"Shelf placement is the art of stocking related products on store shelves in such a way that sales are increased." (Devilla, 2012)
Since I am not going to analyse the shelf placement here in depth; here is a good article that simply explains it.
and here is a short study
Such examples are:
- daily products in the far end of the shop in order to force you to walk through the whole shop(you will see something that tempts you on your way!) ;
- Products at "eye level". It is more likely that you will see the products that are at your height level instead of those in the bottom;
- Chocolates and gums at checkout while you wait. How many times did you buy products that you didn't want to buy?;
- Have you ever wondered why chocolates, ice cream, games and everything that kids like are on lower shelves?
All these are examples that you usually hear but since you don't have any sale statistics you don't understand the importance of the placement. The follow example though, shows the difference between a good placement and a not so good "product" placement.
In one particular supermarket in the UK they give plastic coins to the customers who on their way out have three options to choose from to deposit the coins which in turn will be converted to real money that go to the three charities.
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| Exit door |
The one nearest to the exit has more plastic coins(green), and the second one has more than the third box. Is that the choice of the consumer or is it all about placement?
