Supermarket industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Supermarket industry - Essay Example Supermarkets are currently employing a wide variety of various low-tech and high-tech tools in their never ending struggle to try and grab a larger share of the $500 billion that American happen to spend each years on their supermarket purchases (CNBC 2011). The Marketing Strategies and Concepts Used by Supermarkets Supermarkets are constantly trying as much as possible to learn about their customers and their respective buying habits. To do this, they analyze and trail their customers from the moment that they entire the supermarket store using a variety of technological tools such as video monitoring, heat maps that actively track shoppers as they move around the supermarket and the loyalty cards that the supermarkets have given to their customers (Ryals 139). Attractive and appropriate packaging Supermarkets encourage producers to package their products in attractive packaging materials so as to be able to attract shoppers into buying the products. Companies such as Henkel Consume r goods have employed a large team of engineers, artists and technicians whose main role and focus is to ensure that they work on constantly developing the bottle design and packaging. Careful consideration is placed on every label and word that appears on the bottle. Some of the factors that are taken into consideration seek to answer questions such as: do the customers find it easy to handle the packaging? Do they find it easy to physically pick up the product and store it in their shopping carts? Do they find it easy to pour the product from the container? And is it easy for them to store the product in their houses in light of the shelves used in the average homes? (CNBC 2011)? Shopping Presentations In efforts to try and enhance the marketing concepts and strategies that are in use within the supermarkets, supermarkets have taken to employing the services of professional companies that help them create appropriate designs for their stores that will help them in maximizing their sales. The designs take into account everything about the customer’s shopping experience down to the product placement that will be used in the shop so as to ensure that the customer’s senses are well appealed (CNBC 2011). These design companies create â€Å"Stopping presentations† of various products which they stage theatrically. Supermarkets employ the use of cartons that they artfully arrange so as to ensure that they make the actual real product on sale appear to be more abundant than it really is. The most valuable space is usually the space at eye-level and most new products are placed at this level so as to further attract the customers (Graf 46). Common purchase products such as butter, milk and cheese are placed at the farthest corner of the store so as to ensure that customers are tempted to purchase more products on their way to the isle where these products are place. Instead of the more traditional isle design where the isles are arranged in a mea ndering fashion instead of row after row of straight isles, there are now more twists and turns that have been placed so as to ensure that a shopper comes into contact with more tempting goods to purchase (CNBC 2011). Some of the best supermarket stores today ensure that they appease the shoppers senses by stimulating them using various scents