As you walk into a store a multitude of details bombard your senses; Colors, lights, smells, and signs all fight for your attention and draw you towards what they have to sell. As an average shopper you may not even realize the techniques a store uses to keep you coming back. These details go practically unnoticed, picked up only by your subconscious making you think “I like this store.” From the types of foods, to the layout and design of the shelving, everything has been carefully planned for the shopper. Although every store uses different technique to project their “ideal image,” the overall layout and design aspects of a store tend to be similar.
Stores are built with these overarching similarities because they want what attracts customers to the store. The smaller touches and adjustment are what make each store unique while still keeping the best layout. Almost all grocery stores tend to have the same food store feeling while still having and offering a variety of different products.
Harris Teeter is an example of your typical family friendly neighborhood grocery store. As a large chain store all Harris Teeters tend to look alike, no matter where you find them, inside and out. This has advantages of its own because no matter what Harris Teeter you go in to, you are likely to find your favorite items right where they usually are, even if it was over 1000 miles away. This is because they all have the same time tested and customer proven layout.
Some researchers propose that grocery store shoppers actually like having certain foods in certain places in a store. While the layout of a store may not seem as important as the products in them, it can have a major effect of what is bought and why. For instance, have you ever noticed yourself walking past row after row of items and you find just what you need sitting on the nice little shelves at the edges of the aisle? Probably not. These items are usually not what you go into the store looking for, but you notice them anyway as you stroll through the store. From cookies and treats to items on sale, these aisle end caps are there to entice you to buy something you didn’t go in for. These tricky little shelves are just one way a typical grocery store pulls your focus from what you came in for to what you want but shouldn’t buy.
Walking past the aisles is almost inevitable when shopping in a typical grocery store. The stores layout tells the story why. Some of the top items that consumers buy most often and more regularly from a food store include milk, bread, fruit, and possibly a meat. These items are typically used quickly but also expire quickly which means more trips to the grocery store. A grocery store takes full advantage of this fact and lays out their store for “your convenience.”
Entering a store you will find yourself ushered over to the produce section. In a store like Harris Teeter this section is brightly lit with fluorescent lights and bordered with large pastoral signs. Fake or real plants may be scattered around and the fruit and vegetables are displayed similarly to that of a country stand. Natural greens and browns are used to decorate the signs and stands. All of these aspects persuade customers to think their produce is fresh, clean, and natural. Stores like Harris Teeter tend to have large produce sections boasting a variety of in and out of season foods from far and wide. This allows people who want a variety of their favorite produce no matter the time of year to get what they want.
Next comes the bakery section. Conveniently located next to the produce it is the second stop that also proclaims fresh and natural options. In Harris Teeter wooden shelves are used to conger up a small, local bakery feel. Some breads are placed in bags and plastic containers to show off their freshly baked qualities. The smell of fresh bread also entices customers to pick up one of their French baguettes even if it is not what they came for. This section has less signs which show off the “higher quality” of the food being sold. Regular brand name bread is sold around the corner but this bread section is made to show off Harris Teeters quality side.
The meat, poultry, and fish section is typically the next. In a store like Harris Teeter there are actually two sections for meat in the store: a deli section and an uncooked meats section. In the deli section selections of freshly sliced and prepackaged meats are displayed in chilled cases. High quality brands are displayed alongside the freshly packaged products. Large pieces of wrapped meats are displayed in a case over the sliced varieties as would be typical of a deli. This is once again to portray the freshness of individual specialty stores in a grocery store setting.
You then finally arrive in the milk and Dairy section. This section is placed near the back so that shoppers have to walk through most of the store to reach this important product. As is typical of a grocery store they have a large variety of milk and dairy products kept cold in refrigerated displays and cases in the back of the store. In Harris Teeter large milk jugs sit on top of the milk display linking the products to fresh milk from a farm. Small signs advertising special deals and great prices poke out in multiple places along the shelves. This aisle combines Harris Teeters fresh and wholesome food with their reasonable prices. Milk is a staple in the household and Harris Teeter uses it to show off how they cater to the typical customer’s needs.
As you go on this trip around the edge of the store you find you are passing by aisle after aisle of dry goods. This is by far the largest section in most food stores. In a store like Harris Teeter the variety and brands offered can be vast and daunting. This is one reason many stores place these aisles in the center of the store. There is no need to walk through every aisle. Making the aisles accessible from each side allows shoppers to stroll down only the aisles they need. This is the main place where convenience really shines through. The store layout does not force a customer down all or any of the aisles but simply leaves them open.
This is the general layout that most stores abide by: Entrance on the right with the produce section first, followed by the bakery section, meats and poultry, eggs and dairy with freezer sections and dry goods aisle in the center of the store. It is a proven and tested layout that encourages shoppers to go through the entire store before heading for the checkout.
Even in a small local grocery store like the Weaver Street Market, located in Chapel Hill, abides by many of these tell tale design aspects and techniques; they still use end caps and have a similar produce to milk and freezer layout that encourage shoppers to traverse the entire store. The market advertises themselves as a unique, local, heath food store which means some of the conventional design aspects of each section are changed to better reflect their image and cater to their local clientele. More than anything, the way they present their items the items they choice to stock are what makes Weaver Street Market more than your typical shopping trip.
As you enter Weaver Street Market you find yourself, as usual, in the produce section. This section, though, only generally resembles that of the more typical section of its competitor Harris Teeter. This is because, unlike Harris Teeter, it does not offer every type of produce at any time of the year. Workers unpack crates full of fresh local produce from the area. Most of the produce is organic and all the unpackaged produce is from the local community. Their selections are ever-changing with season and availability which gives the customer a real taste of the area.
The fruits and vegetables are displayed in wooden stalls in a disarrayed fashion are more equitable to a market stall than that of Harris Teeters orderly selection. The size and shape of the produce differ from one another hinting at their more natural upbringing. The space replaces the large signs and bright fluorescent light with natural, low lighting and smaller signs with pictures of the local farms and farmers where their food actually comes from. This is far different than the generic pastoral scene presented at Harris Teeter. The less distracting, calming setting helps portray the natural, local attitude that Weaver Street Market boasts.
Continue through the store you are instead directed towards the meat, poultry, and fish section. Once again the displays are more raw and natural and there is a lack of large signs and discount price tags. Freshly packed meat is prominently displayed without labels and information covering the packaging. Weaver Street Market is not trying to hide behind name brands and gimmicks but puts the quality of the food front and center. Although some brands are carried they do not tend to be the typical mainstreams of Harris Teeter. They are lesser known companies who advertising the special qualities of their product; whether fat free, free roaming, or organic these are not your typical products. Once again, a lesser selection points out their local and fresh intensions. A larger selection with more products usually means more preservatives. This is one thing that Weaver Street is trying to get away from. By having a smaller selection they can assure that their food is fresh and more natural than their competitors.
Next stop on your tour of the Weaver Street Market is likely to be the milk and dairy section. Most uniquely found in this store is their glass milk bottles said to keep the milk fresh longer. These milk bottles are completely bare of any labels and are reminiscent of the time when milk came in unmarked glass bottles to your doorstep. Regular brands surround these unique bottles showing that the store is still willing to offer other typical brands of dairy while emphasizing the glass bottles by putting them front and center.
Dry good are displayed similarly to that of any grocery store. The brands are different, mainly offering organic or gluten free options, and there are typically less discount signs but generally speaking, this section does not differ drastically from the typical design. Where there is a large difference is the freezer section. It is very small. Only a few cabinets long. Instead, a much larger section of freshly packaged and prepared meals fill an entire refrigerated aisle. Instead of offering typically commercially made, frozen, and unhealthy options they have replaced it with a large variety of freshly prepared products showing their desire to give healthy options to the community.
Unlike in Harris Teeter, the Weaver Street Market’s bakery is located near the front of the store before the checkout lines making the store end on a fresh note like it begun by emphasizing their baked fresh daily bread and deserts. Placed in a large glass cabinet with paper bags and baskets to put the food in, the large rustic round breads and baguettes are clearly connected to the experience of being in a bakery. By putting it near the end of their store it makes it easy to grab and hard to avoid as you head to the checkout. This is the key to the layout of a store, placing what you want to be sold in front of the customer.
Overall it is not the change in layout that makes one store better than another, but the quality of the food and design techniques. Each store has its own links to specialty store which show how they strive to reproduce the fresh, natural, wholesome ideals these places represent. The signs, lighting, selection, and presentation are all small yet utterly influencing design aspects that are the difference between the success or failure of a store. These two similar yet uniquely different stores compete for every customer’s attention which is why, in the end, we must remember it is all about the customer. A store can use the all these techniques to persuade and influence, but it is the customer’s preference that prevails. The customer is the center of it all. The local clientele of the Weaver Street Market are searching for organic and natural which exemplifies the areas thirst for alternative eating. Harris Teeter, on the other hand, caters to everyone. The customers are what really make Weaver Street Market and Harris Teeter so different and what makes them strive to change and arrange the way they do.
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