manipulate their shoppers, such as putting sale items right at eye level so that the deal seems quite reasonable, however just below or above that sale there has been the same product of the store brand for the same price all along. The good deal has always been there, but cleverly hidden out of sight.






Timing also influences a consumer's need to buy. Stores will place flashy, eye-catching signs around the walk ways advertising "hot spring fashions" or "new styles" that makes the buyer believe if they don't act now, the opportunity will be lost. This is not true, because as the weeks go by the inventory changes, which brings all new options for the consumer. The bright and catchy signs distract a shopper from drawing logical conclusions.




Impulse buying is one thing a store thrives on. There is no need for a Hershey bar at the checkout line, or a pointless tabloid magazine with the latest gossip. Yet somehow, these purchases still give stores thousands and thousands of dollars alone. The strategic placement of these candy bars and magazines at the checkout line is just what the idle brain of a consumer will fall to. They may pick up an interesting magazine, however not be able to finish it by the time they have to pay. So, they'll just buy it anyway. This is how the stores maximize their profits.



Eye-level shopping, timing, and spontaneous purchases are what mess with the consumer's mind. The strategic placement of products around a store reel in thousands of dollars. Next time you're walking through your grocery store, stop and think about it. Do you want the salsa just because you're buying the chips? Or perhaps is this one of the store's twisted mind games...










Source: thriftyfun.com

No comments:

Post a Comment