"INTRODUCING TO A SPACE MANAGEMENT" "A HIGH -OCTANE, ADRWNALINE-FUELED THRILL RIDE."Tim estiloz,CN8 the comecase network
well come to this talk on space management. And today I'm going to look particulary at space management in the supermarket.......................................
now since the time supermarkets began, marketing consultants, like us, have been gathiering information about customers' shopping habits.
To date, verious research methods have been used to help promote the sales of supermarket products.............................................
There is , for example, the simple and direct questionnaire which provides information from customers about their views on displays and products and then help retailers make decisions about what to put where
Another method to help managers understand just how shoppers go around thier stores are the hidden television cameras that flim us as we shop and monitor our physical movement around the supermarket aisles: where do we start, what do we buy last, what attracts us etc
More shopisticated techniques now include video surveillance and such devices as the eye movement recorder. This is a device which shoppers volunteer to wear taped into a headband, and which traces thier eye movements as they walk roubd the shop recording the most eye-cathing areas of shelves and aisles.................................................
But with today's technology, space management is now a highly sophisticated method of monipulatig the way we shop to ensure maximum profit. supermakets are able to invest millions of products in powerful computers which tell them what sells best and where.
Now an example of this is spaceman which isa computer program that helps the retailer to decide which particular products sells best in which part of the store. Now spaceman works by receving information from the electronic checkouts (where customer pay) on how well a product is selling in a particular position. spaceman then suggests the most profitable combination of an article and its position in the store.
So let's have a look at what we know about supermarket and the way people behave when they walk down the aisle and take the articles they think they need from the shelves.Now here's a diagram of one supremarket aisle and two rows of shelves. Here's the entrance at the top left-hand corner
"SPECTACULAR ASTONISHING STUNNING...................."
Now products placed here , at the beginning of aisle , don't sell well. In tests, secret fixed cameras have filmed shppers' movement around a store over a seven day period . when the film is speeded up ,it clearly shows that we walk straight past these areas on our way to the centre of an aisle. Items placed here just don't attrat people.
When we finally stop at the centreof an aisle, we pause and take stock casting our eyes along the length of it. Now products displayed here sell well and do even better if they are placed at eye level so that the customers eyes hit upon them instantly.Products here are snapped up and manufectures pay a lot for these shelf areas which are known in the trade as hotspot.Naturally everyone wants their products tobe in a hotspot.
But the prime position in the atore are the ends of the aisles, otherwise known as Gondola ends. Now these stand out and grab our attention................................................
For this reason new products are launched in these position and manufacturers are charged widely varying prices for this privileged spot. Also the end of an aisle may be used for promoting special offers which are frequently found waiting for us as weturn the corner of an aisle.
Well,now,eventually of course, we have to pay.Any spot where a supermarket can be sure we are going to stand still and concentrate for more then a few seconds is good for sales.................................
That's why the shelves at the ckeckout have long been a favourite for manufactures of chocolates-perhaps the nost sure -fire 'impulse food of all.
