The Art of the Aisle

Amy Keller | 10/1/2007

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Customers entering Whole Foods stores are funneled into a colorful produce department with plenty of opportunities for impulse buys. [Photo: Tim Healy]

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There’s a reason grocers typically display milk and eggs in the back of a store: Placing staples far from the entrance forces consumers to walk past more potential impulse purchases. Other traditional strategies: Placing high-margin goods at eye level, three or four rows from the bottom because shoppers are more likely to reach for the first item in their direct line of sight.

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Those tried-and-true strategies pale beside what’s going on with the design and layout of grocery stores these days, as chains face more competition from convenience and warehouse stores while trying to meet consumer demand for an increasing array of goods and services, from fresh arugula to rotisserie chicken.

Design still fulfills its traditional role of funneling consumers strategically through the store. But it also has become a way for the chains to differentiate themselves. “Up until very recently, according to shoppers, the traditional food stores looked very similar to each other — or they looked just plain bad,” says Chris Ohlinger, a supermarket industry veteran who heads up SIRS Inc., a market research company.

Most major chains in Florida have reworked their stores in recent years. Sweetbay, the Tampa-based supermarket chain own by the Brussels-based Delhaize Group, recently completed a rebranding of what had been Kash n’ Karry; the redesign spotlights an expanded array of fresh goods as part of its “passion for food” marketing approach. A reorganized Winn-Dixie is dumping its old pink and turquoise color scheme for warmer earth tones and refocusing on its perishable departments. Publix Super Markets has introduced two new formats: Publix Sabor, geared toward Hispanic shoppers, and Publix GreenWise Market, a store focused on natural and organic products.

IMAGE CORNER: The execution of a meat department like this one at Sweetbay is key to creating an inviting shopping experience: Research shows that even vegetarians judge a supermarket on the cleanliness and freshness of the store’s meats and seafoods. [Photo: Tim Healy]

The chains know that these days they have to generate an emotional response from their customers. Says Ohlinger: “The successful retailing space today is the one that uses sound, smell, architecture, painting, the printed word, interior design, sculpture, ergonomics, theater and technological advancements (i.e., video and virtual reality) combined to create a strong emotional experience for customers. Or, in other words, 21st century art — which moves people to action.”

The Front Door

Most stores funnel customers to the right as they enter — and with good reason: Stores with right-sided entries promote a counterclockwise movement around the store, and counterclockwise shoppers spend an average of $2 more per shopping trip than clockwise shoppers, says shopping behavior expert Herb Sorensen of Sorensen Associates.

Some chains have modified the traditional entrance so that customers entering their stores never see the backs of the cashiers and checkout aisles. Whole Foods Market and The Fresh Market funnel their customers directly into vibrant fruit and vegetable sections, sometimes having them enter the left side of the store; Sweetbay introduced that approach into its design as it overhauled the Kash n’ Karry brand.

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