How to make grocery shopping take 3x as long

[Carson Dyle]

Replace the tinfoil in your hat, the paranoia waves are still getting through. It's about the customer alright, but it's not to manipulate them

Remodeling of a store isn't something done to manipulate customers, but rearranging the product is. Every grocery store that I go to, including Walmart, regularly flips the aisles. No new products, nothing added or subtracted, they just mirror the old order. Crackers were at one end, cookies on the other, now it's the opposite. They do it in almost every aisle of the store. A year or two later, it gets flipped again. I hate it, because I pretty much know where everything is in the stores I frequent and it slows me down. Which is exactly why they do it.

Completely rearranging the store - moving products from one aisle to another, or moving aisles - is something done less frequently, but it's also a thing. The local Safeway, which was remodeled only about a year ago when it was converted from an Albertsons, just did this. Even nastier than flipping the aisles.

 

[ponyo]

Can someone explain to me the appeal of shopping at Kroger? Prices are high and they require you to use rewards card to get discounts. What am I missing and doing wrong?

 

[WilliamM2]

3 times as long? I just take the wife....

Not mine. She knows where everything is, gets ONLY the items on her list, and will run over anyone in her way.

Stop to look at one item, and she will be waiting in the car by the time you find her...

 

[highland145]

Not mine. She knows where everything is, gets ONLY the items on her list, and will run over anyone in her way.

Stop to look at one item, and she will be waiting in the car by the time you find her...

lol jelly, I am.

 

[ponyo]

Grocery shopping is one of the few things I enjoy. Every Wednesday, I scan the new weekly grocery ads for Sprouts, Aldi, and Publix. Every Friday, I scan the new weekend sales ads for three different asian mart chains. And once week, I visit Costco.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Can someone explain to me the appeal of shopping at Kroger? Prices are high and they require you to use rewards card to get discounts. What am I missing and doing wrong?

In my experience, prices are no higher than the other national chains like Safeway. They have sale prices for everyone, sale prices for those with a rewards card, plus they offer digital coupons. TBH, though, I scan the weekly flyers, make a list and seldom buy anything at these stores that isn't on sale. Regular pricing on packaged goods at Walmart and produce at Sprouts trounces the prices at the chains.

The rewards cards work great. Safeway and Kroger (King Soopers here) are similar in how they use rewards cards and I have zero problems with it. Safeway gives digital coupons that give me an added discount on things that I buy. Kroger occasionally gives me's digital coupons giving me items that I regularly buy for free. At my Safeway the cashiers always have a rewards card at the register so that someone without one can get the same discounts.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Remodeling of a store isn't something done to manipulate customers, but rearranging the product is. Every grocery store that I go to, including Walmart, regularly flips the aisles. No new products, nothing added or subtracted, they just mirror the old order. Crackers were at one end, cookies on the other, now it's the opposite. They do it in almost every aisle of the store. A year or two later, it gets flipped again. I hate it, because I pretty much know where everything is in the stores I frequent and it slows me down. Which is exactly why they do it.

Completely rearranging the store - moving products from one aisle to another, or moving aisles - is something done less frequently, but it's also a thing. The local Safeway, which was remodeled only about a year ago when it was converted from an Albertsons, just did this. Even nastier than flipping the aisles.

That's complete bullshit and you're talking out of your ass. No stores flip aisles just to flip aisles. It's always for a reason, to add space where needed, to re-categorize items from one section into another, to move sections to other aisles, to add new display and promo space etc. The fact that you're too stupid to see what's really happening does not make it nefarious. Are you truly saying that you know every freaking SKU that Wal-Mart carries and will instantly recognize new and/or discontinued items? That you'll memorize every space allocation and will know if 4' gets taken out of soda and added to energy drinks? Dude, get real. You've now sunk below fucktard level into lying Wal-Mart moron fucktard which is as bad as it gets. Nobody is changing their store to fuck up their customers. And here's a newsflash, the guys in the huddle at a football game are not talking about you. Seek help, you're not important enough for anyone to care.

 

[Carson Dyle]

That's complete bullshit and you're talking out of your ass. No stores flip aisles just to flip aisles.

And you're a moron. They do. Christ, were you born yesterday?

 

[ElFenix]

That's complete bullshit and you're talking out of your ass. No stores flip aisles just to flip aisles. It's always for a reason, to add space where needed, to re-categorize items from one section into another, to move sections to other aisles, to add new display and promo space etc. The fact that you're too stupid to see what's really happening does not make it nefarious. Are you truly saying that you know every freaking SKU that Wal-Mart carries and will instantly recognize new and/or discontinued items? That you'll memorize every space allocation and will know if 4' gets taken out of soda and added to energy drinks? Dude, get real. You've now sunk below fucktard level into lying Wal-Mart moron fucktard which is as bad as it gets. Nobody is changing their store to fuck up their customers. And here's a newsflash, the guys in the huddle at a football game are not talking about you. Seek help, you're not important enough for anyone to care.

Bro calm down.

AT Moderator ElFenix

(and for the record, i've never seen one of the stores i shop at flip an aisle)

 

[highland145]

Daddy's home.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I find the best time to go to Walmart is never. No but seriously, best time is on a weekday that you're off. I work shift work which is a blessing for this kind of thing. I miss when they used to be open till midnight. Go around 10-11 and there's not a soul there. ...I guess that's why they don't open that late anymore.

 

[Exterous]

Remodeling of a store isn't something done to manipulate customers, but rearranging the product is. Every grocery store that I go to, including Walmart, regularly flips the aisles.

Not at the stores in the areas I've lived. Last grocery store was almost the exact same layout over the 7.5 years we lived there.

Can someone explain to me the appeal of shopping at Kroger? Prices are high and they require you to use rewards card to get discounts. What am I missing and doing wrong?

High prices? Thats where I get my $1.39/gal milk, $0.88 18-count eggs and $0.49/lb bananas with no rewards card needed. If you do have a rewards card you can just enter the phone # tied to the card at the checkout. I have heard people without one have had good luck using tricks like entering (local area code) 867-5309. The personalized coupons they send us 1x month are generally spot on too. 'Hey we see you buy a lot of fruits and vegetables. Here is a coupon for $3 off your next $10 produce purchase' or 'hey you buy this a lot. Have a free one on us'

We've got 6 different grocery stores around us so while we don't do all of our shopping there it does get most of our business because it has the best combination of prices for what we buy and convenience

 

[ponyo]

High prices? Thats where I get my $1.39/gal milk, $0.88 18-count eggs and $0.49/lb bananas with no rewards card needed. If you do have a rewards card you can just enter the phone # tied to the card at the checkout. I have heard people without one have had good luck using tricks like entering (local area code) 867-5309. The personalized coupons they send us 1x month are generally spot on too. 'Hey we see you buy a lot of fruits and vegetables. Here is a coupon for $3 off your next $10 produce purchase' or 'hey you buy this a lot. Have a free one on us'

We've got 6 different grocery stores around us so while we don't do all of our shopping there it does get most of our business because it has the best combination of prices for what we buy and convenience

Maybe it's the type of products I buy. Kroger is actually the closest grocery store to me and there's one about a mile from my house. But I rarely go there because if I want pantry type stuff, I can get it cheaper at Aldi across the street. If I want fruits and veggies, Sprouts and various asian marts are way cheaper. If I want bakery, Publix has similar prices but way better tasting bakery and deli. Walmart is generally cheaper on regular grocery stuff and Costco isn't the cheapest but they sell quality meats and dairy at everyday low prices. I occasionally scan Kroger ads but products and prices are just meh.

 

[Rifter]

Holy crap is is that like a normal day, or is that like Black Friday or something? That's insane lol. I would leave my cart there and say FTS and leave if it was that bad. Whatever it is I'm buying I don't need it bad enough to put up with that much people and wait time.

No kidding bud you and me both. Aint no one got time for that shit.

 

[Red Storm]

I 100% expected "Be a woman" in the OP.

But then I realized 3x is a pretty conservative number.

 

[William Gaatjes]

I am so happy i have 4 groceries stores within a 15 minute walk.
I buy my groceries and i am out within 5 to 10 minutes.
I do buy only what i need for two days and occasionally i buy items that are sold at a discount that can be stocked or frozen.

 

[Kaido]

Remodeling of a store isn't something done to manipulate customers, but rearranging the product is.

Bruh, you don't even know

When I worked at an office supply store many moons ago, vendors would buy up endcap space (for a LOT of money, like five figures per spot), as they were represented premium in-store advertising space because they stood out, had bright colors & fancy graphics & fancy shapes, etc. And the same with the shelf layouts...nothing was randomly put up on the shelves - corporate would send us a chart of what went where. Every shelf was lettered & numbered, literally every product had a pre-defined, designated place, and you would pay extra to get the eye-level spots. Each item was literally measured so they could maximize arrangement. And then most of your time was spent either refilling what was purchased that day or "blocking", which is where you arranged the products to look nice & neat on the shelf. It was amazingly targeted, down to the exact spot & quantity on each shelf being dictated by a weekly layout guide.

I have another post somewhere around here on the technology aspect of B&M stores in more detail, but in short, it's downright scary how much information they can get about you. There was just a book published about it this year, actually:

https://www.amazon.com/Aisles-Have-Eyes-Retailers-Shopping/dp/0300234694

It's a field called Behavioral Analytics. They ping your Bluetooth to track you, their free Wi-fi is free for a reason, they have gaze trackers & people-counters & hotspot detectors & all kinds of semi-creepy stuff going on. The new BT beacon tech even lets you find exactly what you're looking for in the store itself, but conversely, also tells the store your every move so that they can enhance their store layout & product placement based on group usage patterns:

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincit...rget-if-youre-on-its-app-the-store-knows.html

But that's just how modern businesses are run these days...the bigger chains have stuff like HD & 4K cameras with all kinds of tracking tools integrated into the software, infrared & thermal systems, and other goodies available. Path tracking from aerial cameras:

https://www.axis.com/en-us/products/axis-m3058-plve

Ridiculously powerful feed analytics software:

https://www.tobiipro.com/product-listing/tobii-pro-studio/

Product gaze tracking for packaging improvement & shelf placement to catch your eye:

Those discount cards you get at local grocery chains track every purchase & analyse the brands you buy, the times & dates you come in, the frequency, etc. Is that all a bad thing? No, not really, because you get targeted discounts, they fix up the store to serve you better, especially with stuff like Target's Cartwheel app, which gives you nice sale prices & directs you to the exact location of the thing you're looking for so you're not wandering around aimlessly for awhile.

But it is pretty crazy just how much they track you, without you even knowing. The CCTV cameras at mall stores, for example, are just the tip of the iceberg - everything else is quietly hidden away, tracking every single piece of information they can gather you about, your gaze, your movements, and your smartphone.

 

[Carson Dyle]

"Manipulate" is probably too strong of a word, but "influence" is not. From packaging color to store layout, to where on shelves certain products are placed.

BTW, I posed the question about what I thought I was seeing to an assistant manager in a local grocery store. His response: A "reset" isn't something that a store likes to do, because it's expensive and they know customers don't like it. So, they're not resetting shelves purely to change things up (like I thought might be the case). It's to expand or shrink sections for new products and to get rid of poor sellers (as suggested, but this is a given - products are always coming and going). But the flipped aisles that I've seen are also real. He claims it's because it's one of the more efficient ways to do a reset. Everything remains in the same aisle, so the store directory doesn't change, and they often have just hours at night to do a complete reset in an aisle.

 

[sdifox]

Or you could do your shopping at Walmart and spend your time in line wondering why they have 35 checkout lanes when they only keep two open.

It's your fault for buying up the Lego.

 

[sdifox]

Walmart is closing 147 stores in 2018, thankfully only 6 cashiers will be out of work

That means 3000 greeters are not going to get their hours

 

[WelshBloke]

Or you could do your shopping at Walmart and spend your time in line wondering why they have 35 checkout lanes when they only keep two open.

Fuck that! You guys need to get with the times with online groceries.
Every major grocery chain here does online ordering and delivery.

 

[WelshBloke]

That's complete bullshit and you're talking out of your ass. No stores flip aisles just to flip aisles. It's always for a reason, to add space where needed, to re-categorize items from one section into another, to move sections to other aisles, to add new display and promo space etc. The fact that you're too stupid to see what's really happening does not make it nefarious. Are you truly saying that you know every freaking SKU that Wal-Mart carries and will instantly recognize new and/or discontinued items? That you'll memorize every space allocation and will know if 4' gets taken out of soda and added to energy drinks? Dude, get real. You've now sunk below fucktard level into lying Wal-Mart moron fucktard which is as bad as it gets. Nobody is changing their store to fuck up their customers. And here's a newsflash, the guys in the huddle at a football game are not talking about you. Seek help, you're not important enough for anyone to care.

Ah you sweet,sweet summer child!

 

[William Gaatjes]

Products get changed all the time because of price disputes or contracts ending and the grocery store can get a similar product cheaper from another supplier or a similar product cheaper from the same supplier. There is always an obvious stack up in isles, you will never find the steaks in the soda section or vegetables in the bread section.
It is more or less constant. With exception of seasonal products like certain fruits or vegetables.

 

[Thebobo]

I browse the aisle from home :~ I have my groceries delivered. Been maybe 2 times in two years to a grocery store for last minute items.

 

[compcons]

Our local Wal-Marts all do Walmart pickup. I love it.

Download app, shop, choose pickup time, have someone load groceries into car. Done.

I have saved an absolute crap-ton of money since I am not wandering around grabbing random items. (I can double any grocery check out bill without blinking. I suck at shipping.) I may have dropped a pound or two as well (Swiss cake rolls anyone?)

It takes like 5 minutes to get my groceries. If it is an option for you, try it once. I get an hour and a half back every week. Plus, I hate shopping so it is worth like a million bucks to me.

That said, if you like watching the fine people of walmart, you will lose that "feature" from your shopping experience.