The Aisle Profile:

There is a huge amount of thought put into every element of supermarket layout. Everything is designed to keep customers in the store as long as possible and to spend as much money as possible. Supermarkets have this down to a science and it’s quite fascinating to learn about the clever tricks they use to control your behaviour.

This is such an important part of the retail industry that supermarkets and even the brands within them hire store layout merchandising experts. These experts will ensure everything is done in the smartest way possible to ensure the best returns and maximum profits.

Item location

What is the first thing you see when you walk into a supermarket? It’s always fresh vegetables. There is a reason for this. It is designed to make everything seem fresh and healthy. The fruit and vegetables are always lit up super bright and often displayed in a rustic farmlike display to make you think everything is super fresh and delivered straight from the farm.

Key staples are spread out as far away from each other as possible. Generally, dairy products are as far away from the entrance as possible. With its short shelf-life, milk is a popular item people need to buy as part of their weekly shop. By putting it at the very back of the store, you are forced to walk past plenty of tempting impulse purchases along the way. 

Shelf organisation

Expensive brands are always at eye level on the shelves and the easiest to reach for. Often the cheaper home-brand versions of products are lower on the shelf. You might need to bend over to reach them or not see them behind your shopping cart. 

Kids products are also lower so it is easier for them to see and reach for items off the shelf. Researchers at Cornell found that cereal boxes with cartoon mascots on them are specifically designed with the height they will be displayed at in mind. This allows the cartoon eyes of the character to make eye contact with the kids as they walk by.

Popular items are often in the middle of an aisle so you have to walk past as many other products as possible. This is designed to increase impulse purchases along the way.

No External Time Cues

A way of making people stay shopping longer is with sensory deprivation. You will find it very rare to ever see a clock on a wall at a supermarket. They don’t want you to think you’ve been there too long or else you will leave without buying as many items. Most supermarkets are in specially designed buildings with no external windows. This also helps make it harder to tell how long you’ve been there. Has the sun gone down? Who knows. It prevents people from seeing when it starts raining outside, no cutting your shopping short to rush home to take your washing off the line if you don’t know it’s raining. The same also goes for skylights. 

Shop Radio

There have been several studies over the years that suggest that music can make people shop longer. Supermarkets will usually have their own radio stations that play adverts for their own products and family-friendly music. They also have Christmas playlists on repeat in the months leading to Christmas. The advantage of controlling the radio in the store is that it also avoids issues like any bad language being said by the radio hosts or within the music. No competitor advertisements that might be airing. No time, traffic and weather updates by the radio hosts that could remind people to hurry up and go home.

Difficult to exit

Have you ever walked into a supermarket and through the automated door barriers and remembered you left your shopping list, phone, wallet or shopping bags in your car? These doors can be very difficult to exit back through and you may have to walk through the whole store and awkwardly through a checkout line to get out of the store. These one-way only entrances are designed to make it hard for you to leave the store empty-handed. It may also discourage people from coming in to compare prices and not buy anything or from trying to make a quick exit with stolen merchandise. 

Next time you’re at the supermarket, think about all these elements and see if you can spot them in action.