Tesco@5. A couple of comments suggest that Tesco Rhuthun/Ruthin has, indeed, asked shoppers to join them on giving views on the redesigning their internal space, something taking place at this very moment to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the store's reappearance near the town.Whether this is a meaningful exercise or not, it does give Tesco shoppers the feeling that they're wanted. They can feel they have a stake in the store. Why didn't the Co-op do this when in 2009 it remodelled? After all, the Co-op is supposed to be owned by its members.
Nice one but is it me or am I a little sceptical that Tesco, of all the large supermarkets, would leave the internal design of its store either to chance or to lay people. But by actually asking for views, it also sweetens the bitter taste we all get when the familiar changes. We cuss and complain when things are moved around in supermarkets. But there are very good reasons why things change.That's because larger supermarkets use applied psychology in their design process. So, Tesco may have asked a customer panel whether the current location of the bread is correct (front of store, first aisle, on the right hand side as you enter). Moving it elsewhere might prevent the bread—first in the trolley—getting squashed by later items. But if that really were the reason, they'd move the squashable fruit & tomatoes from the same sort of position (front of store, second aisle, other side of the bread).
Check out the Co-op. Here, after the refurbishment, the squashable bread moved from the first third of the shop on the right hand side, not too far from the entrance, to the rear wall. Why? Bread is a staple and shunting it to the back means you have to pass other products you might then buy impulsively. Who knows where the bread might end up at Tesco but it seems commercially suicidal to put it within easy reach of the doors.
I'd even suggest that it will be separated from milk, another staple, and other perishables. Milk can currently be found on the same aisle as the bread. Stick one or the other at the opposite end of the store and the plan is to get you to wander around therefore buy impulsively. The more you move, the more you'll be distracted and the more you'll spend.
Squashable fruit & veg stay at the front because, psychologically, its colourful display cries out choice, healthiness and freshness. It would actually make sense if heavy, non-squashable, non-perishable detergents and toilet cleaners were at the very front. You'll never find them there. Imagine, psychologically, what people would feel if, upon entry, they were confronted by a load of chemicals.
Incidentally, the word trolleyology actually exists in applied psychology circles to describe either (a) the study of people’s shopping habits that reveal their personalities or (b) the lengths all supermarkets go to get you to spend a few quid more. If it didn't work, they wouldn't do it.