We all know the frustration of walking into a supermarket, only to find our favourite items have been moved. Suddenly, the guacamole is with the cheese, and the eggs are in the baking aisle. It’s enough to make anyone groan. But is there a method to this madness?
Does rearranging the store layout make shoppers so frustrated that they abandon their carts? Or does it make them slow down, switch from autopilot, and engage in more thoughtful shopping?
The short answer is both. But like most things in life: it’s not what you do, It’s the way that you do it.
We know from mining our PRS IN VIVO database that the relationship between disruption at shelf and shopper behaviour follows an inverted U shape. We call this The Category Disruption Curve - an important shopper framework Patrick Young referenced during his recent IIEX talk: 'Blending Traditional Research and Technology to Restore an Icon'.
When a shelf lacks novelty, shoppers are likely to be heavily grounded in an auto-pilot mindset, selecting products habitually. At the other end of the scale, a high level of disruption at shelf will almost certainly lead to confusion, causing shoppers to disengage.
However, our data suggests that there is a happy medium. A ‘sweet spot’, where just enough disruption piques interest, encouraging shoppers to explore across product lines and discover new products.
DISRUPT BUT DON’T CONFUSE
But how do we know when disruption has gone too far? And how do we hit the sweet spot? At PRS IN VIVO, we decided to investigate. We wanted to see the impact of extreme shelf disruption and observe how this influences shopper behaviour. So we set up a qualitative experiment to get to the ‘why?’ behind the behavioural data. 2 different real-life retail contexts were created in our Retail Lab. One with the existing shelf lay-out (Status Quo) and the other with an alternative shelf lay-out (Disrupted).
Context 1: Status Quo
To explore this further, we brought shoppers into our Bromley Retail Lab PRS IN VIVO has Retail Labs across the world, where we conduct packaging, new product and merchandising testing by simulating in store conditions and observing real shopper behaviour.
First, we had them shop for chocolate from a ‘typical’ shelf layout, which served as our control, organized by brand. Picture that iconic Cadbury purple dominating the confectionery aisle.
Observing through the client viewing room, the first thing we noticed was how shoppers’ attention was very quickly drawn to the eye-catching Cadbury section, even if they hadn’t planned to buy Cadbury products. The brand's dominance on UK chocolate shelves, with its iconic purple branding, creates a striking visual block that is often the first thing shoppers notice at a System 1 level. This was reflected in the subsequent interviews and discussions with shoppers. “The Cadbury purple is quite bright. It stands out because that section is so big compared to the rest. It draws you in straight away.”
It’s also a shelf layout they were clearly familiar with. We saw that the shopping behaviour was quick and habitual; driving an intuitive ‘grab & go’ mindset. We observed shoppers navigating this ‘typical’ shelf on autopilot by ‘chunking’ the shelf into brands. Once they found their preferred brand, they selected a variant (flavour variations, nut additions etc.)
We know from our database learnings that the average shopper ignores 80% of all products on shelf and selects an option in 2.2 seconds (i.e. the length of time that shoppers’ eyes ‘stay’ on a pack that is purchased). This means that there is not much room to experiment across brands as shoppers tend to stay loyal to what they know and love. Familiarity with the shelf drives habitual responses, with shoppers being most likely to pick up the same products they usually buy.
Context 2: Disrupted
While discussing Shelf 1 with respondents, our studio team secretly rearranged the shelf. This time, chocolates were grouped by variant instead of by brand. This had the effect of breaking up the Cadbury purple brand block.
Shoppers then returned to the aisle, and we observed their reactions to the ‘disrupted’ shelf.* The unexpected layout initially caused confusion and some frustration, as they struggled to understand the new order. The new shelves had disrupted their existing habit loops. “I feel really lost. I don’t know where to look. It’s really confusing.”
Shoppers visibly scanned from the very top shelf to the very bottom, to find ‘their’ products – very different from their autopilot ‘chunking’ from before – the result being shoppers spending more time exploring. And even once they found a product they were looking for, they considered the similarly flavoured products immediately nearby. Their mindset had changed from one of ‘grab & go’ to one of exploration.
This led to a key impact – they spent more. As the shoppers search for their usual items, they often discover new products along the way, leading to increased purchases. “I picked up a Galaxy Caramel this time. I didn’t notice that last time, but now that it’s placed below Cadbury Caramel, I thought I would buy that as well.” Despite claiming that shelf disruptions caused a level of frustration, our experiment showed many shoppers often ended up buying the same amount or even more chocolate. While there is always a risk of alienating shoppers when a shelf is disrupted - particularly for those who are time-poor and less willing to explore the category - it can also pay dividends.
* Although using the same shoppers for both shelves does not necessarily mimic a real-life scenario, the observed shopper behaviour supported and brought to life the findings from our quantitative test.
This is supported by prior learnings
Our findings are consistent with a previous PRSIV study for Mondelez Bourneville (presented in Patrick’s talk at IIEX). In this real, robust, quantitative study, we found that a good level of shelf disruption led to an increase in shopping time as people explore the shelf more, and an increase in the number of products purchased.
PRS IN VIVO Mondelez Bourneville Study 2023
What can we learn from this?
While the products on shelf are important, where they sit can make all the difference in capturing shoppers' attention and driving discovery. Shaking up the layout, if done correctly, can pay dividends for retailers looking to boost category engagement without leaving shoppers feeling lost or frustrated.
So, next time you're on a mission to find the guacamole, embrace the adventure! You might just stumble upon new brands and products you hadn't noticed before. With the right mix of novelty and familiarity, retailers can craft a shopping experience that's always fresh and exciting.
If you want to find the ideal shelf to grow your category, or have an idea that you’d like to test in one of our Real-Life Retail LAB experiments, please, get in touch.