High Cost of Groceries Requires Better Vision

Here we are still in the path of the inflation hurricane whose path has run directly through the ward of food prices 12 months later. Whether it ends soon or ends never, I’ve been made aware of a concept recently that can help us all save money (at least I think) during these times and for the rest of time.

The concept is called planogramming or using a “planogram” to help create the most profitable shelf space in a retail setting. Doing a little more research, it can also be called category management. I’m going to use shoe shopping as my example here first and then pivot to groceries.

The way a planogram works or is supposed to work is that this software takes all of your various shoes, say in a Foot Locker kind of store, and places your most valuable shoes right in the normal sightline of the average customer. Certainly, not everyone is the same size, but you get the point that guys probably average 5’11” these days and women a touch shorter and then they are guessing we are looking just slightly below what is parallel to our eyes. There is a science to what stores are places in these zones so that we see either their most popular or flashiest or most profitable shoes before we see anything else. In this example, the shoes on the bottom row by the floor are the least important to the store. The shoes on the top row are the second least, and so on until we get to the sweet spot in front of our eyes.

I imagine this makes sense to most people, even if you’ve never given it a moment’s thought. Of course the shelf is arranged in some sensible manner. Of course they want to make popular shoes easy to find. What most people might not realize is that there is computer software involved in determining these decisions.

Let’s move to groceries. I’m going to use ice cream as an example. I’m guessing there are many people out there who have a favorite brand or even flavor, and I’m guessing for those people, they just look around until they find it and come what may on pricing. However, in today’s world of high prices combined with people being less likely to waste money on food they don’t need, that ice cream is a luxury. Just know that your local grocery store is being powered by some version of planogram software. I just linked to Scorpion, not as an endorsement, but just as a well-known brand that has been doing this for a while. So your local Kroger or Whole Foods or Wegman’s is using a software like Scorpion’s to position their most profitable ice cream right in front of your face. We have to know this. And we have to understand this for every–at least every packaged–item that we buy. Probably less of a thing for produce.

If you are buying shredded cheese or salsa or taco shells–and obviously, I’m thinking about tacos right now–you MUST look around at the options and judge either by the overall cost or cost per unit to make your decision. In tight times, everyone is losing their brand loyalty. And as supermarkets position one brand over another, most unsuspecting shoppers are buying that brand and the price will begin to drop or is already low for the brand/product that is in less advantageous space.

If you are shopping at a store that has its own line of products, you’ll likely see them promote their line above others, and normally it is cheaper than name brands so everyone wins.

But my advice is to take a step back and scan the whole area, top and bottom, side to side. See everything and all options and don’t just grab and go. It will make your grocery trip take longer, but you will come away with a cheaper bill.