**I would like to share with you some of the methods and activities of hypermarkets where we most often do our shopping. For us, ordinary consumers, it is simply a shop where we buy. However, in order for us to shop willingly, a chain has to do its best to convince us to shop as often and as much as possible. There are many elements in it, so I will try to present them all. As I have worked in two large retail chains and studied management, I would like to show you how it looks in backstage.**
The big retail chains are doubling and tripping to convince as many buyers as possible to their products, prices and promotions. In order to be successful, some actions must be taken to make the customer a frequent visitor to the store.
**How does it look in practice?**
### Own brands
One of the most important factors for the success of a given network is its own brand. A supplier's product is easier to sell than a private label. However, once the process is successful, the benefits are invaluable for both customers and retailers. Private label products primarily differentiate the offer for shoppers, so that they can be effective in the fight against competition.
The benefit for customers from buying a private label is the certainty of good product quality and, at the same time, savings in household budgets. Usually, prices of own-brand goods are 20% cheaper than a preferential product in a given category. Currently, large retail chains create even a few own brands of different quality, starting from the weakest, through the middle, to the highest. Of course, the prices are adequate to the given quality.
**How are private labels introduced?**
After the decision to launch a new product on the market, the network's employees define its quality and prepare a product passport and a list of potential manufacturers. Then there are tenders, negotiations and (if necessary) audits of suppliers. In the meantime, the packaging is designed. The final stage is to order the product.
Once it has been launched on the market, there is only a control of sales and quality, which is usually carried out at least twice a year. On the other hand, the features that potential private label manufacturers should possess are the competitiveness of the offer, attractiveness of the offered products, documented and clear legal personality of the supplier, possession of international certificates, repeatability of deliveries, as well as the potential for development of the supplier, knowledge of the supplier's brand or its market share, cooperation with other networks, offered marketing support, method of delivery and service.
In addition to objective conditions, subjective selection criteria, such as flexibility, overall impression or approach to cooperation, also play an important role in the selection process.
Arrangement of products in hypermarkets
In hypermarkets, products are often arranged according to brands because consumers perceive the products by dividing them into three segments:
- **branded products** - closely associated with high quality,
- **quality products** - at a reasonable price (so-called value for money),
- **own products** - usually perceived as of low quality.
According to marketing specialists in hypermarkets, when placing products on a shop shelf according to brands, they are simultaneously segmented according to the quality assigned to them. This makes it easier for the customer to choose a product of an interesting quality and price.
However, another convenience for customers is also often arranging products of the same brand according to prices. Thanks to this, the customer knows how much a given product costs and can make his or her own purchase decisions, thus comparing the prices of all products and choosing the ideal one for himself or herself. The "grip" of such an arrangement by the market is that often customers do not like to bend over and take products from the shelves that are within sight and reach.
Such a customer reaches for the most expensive product, usually without taking into account the price, and is suggested only by the product brand, which in his opinion is the best.
_Arrangement of products by brand (my photo)_
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, which everyone can notice, who at least once searched in the store for a specific taste of juice.
It is often not easy for the customer to find a particular taste, and it is also more difficult to compare the prices of a given taste of a beverage with other brands. Therefore, the arrangement according to taste gives the possibility of a better choice of the product according to its own price or quality criteria. At the same time, the customer saves time on such a choice and is more satisfied with the choice.
_Product arrangement by flavor (my photo)_
**What influences the customer's behavior in the store?**
Customers prefer shops where they find the product they are interested in relatively quickly, where they can reach for the product without any effort and where the colours of the equipment positively influence their mood. Customers' preferences are therefore related to the availability of goods, convenience and attractive design of shop visualization.
Customers return to stores where they feel safe, are able to browse, select and buy products in a way that costs them as little effort as possible. Below you will find some seemingly invisible details that we usually don't notice, but our subconscious reacts to them.
### Organisation, arrangement of stands
Customer manipulation begins immediately after we enter the shop. The goods, divided into departments, are very precisely arranged. There is no question of randomness. Decisions about the range of goods, their presentation, pricing policy and promotional campaigns are discussed for many months by the chain's management.
In a sales strategy, it is important for a store to stand out from its competitors with its own sales concept and specific commercial offer. Hence, in some shops a sports department can be found at the entrance, in another - a department of current consumption articles, and in others - a department dedicated to multimedia.
The art of stand arrangement is to ensure that the customer spends as long as possible in the shop. However, as time goes by, the willingness to enter other departments decreases, where even before entering, the willingness to visit all the alleys was high.
Therefore, the potential "route" of the client is planned in such a way that at first there are small stands and at the end there are long ones. The things the customer needs to buy are usually at the end of the road. If it were the other way around, most customers would leave entire lots of the shop and buy only products that were planned in advance.
### Lighting and temperature
Customers like to shop in an environment that doesn't tire them out. The feeling of tiredness causes, among other things, sharp light. That's why shops pay a lot of attention to even and balanced lighting. Too harsh light causes quick eye fatigue, while too mild light has a negative effect on the uptake of information on products and inside the store. The customer must not be uncomfortable when leaving the store, where normal sunlight will interfere until the eyes are used to it. That's why stores set the light differently during the day, where it is stronger, and reduce the intensity of the evening and night. It looks the same on sunny or cloudy days.
The temperature in the shop should be adjusted to suit outdoor conditions. Overheating or excessive cooling of the room can cause that the comfort of shopping will not suit the customer. Instead of "traveling" along the routes marked out by the store, he will only do quick shopping and as soon as possible go to the checkout, or worse still, he will leave the store without shopping at all.
In summer, during hot weather when air conditioning is in operation, it is important that the temperature in the store is a few degrees lower than the outside temperature. However, in winter it cannot make the customer sweat in his clothes. Everything depends on atmospheric factors and sometimes it is difficult to set the right temperature, and you know that everyone will not like it.
### Cash register line and shopping finalization
When the customer finds out that shopping is enough, he goes to the cash register. There are several cash registers in large stores so that the customer does not have to stand in long queues, which are very irritating and waste time. The number of cashiers is usually increased during peak hours (13:00 - 18:00), in addition, there are always reserve persons with a large number of customers, who come from the jumps to unload the queues at the cash desk. Usually after 10 - 15 minutes they return to their department. Only before holidays such as Christmas, companies are hired, which hire employees for this period of time, so that permanent shop employees can take care of their departments.
We usually look around at the checkout line while the customer is waiting for the product to be deleted and paid for. It is a perfect moment to think if everything has been put in the basket. However, most customers start to look around. Thanks to that you can find sweets, drinks, rubber or condoms at the cash desks. At this point, although we may not have had the intention to buy any of these things, we will usually be tempted to do something. The sweets at the bottom of the shelves are good marketing.
Thanks to this tactic, children present with their parents buyers start to "trick" them into buying these sweets. Usually a parent doesn't want to have problems with other expectant people with their whiny child, that's why they usually agree to buy sweets. Simple and catchy tactics to add something to your shopping basket. However, some shops have introduced special cash registers without sweets for the possibility of such behaviour. Such cash registers are usually marked and a mother and her children can complete their shopping in peace, and as we know, "family shopping" is usually large, so it is all the more likely that such a customer will return later for further shopping.
### Transparency of information
Customers like logical and understandable messages, from which they can draw the right conclusions relatively quickly. The content, form and location of messages addressed to customers should be seen as useful by them. The message is usually dosed, there is no excess of information that can overwhelm customers, discourage them from reading, receive certain information and consequently buy. In addition, a large proportion of customers want easy and unrestricted access to information.
However, sometimes it is difficult to find an employee, a salesman, who will point out the advantages and disadvantages of each of the products and help in making a choice. This is very important, because if a customer loses several minutes to look for a department employee or to obtain information about the price of a product or its values, they will probably not return to such a store, and certainly in another case they will receive such help. Sometimes it is a lack of time and an excess of tasks, and sometimes it is a simple ignorance on the part of the employees themselves.
Sometimes it is worthwhile to report the management attention to this type of behavior, because the whole network loses out on negative whispered marketing.
### Rest in the shop
Certain solutions are also used for people who accompany shopping. If parents come with their children and want to do their shopping in peace, children can play on consoles or watch fairy tales. For the elderly, benches or sofas are often put up so that they can relax while shopping. Tests of different products or tastings are also a nice option, which in the future may result in the purchase of a given product.
### Shopping cart or shopping basket
Usually in large retail chains the customer has a choice whether to buy a large shopping cart or a small basket. There are also shops that resign from the smaller ones and force the customer to take a large one, because as you know, the bigger the basket the bigger the shopping. However, often customers are irritated by this fact and simply change the shop or walk with their shopping bags by putting the products collected in the shop into them. The customer always wants to have a choice even when it comes to the shopping basket.
Some networks also have baskets that do not require a token to be inserted in order to use it. A lot of us at a time when we have money on our debit card don't carry small change that we have to put in our shopping cart. There are people who don't like cash, that's why such "free" big shopping carts are a great option. In such a situation you don't have to worry before you start shopping.
### Colours
It has been known for a long time that pretty colours are eye-catching and we mainly buy products with eyesight. If the colors are calm, we also approach the shopping in a calm way. It looks different when we see red posters with the inscription "promotion". The hunting instinct appears at once in people and they must necessarily see what kind of promotion it is, what is fo and how much cheaper it all comes out.
### Music
Using the right music, salespeople can manipulate us in a surprising way. Free and calm music is conducive to a longer stay in the shop, and thus to larger purchases. Also important is the key, preferably major, because that's how most people like it. Influencing customers through the sense of hearing, professionally called audiomarketing, is considered to be one of the most effective commercial techniques. Better than the legendary subliminal action, also invisible to the interested parties.
Relaxation is an important task for music, because the customer in the shop is subjected to contradictory emotions. Positive, because it buys something, and negative, because many other things cannot be bought.
In large international networks, there are separate studios that centrally prepare the program and retransmit it to all locations via satellite. The programme is prepared by the best audiomarketing specialists, who adjust the music to the rush hour in which the store has the most customers, and to holidays. Music in the hands of a professional turns into a magic wand: he can, for example, direct attention to specific products. It is important to maintain uniformity of style, because music is an important element of the company's image. You should not rely on random music to frighten your customers.
### Summary
Large retail chains have many methods of attracting new customers and retaining old ones. Many factors contribute to the success of a store. Of course I didn't list all of them, but I focused on the most important ones. The atmosphere in the store itself is important. Without it, the customer doesn't want to come back. The aesthetics of the display itself is as important as the transparency of the prices.
It is worth paying attention to the described aspects. Maybe your shop has such practices, or maybe it doesn't use them at all?
The decisions that are made on the boards of retail chains are planned in order to maximize profits and improve the comfort of their customers. These two aspects are combined and give measurable benefits for both parties.
**I hope you are interested in this topic and I look forward to hearing from you.**
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_All photos not described - www.pixabay.com_