h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.h2g2.com/A491140

Noting the several threads relating to the joys and otherwise of shopping, I was moved to write this. This is the most opinionated piece I have so far written, and may thus transgress the rules of the Guide. I am not sure that the subject itself would be worth the time, if written objectively, and I have used the poor humble Planogram as a tool in my minor, but personal, rant. I shall be very interested to see what you make of it.

I'd rename the entry to "Planograms"...

It does seem reasonably balanced, to be honest - though others may disagree. It's certainly something I'd be interested in seeing in the guide - the degree of customer manipulation is scandalous.

A few things you missed...?

Bulky things at the start of the store - like Charcoal and suchlike. This encourages customers to take a larger trolley, and not a basket.

Customers naturally turn to the right - so all the really profitable items will be on the right as the customer walks in the door.

What is it with those things blowing hot air at you as you walk out???

Lighting, music, and smells all encourage a more dreamlike state - blinks/minute drops by about 50% when entering a superstore. Smells of baking bread near the bread section, for example. That's a little offtrack, maybe.

And for avice to help counter these things - the best one I heard is to eat well before you go foodshopping - so you don't impulse buy chox. The other is to take a list, of course.

I'd rename the entry to "Planograms"...

It does seem reasonably balanced, to be honest - though others may disagree. It's certainly something I'd be interested in seeing in the guide - the degree of customer manipulation is scandalous.

A few things you missed...?

Bulky things at the start of the store - like Charcoal and suchlike. This encourages customers to take a larger trolley, and not a basket.

Customers naturally turn to the right - so all the really profitable items will be on the right as the customer walks in the door.

What is it with those things blowing hot air at you as you walk out???

Lighting, music, and smells all encourage a more dreamlike state - blinks/minute drops by about 50% when entering a superstore. Smells of baking bread near the bread section, for example. That's a little offtrack, maybe.

And for avice to help counter these things - the best one I heard is to eat well before you go foodshopping - so you don't impulse buy chox. The other is to take a list, of course.

I'd rename the entry to "Planograms"...

It does seem reasonably balanced, to be honest - though others may disagree. It's certainly something I'd be interested in seeing in the guide - the degree of customer manipulation is scandalous.

A few things you missed...?

Bulky things at the start of the store - like Charcoal and suchlike. This encourages customers to take a larger trolley, and not a basket.

Customers naturally turn to the right - so all the really profitable items will be on the right as the customer walks in the door.

What is it with those things blowing hot air at you as you walk out???

Lighting, music, and smells all encourage a more dreamlike state - blinks/minute drops by about 50% when entering a superstore. Smells of baking bread near the bread section, for example. That's a little offtrack, maybe.

And for avice to help counter these things - the best one I heard is to eat well before you go foodshopping - so you don't impulse buy chox. The other is to take a list, of course.

An excellent article . Would the inclusion of something about Large retailers blackmailing their suppliers so as to stop them supplying other rival stores be appopriate do you think?

The re-birth has put more recent conversations in limbo for the moment, so this one re-appeared on my page, and I feel moved to respond. As you probably guessed there is an element of personal griping here, but it is, nevertheless, a (hopefully) new and informative subject for most, so I hope it gets through the system.

The central thesis is that the use of planograms (and the thinking behind them) leads to standardisation, to a core of products that everyone sells and buys and obstructs change and development by limiting the introduction of the new, and is therefore A BAD THING.

As I am not trying to explain precisely what they are, I'll note your comment, but leave the title as it is for the time being.

Similarly, it is not meant to be a diatribe against supermarkets (I will try that another time) and I was thinking I already had too much stuff off centre.

Apologies to you both, I forgot to say thanks for your notes. Thanks.

Just to add to the statement (or truth) that it's in the shop owner's interest: it's always those items up front in a shelf which are closest to the 'best before...' date. So if you plan to buy food stocks for several weeks you should check the ones in behind. That is, if there are any! Clever shop managers have their shelves refilled precisely when the last 'old' item has been taken out.

You should use some GuideML paragraph tags ( and ) to divide the text into more easily readable, err, paragraphs!

This entry should be entitled "Planograms". If you want to add a comment, put it after the title: "Planograms - a necessary evil" or something like that.

Since the article is about planograms, you should explain in the very first paragraph what a planogram is:

"A planogram is a map which shopkeepers use to maximize ... etc."

Thank you all for your comments. Obviously I shall have to re-consider this entry, and will let you know (via this thread) when the work is done.

(G, In my experience, so far anyway, a 'silly', 'snappy' or 'interesting' title attracts more comment in PR, and always gets changed by the editors anyway back to something sensible)

you might mention the items at the register- the candy, gum, batteries, magazines, etc., all "impulse items", put there so that people will maybe pick up a little extra while they are waiting.
and malls have their own special gimmicks: all the twists and turns so you can't tell how far you've walked, the benches so that people will rest there instead of going home, the plants by the benches that give the place a nicer atmosphere and yet, somehow, don't block your veiw of the stores to either side(that's one reason they use palms, another is to make a more tropical atmosphere), the fact that all the related stores(like shoe stores) are scattered trhoughout the mall, so you'll have to walk all over the place to get to all of them. not sure if those are particularly helpful, though.(helpful to your article, that is, they are most certainly helpful to the mall!)

Oh yes, and those items placed at the register to attract children and annoy parents ("Mummy, I want this, and that...")

Re: posting 10.

Did you get any further?

Well, I started to, Bossel, but got distracted. I'll have another go soon. The point I was trying to make was about the standardistaion and 'dumbing down' that is no one's fault in particular, but nevertheless infects every part of our lives, however mundane and ordinary. I saw your point about sweets by the till. Its tricky isn't it. You can't really blame or punish or restrict the shopkeeper. He is there to make a profit. You can't blame the kids for wanting the stuff. Maybe you could say something about the parents for giving in, but I doubt that too many would. So thats another small situation that nobody is particularly to blame for, but which devalues our lives (In terms, in this case, of tooth rot.)

Just call me grumpy.

Sweets by the till

In Dublin, one Supermarket chain made a big thing of not having sweets by the till, for the benefit of the parents. They started by having one or two tills with no sweets, and found that far more people went to these, so they converted the entire shop and made a lot of announcements. People started going to this supermarket chain because of this and a lot of other "customer service" features. Now all the major supermarket chains have removed sweets from the till to compete.

Which just goes to show how civilised life must be in Dublin!

I am aware that this is probably some 5-10 years out of date as a phenomenom, and that many supermarkets have moved on a long time ago. But I am rarely in supermarkets of any sort, so what do I know? Besides it is not mentioned in my essay at all, its something that has come up in the thread.

One of the hats I wear does give me a responsibility for keeping those little round lollies at a till, mainly, in my case, to keep the dear sweet things (children, not lollies!) distracted from otherwise wrecking the shop. I may be moved to re-consider. I had not really looked at it from the parents point of view. I just observe the whining brats whinge wheedle and otherwise browbeat their parents with some amusement, perhaps drawing social observations from the different responses of the parents. Taking them away would deprive me of that small pleasure. I wonder if it would please my customers? I may try it for a month and see what the response is!

Hmmm!

Yes, I think I will try it. There, the researchers of H2G2 have combined their arguments with such force as to cause one small till in one small shop to be sweetless for a month. What power is this!

Cool entry, just wondering:
"If the shop owner is of any size, if he has several sites to oversee and manage, he must lay down the law. He must stipulate which products go where, and in what quantity. "

Are we talking fat shop keepers here ? or just about owners of large shops...

vp

Well, Pheroneous has 'zapped himself the h*ll out of this planet', but anyway, this one should make it into the Edited guide


Bossel (Scout)

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Peer Review' to 'The insidious influence of PLANOGRAMS'.

This thread has been moved out of the Peer Review Forum because your entry has now been recommended for the Edited Guide.

You can find out what will happen to your entry here: http://www.h2g2.com/SubEditors-Process

Congratulations!

I may be posting this into the blue sky as Pheroneous has officially retired from h2g2, but anyway:

Congratulations, and lots of . You know the rest. After a wash-up from a Sub-Editor this entry will, sooner or later, be featured on the h2g2 front page. An email from the Editors will tell you about that very fact. etc, etc.




Bossel