Crap On A Bun Is Still A Bad Sandwich
November 10, 2009 by: Dave Ozment 
A couple months ago I wrote an article asking if your money likes you. In a transitive way, I was really asking if you like your money. Of course you may think that you like your money, but your actions are often the final arbiter.
I’ll let you have the morsel for free, because today I want to spend some time talking about a group that I know who does love your money – Retailers.
Of course the most obvious – and scientific – example of retailers plotting ways to separate you from your dollar is the product placement in the grocery store. Loss leaders, aisle caps, eye level, store layout (milk in the back) are not at all arbitrary. Rather, they are focused fields of study and even hotly contested amongst product manufacturers. For example, did you know that some beer and soft drink distributers will actually pay retailers for prime shelf space or special displays?
Just the other night, my wife was picking up supplies for the weekend and was looking for a particular brand of chips. A standard size bag was well stocked and easy to find at eye level and sported a price of roughly $3.29. On the bottom shelf a larger bag was priced 20 cents more but offered a lower unit or per ounce price. However, at the far end of the aisle (not an end cap), on the bottom shelf was a huge family size bag nearly twice the size and priced only another 20 cents more. And these were all the very same brand of chips, which says nothing of the innumerable combination of brands and flavors and quality and the variances of their individual packaging and placements.
These placements were not random and I liken it to use-taxes. If a consumer is lazy or in a rush and is willing to pay more, then we have a price point for that. If the consumer is willing to bend at the knee to save, we have a price point for that, and if the consumer is willing to search the entire aisle for the best price, then we have a product to fit that need as well.
But what I find even more interesting is that the spectrum is really 2 dimensional. Sure, as retailers we’ll offer like-kind products at differing prices for different price points – a bag of chips for every taste and budget – but we’ll also market goods ranging from indispensable to indefensible depending upon your eagerness to separate yourself from your dollar.
And so we arrive at my desired target. The lead in to now was pure McGuffin to afford me the following opportunity.
Recently while on a flight, I perused the SkyMall magazine and found what must be the most asinine product known to mankind. The underwater cell phone?!?
Now, for the record, I’m not a diver nor am I huge fan of the cell phone itself. I was the last person in my circle of friends to take the plunge and I mostly consider myself a willful participant than full fledge advocate. I consider it a necessary, if at times annoying, tether.
With that said, why in the name on of common sense would I ever want to make myself so helplessly available while enjoying the wonders of the world underwater?
Of course, I would not, but that others would is baffling to me and a boon to opportunistic marketers. Mind boggling prices can be commanded not due to the complexities of the technology, but because the limited market that finds this a compelling product will have to have one, and at any price.
Photo By: Editor B
Title lifted from Scott Van Pelt
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Our local supermarket here was often changing its layout for a span of several months not too long ago. I think they were “optmizing” their layout and experimenting which one would give them the best revenue.
It’s kinda annoying since you get used to navigating the store, avoiding the sections where you don’t really want to go into. But two weeks later, you suddenly have to spend more time figuring out where your usual stuff are and in the process get enticed by the numerous offer that they have.
They’ve stopped re-arranging their space now so I guess they got the optimum floor arrangement now.
Thanks for sharing Samuel… that’s an interesting story and very revealing. I imagine now there are fewer sections you “don’t need to visit” and I bet you see more products that you previously would have missed.
And I can’t really blame them for the tactic but as consumers we’re better for knowing this type of behavior is at play and that just as the retailers have a plan for us entering the store, we too should have a plan when we go shopping.
Thanks for sharing.
Dave
I’m annoyed at all the tactics out there with the sole purpose of separating us from our money. Marketers appeal to our sense of vanity, our sense of worth, and of course try to instill insecurities in us. Most of you probably aren’t old enough to remember the ‘Ring Around the Collar” ads, for some type of detergent. The man, in his white work dress shirt, is seen being given scorned looks by others as the dark ring on the inside of his collar is momentarily visible. Cut to his wife, at home with the kids, and she’s truly shamed and embarrassed by the notion that she’s not taking good care of her husband by sending him off to work in sparklingly white shirts. Ugh!
Back then (70’s I believe) TV consisted of two things – shows and ads. They were separate and distinguishable. Now the line is blurred between the two – ads show up in shows constantly, and some shows are nothing more than thinly veiled ads for either products or industries. Note all the shows on the air about rich folks (usually ‘celebrities’ that are famous for nothing) and their wedding plans. The wedding industry is HUGE and in threat of falling out of vogue, so they pump up the interest by airing numerous shows about it.
Some folks are drawn to certain brands/stores because they feel pampered when they’re in the store. They don’t fully realize that those sales people are not fawning over the customer, they’re fawning over the customer’s wallet.
The more life experience I get under my belt, the more intolerant I am of people trying to separate me from my money in order to enrich themselves. But hey, that’s the name of the game, right?
Hey Lara, you’re exactly right, it is a game and we are unwittingly pawns in the action… at least until we take a step back and see how we’re being sold.
And yes, I remember well the ring around the collar adds… and I can’t help but think of them and the scorn it espouses when I see a ring starting in some of my old shirts… certainly an image that has persisted in my head for many years.
Thanks,
Dave
An underwater phone is the most crazy product I ever heard of, although if you are a professional diver and spend long hours underwater perhaps it’s useful! Having said that imagine if you were doing a really delicate job and suddenly your phone went off!!! I think that the marketing guys are working overtime on this one!
I agree Jonathan… I can think of several places I may be where I do not want to be disturbed by a ringing phone and underwater is one of those places. I have to think when I have access to a limited air supply, I won’t want to spend it on the phone.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Dave