I just found out that food manufacturers buy shelf space at groceries! It seems that the food company pays the grocery so much per foot (or inch) to stock their products. I guess that means that the "in-house" brands don't make as much for the grocery company (HEB here, also Krogers, Winn-Dixie, etc.) as one of the national brands. I wondered why the in-house brands were disappearing from the shelves. Now I have an idea why. I must have been living under a rock to not know about this marketing strategy.
Glad to see you have come out from under that rock You can always tell who paid the most by what products are at eye level. And that's one reason why stores rearrange things every few months...at least some of them. The Kroger stores around here used to move things around about every 6 months but other than the one I go to moving things to accommodate beer and wine, it hasn't changed much since it moved in several years ago. But the Kroger brands for most products are pretty near eye level in the stores here so they must be selling more locally. Also, if you have a Kroger rewards card, have them put the senior discount on it. It takes 10% off all Kroger brand products and it takes the discount off of the original price even if the item is on sale.
Some manufacturers are in a dog eat dog competition for the premium end of the aisle displays and some will not put their product in the store or will severely limit the product-line if their product is not displayed at the end of the aisle. Jerry
The manufacturers and grocers can display as they please, I only buy the stuff I want and don't bother with other stuff because my budget is quite small. I find it highly annoying when I cannot find what I wanted. I guess they call their stratagies 'musical groceries" ?
I worked for Wonder Bread for 'twenny' years. Dog eat dog doesn't even come close to describing the competition. Space on the shelf is primarily based upon profit per linear foot. Secondly upon service. Direct sales, delivery, cost the store nothing but initial capital investment. All merchandising, rotation, and etc. are done by outside vendors. I. E. Wonder Bread, Keebler, Name your local potato chip, ad naseaum. Most store brands are provided by the major manufacturers. Soda's by Pepsi or Coca-Cola, chips by Lay's, condensed soups by Campbells, etc. Quality is usually second rate though. Display space is normally set by Corporate policy, sometimes regionally. He who pays, gets the space. Remember, the number one motive of ALL grocery stores is PROFIT. the mark-up in the meat department is usually 100% or more. Buy local, buy organic, buy in season. Ummmmmm....I'm sorry.....I'll get off my soapbox now.
FBG, I didn't know that either. I actually thought that customer preferences and regional culinary traditions determined some of the choices in what grocery stores carried. Fascinating insight you provided. Buying locally and growing your own has more benefits than just better taste. Anightowl, I agree--I only buy what I like and trust and they can have promotions and special displays up the ying-yang and I walk right by them!
