Shelf Life: The Psychology of Shelving

What would stores do without shelves? How else would you be able to see all the products? Apparently stores put thought into this since shelves are cues that help consumers make decisions about purchases. According to a study done by Udrescu, the buying process has five steps. This is step three which is evaluating the alternatives of a product and the way it is displayed impacts which company is the best for them.

Organization is key. According to research, people more likely to purchase from stores with neat shelves since disorganized shelves create a thought that the product isn’t really new since someone else has touched it. This is why people pick things from the back of shelves like bags of chips or shirts.

However, this study also looked at who touched the product. If someone attractive looked at a product and put it down this influenced more customers to look at the product. This is similar to advertising when they use beautiful people others want to be like. If someone with confidence looked or picked up the product, the same result occurred.

An unorganized shelf can make a product look good too. If the shelf was almost empty then it looks like the item is popular which could influence sales.

This amount of shelf space a product uses is called space elasticity. The main rule of this is that if more space is given to a product, the more important it looks. Consumers will assume there is a high demand. Some companies spend extra money so that stores place their product in certain areas to get the most exposure.

To get people to look around more to buy, supermarkets put their most important items towards the back of the store like milk so they have to go through the aisles. There are also small shelves by the cashier so customers make a small purchase to spend more money. Also, notice how the shelves are at different levels depending on what products get attention. People are most likely to buy the items they see at eye level. This is why toy sections are lower for children to see.

Next time you go out shopping, study the shelves and really look at displays. What grabs your attention? How could they influence purchases?

Sources:

1. Castro, Iana A., Andrea C. Morales, and Steven M. Nowlis. “The Influence of Disorganized Shelf Displays and Limited Product Quantity on Consumer Purchase.” PINNACLE. Journal in Marketing, n.d. Web.
2. Ciaus-Ciprian, Tudor, and Toma A. Alexandra. “The Effect of Shelf Display on Purchasing Decision.” rjeap.ro THE EFFECT OF SHELF DISPLAY ON PURCHASING DECISION(n.d.): n. pag. Web.
3. “The Economics of Supermarket Shelves.” Modeled Behavior. N.p., 06 Feb. 2010. Web.
4. Miller-Younger, Sandras. “How Retail Shopping Displays Affect Consumers’ Buying Decisions.” San Diego State University. San Diego State University, n.d. Web.