Supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products,
organized into sections and shelves.
The supermarket typically has aisles for meat, fresh produce, dairy, and baked goods. Shelf space is also
reserved for canned and packaged goods and for various non-food items such as kitchenware,
household cleaners, pharmacy products and pet supplies. Some supermarkets also sell other household
products that are consumed regularly, such as alcohol (where permitted), medicine, and clothes, and
some sell a much wider range of non-food products: DVDs, sporting equipment, board games, and
seasonal items (e.g., Christmas wrapping paper in December).
Layout strategies
Most merchandise is already packaged when it arrives at the supermarket. Packages are placed on
shelves, arranged in aisles and sections according to type of item. Some items, such as fresh
produce, are stored in bins. Those requiring an intact cold chain are in temperature-controlled
display cases.
While branding and store advertising will differ from company to company, the layout of a supermarket
remains virtually unchanged. Although big companies spend time giving consumers a pleasant shopping
experience, the design of a supermarket is directly connected to the in-store marketing that
supermarkets must conduct in order to get shoppers to spend more money while there.
Supermarkets are designed to "give each product section a sense of individual difference and this is
evident in the design of what is called the anchor departments; fresh produce, dairy, delicatessen, meat
and the bakery". Each section has different floor coverings, style, lighting and sometimes even individual
services counters to allow shoppers to feel as if there are a number of markets within this one
supermarket.
Marketers use well-researched techniques to try to control purchasing behavior. The layout of a
supermarket is considered by some to consist of a few rules of thumb and three layout principles. The
high-draw products are placed in separate areas of the store to keep drawing the consumer through the
store. High impulse and high margin products are placed in the most predominant areas to grab
attention. Power products are placed on both sides of the aisle to create increased product awareness,
and end caps are used to receive a high exposure of a certain product whether on special, promotion or
in a campaign, or a new line.
principles
The first principle of the layout is circulation. Circulation is created by arranging product so the
supermarket can control the traffic flow of the consumer. Along with this path, there will be high-
draw, high-impulse items that will influence the consumer to purchase which he or she did not
intend. Service areas such as restrooms are placed in a location which draws the consumer past
certain products to create extra buys. Necessity items such as bread and milk are found at the rear
of the store to increase the start of circulation. Cashiers' desks are placed in a position to promote
circulation. The entrance will be on the right-hand side because research has shown that consumers
who travel in a counter-clockwise direction spend more.
The second principle of the layout is coordination. Coordination is the organized arrangement of
product that promotes sales. Products such as fast-selling and slow-selling lines are placed in
strategic positions in aid of the overall sales plan. Managers sometimes place different items in fast-
selling places to increase turnover or to promote a new line.
The third principle is consumer convenience. The layout of a supermarket is designed to create a high
degree of convenience to the consumer to make the shopping experience pleasant and increase
customer spending. This is done through the character of merchandising and product placement. There
are many different ideas and theories in relation to layout and how product layout can influence the
purchases made. One theory suggests that certain products are placed together or near one another
that are of a similar or complementary nature to increase the average customer spend. This strategy is
used to create cross-category sales similarity. In other words, the toothpaste is next to or adjacent the
toothbrushes and the tea and coffee are down the same aisle as the sweet biscuits. These products
complement one another and placing them near is one-way marketers try to increase purchases. For
vertical placement, cheap generic brands tend to be on the lowest shelves, products appealing to
children are placed at the mid-thigh level, and the most profitable brands are placed at eye level.
The fourth principle is the use of color psychology, and the locations of the food,[36] similar to its use in
fast food branding.
