What is the science or psychology behind the way how they display their products?
I understand that it’s supposed to drive sales, but what is the reason behind their method?
Why, or how does it work?
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They do a lot of research to figure out what will make the most money. Generally it’s actually the manufacturers, not the stores themselves, that do the research, and then they will negotiate with the stores to get the shelves arranged in the way their research suggests will perform best. Sometimes the manufacturers will even “buy” space for their products, or premium locations in the aisle, by giving the retailer a discount on the wholesale price.
It’s complicated to describe what the “best” arrangement might look like because there are many factors involved and it can vary from category to category, but here are some things you might consider when arranging the shelf:
1. It’s generally better to be near one end of the aisle or the other, because some shoppers will just grab the first thing they find rather than comparing between options.
2. Similarly, being at “eye level” on the shelf means your product is more likely to be noticed. These first two points taken together mean that manufacturers are often going to want their products in a leading position at eye level, while retailers are going to want to use this space for the products that are most profitable for them.
3. Products that are next to each other on the shelf are naturally going to be compared to each other frequently. If you make cheap pasta, you might want to avoid being next to the store brand pasta because it’s even cheaper and now why would a shopper pick your product when “we’re cheap” isn’t even a winning point for you? On the other hand, if you have the “best” product, maybe you want to be next to cheap alternatives, because people who are there to buy your premium, organic, handcrafted, etc pasta aren’t going to instead opt for the store brand because it’s cheaper.
4. The aisles should be arranged in a manner that makes it easy for shoppers to find what they’re looking for. You could arrange the pet food aisle by brand, with all of the Purina cat and dog food in one location, all of the Royal Canin in a block next to that, and so on, but no one does that because then you’d have to look at each individual product to figure out if it’s for dogs or cats. Instead you start by arranging things by pet type, and then by brand within each section.
5. There are practical concerns like putting larger, heavier items at the bottom because they’re more likely to be dropped, damaging the product and potentially injuring the shopper.
There’s a lot more things to consider, but hopefully this gives you an idea. If you stop for a bit and examine a shelf with these sorts of things in mind, you can probably guess why it’s set up the way that it is.
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