The Supermarket : Prime Real Estate

On my food shopping trip, I went to my local grocery store, Sobeys. Capitalist consumer values such as convenience was evident throughout this food shopping trip. For instance, having built a grocery store in the center of a bunch of neighborhoods makes it a quick trip to get to this grocery store. Since it is a close drive for myself and others in the surrounding area, it created sportive financial gain because it is convenient for people to get to. Predictability is a large part of this shopping experience. Having gone to Sobeys for several years I already have an expectation of where I need to go in the store to find exactly what I need. For example, I was buying Almond Milk by a specific company that I know this location carries, and

A famous writer for the New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell has written an article, “The Science of Shopping”, which is based on Paco Underhill’s study of retail anthropology. The intention of a retail store is obvious- that is to attract customers and convince them to perchance as much as they can. There is so much knowledge that we can study, such that how the environment affects people’s thinking. These are tiny details that we don’t usually think about. The reason of how Paco Underhill success is because he notices these details. Details determine success or failure. Paco Undnerhill—a talent and passion environmental psychologist, provides us a new point of view of the science of displaying products,

Whenever I go to Stop & Shop, I tend to take interest in the thousands of products that surround me as I walk down an aisle. The wafting aroma of freshly baked pastries and the sight of cold soft drinks are just some of the things that trigger my appetite for food. Most often, I find myself buying more than what I originally planned on. That’s exactly what the layout of a supermarket tries to make consumers do. Marion Nestle argues in her article, “The Supermarket: Prime Real Estate”, how supermarkets employ clever tactics such as product layout in order to make consumers spend as much money as possible. She covers fundamental rules that stores employ in order to keep customers in aisles for the longest time, a series of cognitive studies that stores perform on customers, and examples of how supermarkets encourage customers to buy more product. Overall, Nestle’s insight into how supermarkets manipulate people into spending extra money has made me a more savvy consumer and I feel if more people were to read her article, then they can avoid some of the supermarket’s marketing tactics as well.

Berry begins the article by pointing out the consumer’s ignorance as they do not realize the connection they have with the agricultural cycle. Many believe that eating is an agriculture act, however, they do not associate themselves with this act because they do not have direct contact with the actual food production process. Berry explains that the reason why people think this way is because “they just buy what they want - or what they have been persuaded to want” without a second thought on the qualities and the states of the products (3). He appeals to the reader’s emotions as he describes the nature of the consumers because it demonstrates the reality of how little people nowadays care what they consume into their body. Berry further enforces his appeal on the audience’s emotions by claiming that “food is pretty much an abstract idea” to most of the urban shoppers (4). Shoppers understand that food is produced on farms, but have no knowledge on the locations of the farms, the type of farms, and the techniques that are involved in farming. This statement supports Berry’s claims on the consumer’s ignorance because it points out the important role that consumers actually play

Advertisements are an extremely prominent part of American society. Very few places exist that an individual can go without being exposed to some form of ad. From product placement to billboards, advertisements exist in nearly every facet of life. Marion Nestle discusses what she considers to be one of the more heinous forms of advertisement in her essay, “The Supermarket: Prime Real Estate.” Nestle uses several persuasive techniques to convince her audience of the evils of supermarkets. Her use of emotionally charged phrases paired with her more logical assertions help to drive her point home while her clear bias and lack of supportive source detract from her overall argument

Everything was fine, would continue to be fine, would eventually get better as long as the supermarket did not slip” (170). The supermarket is an analogy for the human spirit. It represents an undeniable marker of human growth, a reminder that humans are safer from death than ever. The supermarket protects people from the real world because it removes the barriers between humans and a basic component for survival, food. This erasure of a struggle to obtain food does not give humans more time to think because people welcome of the distraction of consumerism. Supermarkets may help ensure the physical survival of humans, but does nothing to improve people's mental states. People cannot come to terms with death whilst buying a bag of pork rinds.

Layout of Store- A great layout is vital for success. Grocery shopping can sometimes be tedious, so it is essential that the layout makes the process as easy as possible for a consumer. If a customer is having trouble finding things then they might start shopping elsewhere. Also, things that will spoil are usually in the back left of a store because that is where the customer will finish shopping thus reducing the time the product will spend not being refrigerated.

For generations, Americans has been brainwashed by the media to believe that what is displayed on television is the ideal perception of what real beauty have manipulated American citizens of what style looks like. Furthermore, with their many brainwashing strategies, that means more and more consumers spending beyond their budget. Our perspectives have been heavily influenced by what they believe is nice, but can we afford it all? With unrealistic combination of goods in store, plazas, and mall, consuming has become a bad behavior of some. In support of my argument of the “Overspending”, author Gladwell’s article “The Science of Shopping” also argues that stores adjust to fit the needs and wants of the shopper are evidently presented. With that being said, we have no idea when we are being manipulated into unrealistic shopping behavior that is influenced by the way the advertisement is presented in visual sight. Author Gladwell gets a “retail anthropologist” and “urban geographer” named Paco Underhill to give breakdown points of how he helps brand name stores influence consumers into persuasion of buying more. However, most of us fall short of that discipline, while being persuaded to overspend during our store visits.

As stated before, the human mind subconsciously falls to traps and it’s programmed to follow patterns. With this being said, Underhill is also credited with discovering the theory of Invariant Right which states that consumers who enter stores are more likely to move to the right side. From a personal standpoint, I can verify that his theory is, in fact, legitimate because based on the C-Town supermarket that I have visited, a deli was placed as a simple access for customers that are either in a rush or on lunch breaks to take advantage of. Furthermore, like a scientist, Paco Underhill believes that

BIG FLATS (WENY)- Imagine being able to run some of your errands without having to leave your house? We'll now thats a reality for people in the Elmira-Corning area. Miner's Supermarket is now offering online grocery shopping with pickup and delivery options. "So we're first in market to be able to deliver fresh groceries to your door the same day. So we're very excited and very proud of what we're doing," says President of Minier's, Paul Minier.

Have you noticed the issues of how people in our culture think about and acquire food? For this assignment I have observed food acquisition at a grocery store. The data collection is consisted of two separate parts: fieldwork notes part one and brief interviews part two. The verbal questionnaire’s (mini- interviews) lasted from 2-5 minutes per person out of the ten individuals. The observations are broken down into blocks, meaning I observed the exterior and interior of the store. I under took the project at the Whole Foods Market located in Beverly Hills. I have shopped at whole foods numerous times, but decided that I should observe a location I have not been to. As a result my observations of the store do not get clouded by my opinions.

This paper is a company analysis on Giant Hypermarket Malaysia in general, but specifically focusing on Giant Hypermarket Sabah. Giant Hypermarket is a major supermarket and retailer chain in Malaysia. It is a subsidiary of Dairy Farm International Holdings (DFI) and is headquartered in Shah Alam, Selagor. In this paper, firstly we focus our analysis in identifying the Strength-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) of Giant; in addition, we constructed a SWOT Matrix for Giant where we identified the SO, ST, WO and WT strategies, which we think Giant should apply to improve their competitiveness. Next we focus our analysis on the external as well as the internal analysis on Giant. In the external analysis, we center our

The UK supermarket industry resembles an oligopolistic industry, with several characteristics. Oligopolistic markets tend to be characterised by high concentration ratios, barriers to entry and…Since the turn of the century, the industry has been scrutinised by both the Office of Fair Trading and has been referred to the Competition Commission on two occasions. (Seely, 2012)

Each of Superior’s Centralia stores is older than their major competitors. Each is anchored in a strip mall, owned by Hall Consolidated, which also house a drug store plus two or three other shops. Sales have steadily increased since 2000 and operate with a 28.8 percent gross margin, higher than industry average of 26.4 percent. Below is a breakdown of sales and gross margins for all three stores in Centralia (Kerin & Peterson, 1998/2010, pp. 484-495).

Abstract The main purpose of this report is to make references to significant microeconomic models, in order to explain the supply, Demand, Market equilibrium, price discrimination, and Opportunity rate as well as making references to important macroeconomic aims which can be described with some examples such as growth, Inflation, Unemployment, GDP, exchange rates and many more, this two business economic topics are very relevant in today’s market as they represent the real-world meaning of the business area. This report will analyze both parties and evaluate any issues happening to date.