i always got mad, as long as i remember because WHY would they change it if IT WORKED FOR ALL MY LIFE
god damn it
In order to make you walk around the store more giving you more opportunities to buy stuff you didn't intend to buy
i don't care I'm gonna buy my whatevers and I'm out of there
it's their fault then that i have to run through the store to get to it
They call that a win/win. Worst case you continue to do business with them and buy what you intended. Best case you do even more business with them!
Local Asian markets don't rearrange.
I've always assumed it's to keep you browsing. You might notice something you'd otherwise usually walk straight past.
That and they monitor how people shop and create heat maps of where people move. If one part of the store is underused and others are overused they might shuffle around and see if they can improve on the cold parts by putting them where people go or on the way to the stuff people actually want to go to.
To force people to spend more time shopping. More time means more chance for impulse buying and better sales. Basic marketing.
I will keep this in mind next time my store rearranges things.
Thank you.
That's also why they have those goddamn cardboard displays of random bullshit standing in most aisles. They form choke points that slow you down in front of the shelves.
They do it to make you spend more time browsing. Shoppers typically get the same stuff every time they get groceries. Over time people learn the layout of their local store and develop efficient patterns to move through it and get everything they want. When the store shuffles everything around they force shoppers to wander around the store and to look at all the shelves carefully for the stuff they actually want. Some percentage of them end up finding new things to buy and spend more money.
Literally trying to disorient shoppers like rats in a fucking maze, truly capitalism is not dystopian in any way!
If they mix up the layout you're forced to look at more products instead of automatically going to the places you expect a product to be. It's a marketing tactic.
There's more reasons than that but if it's definitely one of the bigger reasons a small stock change can trigger a total mix up of the whole aisle.
It's also why stores are more and more being designed like mazes, without clear signage, and with related products spread far apart. They inconvenience you specifically to extract money from you.
I've always found it funny, because they'll move it again next year, and its pointless. Self-important supervisors changing stuff to feel important. Somebody thought it was important 🤣
It's far from pointless, these large companies hire psychologists to help them with the layouts of their shops. They tend to move staples around so people have to look around for them increasing the chances they'll spot something they don't need but will buybon an impulse. I used to work for one of the largest supermarket chains in the uk, they have an empty store that they use just for planning the layout of goods. Alot of time and money goes into these decisions.
I really want to find out who these psychologists are studying to come up with these findings. Anytime the layout changes or items are placed in obtuse places that make no sense I just get pissed off. I start brisk walking and scanning the aisles faster than normal and ignoring stuff even more. A lot of times I just say screw it and leave without buying anything out of spite. Then go buy the item elsewhere. A month or so later after they move all the stuff around again, I'll randomly find the item in the dumbest place ever, but no longer need it now.
Like I don't want to be shopping, I hate navigating around idiots that block entire aisles for no reason. It's not a leasurely or fun experience. I understand why they want me to stay longer, but they don't seem to understand that no matter how many times I look at the same stupid products my wallet and the lack of fucks I give about their stupid products far outweighs the amount of time I stare at it.
So tired of of having my time wasted by marketing analytics that report a 1% increases if such and such stuff is done. Makes me feel like I'm trapped in an MMO with only hardcore players who optimize their builds for the smallest negligible increases. It's exhausting
Wait, you're onto something here. If you think about it, our entire society is an mmo. The tryhards optimise the fun out of it for everyone, you have to have a competitive edge over other players to succeed in any workplace, it's very pay to win and if you're just a Joe Schmoe wanting to take it easy and casual, you're seen as worthless and have no chance to actually do any of the fun activities due to gatekeeping. Huh
Here in the US, grocery stores of the same chain with the same corporate are all arranged wildly differently.
I just get stressed out and leave when it takes too long to find what I'm looking for...
I think maybe it's pointless in the sense that the average shopper doesn't think it influences them. Statistically, it does, but they may not feel like it does.
It's still shitty, regardless of how effective it may appear. There's a reason the common items are always spread out, as I'm sure you know. Can't have someone grabbing milk, cheese, eggs, bread, and fruit all from the same section, then they'd miss the donuts and the cakes and the frozen pizas and the 'managers discount' almost expired meat section (I like almost expired meat, I'm poor too, but still)
I'm more upset about places trying to charge $8 for a goddamn box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
I saw Ryan Gosling at a grocery store in Los Angeles yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?”
I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
Grocery store by me rearranged the store so that it was organized by country, instead of by type of product. Now there's 4 individual locations to pick a bag of beans from because the red kidney beans from Iraq are sooooo muuuuuch different than the red kidney beans from costa rica.
Studies show more time spent in the store equates to more sales. They have to measure time in store and extra sales against time to reorganize. As regular time moves forward it becomes increasingly worth more to rearrange until it outweighs the time to reorganize by a certain margin.
Or try doing your shopping in a store you’ve never been to before. That’s some Tomb Raider shit right there.
Walmart keeps moving the Cheetos Jalapeno Popcorn. It's like they don't want me to buy it.
It's just some Sales Optimization Consultant trying to justify their existence. Leave them be, they have their own problems.
Grocery chains have software for putting together shelf arrangements. Suppliers have to pay if they want their products at a quality location at eye level, or near the ends of the aisle. And of course pay more for things like endcap displays.
I cried when they closed the old Walmart for a super center when I was a child. This isn’t an age thing it’s a comfort from familiarity thing.
I don't get mad at that as much as I get mad when products are placed in the wrong fucking isle, like the fucking Wal-Mart in Heartsville, SC, where everything is everywhere except on the isle it's labeled to go in.
