Supermarket Employees – Tell me your secrets

I go to the supermarket, ASDA. Now I know the shop well, been going there for many years. I know where the dried fruit is, it’s in the baking aisle which is after the bread aisle.

WOOOAH, this is the biscuit aisle! Where has the baking stuff gone. Takes me a long walk to find it and get what I want.

This is not uncommon, they shift whole aisles around all the time, they even shift specific products about sometimes. WHY!!!!????? Is it to make me buy more stuff? Because it’s not working, if I spend more than five monutes trying to find the moved stuff I’ll just put my basket down on the ground and walk out, find a shop who leaves stuff in the same place.

Go on then, tell me why they do it. Must be some metrics that suggest it makes more money.

Did you buy any biscuits?

No he bought dried fruit, and some butter, flour and sugar and made fruit shortbreads. Bastard supermarkets.

It’s because they don’t like you.

I thought every aisle in Asda was a biscuit aisle?

It’s generally down to marketing. Who’s paid however much for certain locations. Much like advert placement in magazines and newspapers. For example one of the big brands in the case of baking, Dr Oetker, they might say we’ll give you £500k to shift your baking ingredients nearer to the fresh bread section (smell association). Pr it could be the store manager fancies a change, unlikely though as placement is usually paid for.

This never happens in Waitrose or Booths FYI 😉

I used to build supermarkets for my job.

The shelving layout would remain at large until about a week before opening and some retailers like to cause mayhem just as you’re finishing a project by moving shizzle. It would be a particularly large nightmare if it involved moving fridges and drainage.

I thought this was going to be a totally different thread. Is disappoint.

Come and get yer black bin bags, they’re on offer till December,
Come and get yer black bin bags, they’re long and tall and slender,
Heavy duty black bin bags, no matter what you’re gender,

I won’t finish for fear of a ban!

i guess it’s so you look at more items.

That’s exactly it. The thinking is that as you wander about cursing you will think Oh! Toilet Duck! and fling some in your trolley.

Apart from when it’s expensive crap, that’s why xbox games and the like are never near the door.

Change for changes sake. So you don’t think they’re bit stale. My wife’s work (a huge law firm) seem to be constantly changing the layout of their offices for no apparent reason whatsoever.

Maybe I’m just an old stickinthemud who doesn’t like change.

Like rats in a maze, that’s ASDA price.

if I spend more than five monutes trying to find the moved stuff I’ll just put my basket down on the ground and walk out, find a shop who leaves stuff in the same place.

That would be waitrose then.

For example one of the big brands in the case of baking, Dr Oetker, they might say we’ll give you £500k to shift your baking ingredients nearer to the fresh bread section (smell association).

So much of that goes on. Golden Wonder used to be the biggest selling crisps brand in the UK, leaving Walkers with their wrong-coloured cheese and onion with about 5% of the market. Walkers was bought by Pepsi and in just a year or so when from 5% to 95% of the market share. People point to all the successful marketing they did with their witty Gary Linekar ads… but, it was simpler than that. Pepsi simply paid the supermarkets to take Golden Wonder off the shelves.

Because most shoppers aren’t you.

Stuff gets moved a out so that the “experience” becomes “fresh” again. Otherwise it all looks a bit jaded. End of isle gondolas especially as these are prime locations for increasing sales, sometimes I the 1000’s of percent growth.

We get our shopping delivered, and I think the re-arrangement of products and aisles also confuses the staff as we often have the wrong stuff… which we keep and get refunded for so it’s not all bad

You put your basket down and just walk out 😯 what if a small child were to fall over it and hurt themselves or an elderly person or someone who is handicapped, the callous inhumanity of it.

I’ve checked with the housekeeper and she assures me that Occado are still placing the frozen goods in green logo bags, fridge items in orange and pantry in purple.

Hope that helps.

[edit]

End of isle gondolas especially as these are prime locations

Ah, yes, the much sought after ‘Lands End’ location.

Space planning department innit, as said before it maybe a funded move or more likely a refresh of layout, most store staff hate it as its a big job to move whole aisles.
This time of year they will be condensing sections so they can fit all the associated christmas sections in like Biscuits, snacks etc plus the baking range will extend with all the xmas baking range

Sorry to keep banging on about this, but did the OP buy any biscuits?

Golden Wonder used to be the biggest selling crisps brand in the UK, leaving Walkers with their wrong-coloured cheese and onion with about 5% of the market. Walkers was bought by Pepsi and in just a year or so when from 5% to 95% of the market share.

So they went from a 5% to a 95% share of the market in a year.

I think I detect made up statistics 😀

but did the OP buy any biscuits?

95% of statistics are made up anyway.

i thought it was 87.5%?

Unfortunately, I’ve worked in ASDA for five yrs now, and I still can’t find stuff. The store is having a re-fit so now I’ll be back to square one. Luckily for customers they have hired some new kids during the re-fit called “go getters”, who wander about holding a sign saying “ask me if you can’t find stuff”. But they are new, and also don’t know where anything is! 😀

Why not have a station on every aisle with a computer type thing. Type in what your looking for and get directions eg aisle and shelf number

I’ve got some biscuits, right here

Don’t worry Jamie, they’re not NICE biscuits – those are shit

Luckily for customers they have hired some new kids during the re-fit called “go getters”, who wander about holding a sign saying “ask me if you can’t find stuff”. But they are new, and also don’t know where anything is!

😆

or why not just make the signs visible, rather than only being able to see them if you’re on the aisle.
I hate the word aisle, it should be spelled ile.
And WHY!>>!>??!? are 99% of toothpastes on the shelves made by Colgate???
shopping. pah.

Are NICE biscuits available on the NHS?

Anyway supermarket placing and pricing is incredibly complex and you are subject to scientific analysis as you shop. It’s rather interesting actually.

i guess it’s so you look at more items.

yep

There’s a great book by Vance Packard, The Hidden Persuaders, that explains it all. Most of the theory came out of research in the 50s in the US and has shaped consumer packaging and super market layouts ever since…..

Why not have a station on every aisle with a computer type thing. Type in what your looking for and get directions eg aisle and shelf number

or just have pickers like Argos.

You sit in the cafe with an expensive coffee selecting items on a tablet pc and some poor sod is sprinting around the store picking the items as you select them.

When you’ve finished your coffee you stroll over to the checkout present your card and walk out with your stuff all bagged up.

Have you ever watched Trollied ? 😀

95% of statistics are made up anyway.

100% True!

I now shop at LIDL its always the same and every LIDL is the same no matter where you are in the country 😀

and they sell cheap biscuits that taste nice

And at least the likes of ALDI and Lidl don’t have an irritating ‘Jeremy Kyle’ soundtrack. I would have stayed in my local ASDA and perhaps bought more, but due to the uncouth din of ASDA FM I turned around and walked out.

If you go to ALDI in fact any one in the UK I’ve been too, they are laid out the same no matter where you are. Makes for a very quick, efficient (and cheap shop).

And WHY!>>!>??!? are 99% of toothpastes on the shelves made by Colgate colgate-palmolive???

FTFY

You think that’s odd, think how much of you’re weekly shop is made by unilever (or if it’s not, how much could be).

Usually people come to your till, first thing thry say is “oh, I only came in for eggs n milk, didn’t mean to buy all this stuff” *points at massive load on checkout belt*. just goes to show how easily people are manipulated. It’s psychological warefare out there on the aisles, just people don’t realise it!