Posted on 03/14/2012 9:09:16 AM PDT by Altariel
Supermarkets are designed to promote impulse buying by leading shoppers through a maze of aisles.
But something incredible has happened since the recession. Shoppers are going only to select aisles. And this is killing store margins.
UBS cites research from Kantar Retail:
Consumers are not going down most aisles at the frequency they used to. Today, the more common way to shop is to only go down select aisles. 50% of consumers shop this way, which is a 6% increase since 2008. Consumers are highly focused on specific sales and specific coupons when shopping conventional supermarkets. This strongly suggests consumers are cherry picking grocery stores.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
THat’s the way my wife always shops. She plans our meals about 5-6 weeks ahead and buys for a month. Fill ins for milk etc are done when needed. SHe has a defined list and woe unto the poor husband who happens to be in sight when some ice cream “accidentally” falls into the cart.
The higer fuel prices go, the more expensive food becomes. People that pay for their own food are cherry picking and not impulse buying.
Those who use taxpayers to buy their food don’t worry about it. Two cartloads at one time tells the tale. Eventually, even these leeches will notice the taxpayer funded free food card will run out sooner.
Then they will whine and get behind the marxists and scream for higher taxes on anybody but them, because they don’t pay any.
Meat, potatos, salt and butter; the staples, are never in the same aisle so I always have to run the entire gauntlet.
i use the phrase used food all the time. it’s just priced down for quick sale because of the sell by date (or sell buy date). since i do most of the cooking and can walk to the grocery store i do a lot of same day or next day buying and cooking. i also have a large pantry for dry goods. if i don’t have a specific meal in mind i hit the used meat first and see what’s available and decide what to have with what looks good.
i tend to run the outside of KING SOOPERS instead of the middle isles unless i am looking for something specific. sometimes i have a new recipe in my hand. when they get the store finished it will be nice. thety did our store last year and, like road widening, it was annoying until they were finished.
i drive less too and plan trips a bit more UNLESS i need something for a model i am working on and it’s off to Colpar LHS (local hobby shop)
I quit buying Kraft, Best Foods, etc. years ago (unless it’s on sale cheap) and now buy the store brand. There is NO difference in the taste, especially in pasta salads and dressings where other flavorings take over. The Fred Meyer brand was $1.50 for years and now it’s gone up to $2.19, which is still a bargain compared to the name brands. Give it a try—trust me, you won’t notice a difference.
I’ve noticed anytime they move things around (at my local stores.) the price increases, is that happening at Kroger’s?
$5.16 for a jar of mayonnaise last week! Yep, it’s the change I was hoping for! :^( Every time I go to the grocery store I’m flabbergasted at the price increases.
I spoke to a Kroger manager about the cluttered aisles, and he said that it was a corporate decision. They had done studies and that when they put out lots of displays, people bought more on impulse. So the notion is they increase revenues from the same consumer base. I told him that if he was ever in one of those meetings, to tell them that a customer had asked “how much do you make when I start shopping at Walmart?” I’m about ready to start putting packs of chicken and fish in those wire displays that clog the aisles. One lady told me she knocks them over on purpose.
Those AFRTS public service ads were hilarious!
When I was deployed to Uzbekistan we received Armed Forces TV by satellite from Germany. The PSAs included:
How to impress the local restaurant staff by ordering in German.
Use extreme caution when granting general power of attorney to your best buddy (who in the PSA is gambling away all your assets)
The dancing heart candies with both suggestive and abstinence messages.
You can smoke Cuban cigars in Germany but you can’t bring them back.
Body language & gestures differ from one culture to another.
Photograph your high value possessions prior to shipment of household goods.
Don’t mess with the German Polizei. They are death when it comes to DUI and you will receive a field grade Article 15.
(Back to topic) In the grocery store or commissary, I go in with a list, and it’s loot & scoot.
“Damn! I thought I was unique with that “used” bit.”
Well, I thought it was funny. But I’ve never been known for the orthodoxy of my sense of humor—so take it for what it’s worth.
It’s changed a lot of things. I’m at a McDonalds now shortly after 1pm, and it’s not busy at all. I walk through Best Buy on a weekend afternoon and it’s relatively quiet.
People are just not spending money like they used to.
“My husband won’t eat anything buy Hellman’s light mayo. It pains me to pay that much for it, but he makes 6 figures, so how can I refuse? We CAN afford it, but it just gags me to spend that much for it.”
Hellman’s Light (Best Food Light in the west) is the only decent light mayo. Can’t blame him.
Retail operations are run by short sighted idiots. While one person will say tehir department has seen icnreased sales through such cluttered display another finds they have less customers but no one listens to that person. Usually, that person is let go for lack of performance but the problem was their customers were driven away by clutter. Years down the road some one with authority decides to remove the clutter then the cycle repeats.
For instance, Kroger (King Soopers here) allows people to basically panhandle, really sell thing, at the front doors. They are supposed to not confront customers but they do, plus I hate having to answer them everytime I go to the store.
Once time a lady shoved her flyer into my face, literally, and demanded I buy whatever the Hell it was she was selling. I was temporarily blinded by her flyer and ran into a small boy. His angle was cut fairly badly and went to the hsopital for treatment. We both let King Soopers know that any cost was going to them if we had to sue to get it. They have since cut back on the people they let panhandle. I immediately switched to Safeway and haven’t looked back. Shopping is a great experience compared to King Stupids.
Lol, I call anything with an orange sticker, close-out, or expires in two days, "Reduced for Quick Sale" or "Cheapo". I've started referring to other items as "Reduced for Quick Sale" also, even if it doesn't have the orange sticker.
I have noticed my local Walmart's expire the next day baked goods are now only 40% off the original price, rather than 60% off...harrummph.
I’ve noticed that my local HEB (Texas/Mexico grocery store) has started carrying icky meats that I don’t really enjoy seeing in the cases..and would’ve been considered inedible in my town of mostly retired folks from bigger TX cities...
Like Packages of CHICKEN FEET. I am sure some people think they are really good eating..but they were never a staple of Texas Hill Country German types, that’s for sure..Ugh.
While people paying for their own groceries are careful with their choices, those using EBT seem to have no such problem and buy high end steaks, crab legs, junk food and soda. When standing in a checkout line, it is very easy to tell who is using EBT.
Chicken feet aren’t for eating, they are for making broth. Any Jewish Grandmother knows that!
LOL - I remember several of those! A little sad that we left Panama in the middle of the “war” in December 1989, and they’re STILL using some of those PSAs!
Personally always been a get in, get out shopper.
harrummph indeed. Noticed the same in our local store. Every once in a while we get there early and stock up on a half-dozen loaves of assorted, sometimes exotic, bread at 88c a loaf. When I was a Night Stocker there I avoided the dumping bin where I'd see dozens of loaves of bread and cartons of eggs dumped in the early hours because they were perfectly good, but a day past expiration date. To see the waste was sickening.
Oh yeah, I'm showing some of those "used" posts to my wife, who was always horrified when I said to check the "used meat" section - euphemistically called "Managers Specials" (stayed away from the turned-black stuff though).
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