They literally just flipped the order of the frozen foods aisle. WHY.

i don't care I'm gonna buy my whatevers and I'm out of there

it's their fault then that i have to run through the store to get to it

It's their damn store, they own the place. Why shouldn't it be allowed?

That's also why they have those goddamn cardboard displays of random bullshit standing in most aisles. They form choke points that slow you down in front of the shelves.

The average amount of food I buy should be, on average, the same as the amount of food I consume, but the amount of food purchased during a given shopping trip varies, especially in the amount spent on nonperishables. I am likely to buy a lot of a given item, store the extras for when I need them, and buy more when I run out.

If I am wandering around the store, I may see an item (like a snack) that I am interested in trying and pick some up. In doing so, I am slightly delaying the next time I need to buy more, but it is an overall gain for the store since they are getting my money earlier and the future stock up trip may be from a different store.

I can’t guess what individual people will do but, as a group, shoppers end up spending more this way. Supermarkets and grocery stores typically sell many things besides food; toys, magazines, beauty products, etc.

The store also doesn’t need you to eat all the food you buy. If you throw out a bunch of food, as many people frequently do, the store still gets paid for all of it.

People buy more. It increases sales, it's not some secret. They may not buy more forever but a couple items is enough.

The brands aren't paying stores to do that, most grocery stores have very little interaction with brands directly and just order from warehouses.

Some people will definitely buy more. One look at global obesity rates shows that people don't buy less food just because they don't need to eat that much. He/she didn't say everyone would buy more, just some percentage. You're obviously not part of that percentage, which is great. But it doesn't have to be many who do to make the effort of rearranging worth it for stores. 1% of people buying more means millions of dollars for a big box chain that does hundreds of millions in sales every year.

But ultimately it's a combination of things. Some buy more. Some buy different brands they don't usually buy. Maybe those brands have a few more in the package than other brands and people unwittingly buy more. Maybe they try an entirely new product line they've never tried and it becomes a new normal thing.

As an adult it makes me mad mostly because I know I'm being played and being made intentionally less efficient but I have to deal with it anyway because I don't really have a choice.

I really want to find out who these psychologists are studying to come up with these findings. Anytime the layout changes or items are placed in obtuse places that make no sense I just get pissed off. I start brisk walking and scanning the aisles faster than normal and ignoring stuff even more. A lot of times I just say screw it and leave without buying anything out of spite. Then go buy the item elsewhere. A month or so later after they move all the stuff around again, I'll randomly find the item in the dumbest place ever, but no longer need it now.

Like I don't want to be shopping, I hate navigating around idiots that block entire aisles for no reason. It's not a leasurely or fun experience. I understand why they want me to stay longer, but they don't seem to understand that no matter how many times I look at the same stupid products my wallet and the lack of fucks I give about their stupid products far outweighs the amount of time I stare at it.

So tired of of having my time wasted by marketing analytics that report a 1% increases if such and such stuff is done. Makes me feel like I'm trapped in an MMO with only hardcore players who optimize their builds for the smallest negligible increases. It's exhausting

Here in the US, grocery stores of the same chain with the same corporate are all arranged wildly differently.

I just get stressed out and leave when it takes too long to find what I'm looking for...

I think maybe it's pointless in the sense that the average shopper doesn't think it influences them. Statistically, it does, but they may not feel like it does.

It's still shitty, regardless of how effective it may appear. There's a reason the common items are always spread out, as I'm sure you know. Can't have someone grabbing milk, cheese, eggs, bread, and fruit all from the same section, then they'd miss the donuts and the cakes and the frozen pizas and the 'managers discount' almost expired meat section (I like almost expired meat, I'm poor too, but still)

I'd love to know why they moved the kalamata olives from the section with pickled onions, gherkins etc to a section of shelving next to the pet food, along with other Greek foodstuffs such as antipasti, pesto and Bolognese sauce. Because that one really had me scratching my head.

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

So $12 for the healthy cereal then, got it. /j

Cause people who buy "actual food" never buy some snacks.

And also, suuuure, only the garbage food is the expensive stuff, riiiight?

Maybe stores that care about shopping locally should stock all the local products near the entrance, the interstate products beyond that, and the imported products right at the back. Encourage supporting local growers and producers, reducing transport carbon emissions, and make it real easy for the consumer to recognuze the difference

i was trying to give examples of the most common bought items, veg is an umbrella term for many different items

Well jokes on them, I used it to improve my resilience and adaptability anyway!

I mean I use the same store repetitively...

That's suprising. Poor guys, imagine actually going to the shop

This right here. The amount of notes I had to leave on instacart saying things like "do not buy if rotten" or "check for broken eggs" which seem like overly obvious things was too much for me. I had enough after I could get my vaccine and the last grocery order I put in involved frozen food. In spite the store being relatively close to my house, the tracker showed the driver go alllllll the way out to the suburbs 30 min away after leaving the store. Then when they delivered my groceries finally, I went to put everything away and realized the bagger didn't put the frozen stuff in a cold bag. So all that stuff was completely ruined. Never ordered groceries again. But I also laughed at the time I ordered 1 zucchini and they picked out the smallest zucchini I've ever seen in my life. Like... ok there's nothing wrong with it, but I didn't even know 2 inch zucchinis even existed 😂

I shop at Aldi and it costs money. They aren't even employed by the store but by the service.