Good Design: Grocery Stores

Smith’s in Provo, Utah [1]

The scent of freshly baked bread. Fresh fruits and vegetables covered in glistening drops of water. A full display of cartoon-covered crunchy cereal. Every detail found in a typical grocery store is meticulously designed and implemented for an important reason. Grocery stores have to strike a difficult balance between two seemingly contradictory objectives: making the maximum amount of money possible and providing shoppers with a positive experience. In a study conducted by Priyaka Singh, it was found that the two most contributing factors to making consumers spend more money and shop at a specific store again (indicating positive  experiences) are the store atmosphere and layout [2]. Which means, the main tool used to maintain this balance is design! Let’s identify some of the sneaky tactics that grocery stores use to make you, the consumer, spend more money, while also appreciating the ingenuity of their design.

It is no coincidence that most grocery stores have the same general layout as follows:

• Produce, floral department, and a bakery towards the front

• Inner aisles with non-perishable items

• Meat, dairy, eggs, and freezers along the sides

We’ll break down the individual reasoning behind each specific placement in the following paragraphs.

Layout of a Kroger store [3]

Front of the Store

The front of the store is meant to be an appeal to the senses. Being stimulated by the appetizing smells from the baked goods and vibrant colors from the flowers and produce make the average consumer happier and hungrier, and therefore more likely to spend money [4]. I know firsthand just how dangerous it can be to have a grumbling stomach in the grocery store. If I’m even a little bit hungry while walking down the snack aisle, a family sized box of Goldfish always makes it into my cart. 

Some vegetables wilt when they have been sitting out for a while, so the misters in the display cases restore lost water content due to wilting and make the produce look more appetizing to customers. At the same time the misters are adding water, they are also adding weight and therefore cost to the vegetables that are sold per pound. Genius! So next time you’re at the store, you might save a couple of cents if you shake the water off of your head of lettuce before you put it in the bag.

Misters in the produce section [5]

If you pay close attention to grocery store workers when they stack pyramids of apples, you’ll sometimes see that they position the apples in a way that displays the better-looking side outwards and the bruised side out of sight. This makes customers sometimes buy damaged fruit if they don’t check the other side and decreases the money lost due to unsold fruit. Also, fruit stickers are sometimes strategically placed to cover up blemishes and bruises. So, if you really want to make sure you are getting your money’s worth, you can peel the sticker up a little bit to see if it is hiding anything. 

Inner Aisles

Beware the cereal aisle! Especially if you are bringing little kids with you to the store! Sugary cereals targeted at children are almost always placed on lower shelves so children can more easily see them and beg their parents to buy them.

Cereal aisle with children’s cereal at a lower height [6]

Shelf spaces at eye level are highly coveted by companies who want more visual exposure for their products. Companies will pay quite a bit of money for that prime shelf real estate. You’ll notice that expensive name brands usually have claim on this space, and that the cheaper no name brand products are further out of view. This is designed to maximize profit by also convincing customers that they are buying a more quality product. In reality, many no name brand items are made at the same factories as similar name brand items [7].

Far Sides of the Store

It is no coincidence that basically every grocery store has essential items like milk, eggs, and chicken on the sides of the store. It is designed that way so most shoppers must walk the entire perimeter of the store no matter how many items they plan on buying. This makes shoppers more likely to run into deadly promotional items and spend more money.

The world’s largest Costco in Salt Lake City, Utah [8]

Costco has seemingly perfected this tactic. Costco stores are gigantic, in fact, the world’s  largest Costco is currently in Salt Lake City, Utah, and its inside perimeter is estimated to be a third of a mile long [8]. In every Costco, the milk is in the back corner, so you must walk the  length of the entire store just to get milk. This trek takes you past several free sample stations.  You can't escape the sweet smell of free food, and that's exactly what Costco wants you to feel. Costco’s humongous layout gives it the perfect opportunity to implement its free sample business tactic, which has been proven to boost sales of each sampled product by an average  of 88% [9]. Getting tricked into spending more money never tasted so good.

One Solution for Countless Problems

In engineering, and life in general, problems don’t come alone. When engineers implement good design practices, they can solve countless problems with one solution. And that is what grocery stores are so good at. Things as simple as water misters, shelf organization, and free samples are commonly used to solve two problems at once: make stores more money while also making customers happy. So, the next time you go to the store, I hope you can appreciate the incredible use of design principles while also being aware of some of the tactics that grocery stores use to make more money.

Sources and Further Reading

[1] Smith’s Food and Drug store in Provo, Utah. (2015). Wikimedia Commons. photograph.  Retrieved November 14, 2024, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smith%27s_Food_and_Drug_store_in_Provo,_Utah.JP G. 

[2] Singh, Priyanka & Katiyar, Neha & Verma, Gaurav. (2014). Retail Shoppability: The Impact  Of Store Atmospherics & Store Layout On Consumer Buying Patterns. 3. 

[3] Parsnips, T. (2016, May 27). Kroger Store Directory Flyer — Rocky Mount, Virginia. Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/129634001@N02/27279987305 

[4] Rosenbloom, C. (2024, July 15). How Understanding Your Grocery Store’s Layout Can Save  You Money (K. Golden, Ed.). GoodRx. Retrieved November 14, 2024, from  https://www.goodrx.com/well-being/diet-nutrition/grocery-store-layout 

[5] Socialfuel, & Socialfuel. (2024, May 21). The hazards of produce misting systems in stores:  What You need to know — Joe I. Zaid & Associates. Joe I. Zaid & Associates.  https://joezaid.com/the-hazards-of-produce-misting-systems-in-stores-what-you-need-to-know/ 

[6] Broderick, N. (2024, July 22). The interesting history of how cereal became a breakfast staple. Tasting Table. https://www.tastingtable.com/1623226/history-of-cereal-for-breakfast/ 

[7] Lazarus, D. (2022, June 27). Dirty little secret: Store brands are same as others. KTLA5.  Retrieved November 14, 2024, from https://ktla.com/news/consumer-business/dirty-little-secret store-brands-are-same-as-others/ 

[8] World's Largest Costco Store | Official Opening Today | MG2 News. (2016, November 21).  MG2. https://mg2.com/news/largest-costco-in-the-world-officially-opens-today/#:~:text=It's%20estimated%20that%20the%20perimeter,third%20of%20a%20mile%20lon g 

[9] Wu, J. (2010). Effects of in-store sampling on retail sales: Case study of a warehouse store. Journal of Global Business Issues, 4(1), 93-XII. Retrieved from https://byu.idm.oclc.org/login/?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/effects-store sampling-on-retail-sales-case-study/docview/223750092/se-2

To cite this article:

Ipsen, Blake. “Good Design: Grocery Stores.” The BYU Design Review, 20 Jan. 2025, https://www.designreview.byu.edu/collections/good-design-grocery-stores.