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for those of you who think this is hogwash, the VP or whatever of walmart stores has said in a documentary that milk is placed at the back so that people browse through the rest of the store on their way there, because it's one of their most popular items.
Let me guess - this is confirmed by someone's first cousin, twice removed, who swears that she knows someone who heard this...
This is a classic case of chicx & eggs - which came 1st, the design & layout of stores or the "marketing concept" used to justify layouts?
FWIW, I forgot @ WM - the closest one has a refrigerated food section at the very front/left side - the same side as it's secondary loading dock. Wonder why?
It's easier to stock high turnover items in the dairy case from the back, so it is located against a wall that has rear access, normally from the stockroom.
Let me guess - this is confirmed by someone's first cousin, twice removed, who swears that she knows someone who heard this...
Make all the snarky comments you want, I have heard it first hand from the grocery store owner, manager and asst. manager. Obviously, not every store follows this plan but it was definitely the case for the one I worked in.
And yet, in the stores I shop at......the ice cream is always in the middle of the store.....and that includes Wal*Mart.
Not smart, IMO.
I always start shopping on one side of the store and work my way through the aisles to the other side of the store.
Many times, when I pass the ice cream, I think about getting some.......BUT......I don't want it to start melting while I work my way through the rest of the aisles, so I pass it by.......and then......when I am done......the urge to pick up that ice cream is gone or I don't want to bother going back to the middle to pick it up.
What ARE they thinking?
Needless to say, I very rarely ever buy ice cream.....and that's a good thing. LOL
It's not about customer convenience. It's for store necessity. Frozen food is stored for a longer time. Refrigerated products with shorter handling time need to be in a covenant location near the store room. Though one supermarket I shop in has the frozen foods section on the side of the store. Ice cream and such is stocked from the back, just like dairy products.
You should probably organize your shopping trips better though. I but a lot of ice cream, but it melts more in my car on the way home, then it does in the short time, I'm in the store.
It's not about customer convenience. It's for store necessity. Frozen food is stored for a longer time. Refrigerated products with shorter handling time need to be in a covenant location near the store room. Though one supermarket I shop in has the frozen foods section on the side of the store. Ice cream and such is stocked from the back, just like dairy products.
You should probably organize your shopping trips better though. I but a lot of ice cream, but it melts more in my car on the way home, then it does in the short time, I'm in the store.
The trip from the stockroom to a display case on an end aisle or near the front of the store could be easily timed to be done in a short amount of time......just a few seconds more time than it takes to put it in an aisle in the middle of the store.
I methodically work my way from one end of the store to the other instead of backtracking.....I call that organized. Also, I only go grocery shopping once every 2-3 weeks.....that requires organization.
Another major problem......when I am done shopping, I have no idea how long I will be stuck waiting in line to check out. That could easily take longer than it does for me to drive home. If my drive home was the problem, I could keep a small cooler in the trunk.
For me, ice cream is an impulse buy, ....once I have passed it in the middle aisle, because I still have half of the store to go through.....that impulse is gone.....out of sight, out of mind.
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I don't know which is true (so that you have walk through the store and hopefully buy something else along the way ... or because the cooler/venting system is in the back), but what I will tell you is this:
If my plan is to ONLY buy milk, I don't take a cart or a basket when I walk into the store. And when I buy milk, I buy the gallon container. So, on my way to get the milk (which IS in the back in my case), I have nothing to put my "extra" purchase in (and I'd need to put it somewhere so I can sift through the milk cartons to find the one with the latest "sell before" date). And on my way to check out, I'm holding a gallon of milk and just want to put the damn thing down.
The trip from the stockroom to a display case on an end aisle or near the front of the store could be easily timed to be done in a short amount of time......just a few seconds more time than it takes to put it in an aisle in the middle of the store.
I methodically work my way from one end of the store to the other instead of backtracking.....I call that organized. Also, I only go grocery shopping once every 2-3 weeks.....that requires organization.
Another major problem......when I am done shopping, I have no idea how long I will be stuck waiting in line to check out. That could easily take longer than it does for me to drive home. If my drive home was the problem, I could keep a small cooler in the trunk.
For me, ice cream is an impulse buy, ....once I have passed it in the middle aisle, because I still have half of the store to go through.....that impulse is gone.....out of sight, out of mind.
Again as the other post pointed out, the dairy display case and the cold storage unites are usually one and the same. That would allow the display case to be stocked multiple times a day, with very minimum labor. Frozen foods only need to be stocked probably once or twice a week. Probably at night time. It just makes economic sense to have the dairy products on the back wall, and the frozen foods in the middle.
Would you want to pay extra for extra cost of having it your way? If so you should look around for other stores in your area. As I said one store I shop at has frozen foods on the side of the store. It's a very nice store, but its not the cheapest, and the frozen food section is not as big, as others.
I don't know which is true (so that you have walk through the store and hopefully buy something else along the way ... or because the cooler/venting system is in the back), but what I will tell you is this:
If my plan is to ONLY buy milk, I don't take a cart or a basket when I walk into the store. And when I buy milk, I buy the gallon container. So, on my way to get the milk (which IS in the back in my case), I have nothing to put my "extra" purchase in (and I'd need to put it somewhere so I can sift through the milk cartons to find the one with the latest "sell before" date). And on my way to check out, I'm holding a gallon of milk and just want to put the damn thing down.
On the good side you, it gives you a bit of exercise. But yeah, thats pretty much the way I shop too.
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