Deliberate design

Supermarkets aren't haphazard things. They are deliberately designed to get you to buy as much as possible.

Marion Nestle in her book 'What to eat: An Aisle-by-Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices and Good Eating' claims "supermarkets have one purpose only: to sell food and make a profit".

Nestle adds that although you exercise freedom of choice every time you put something in your trolley, massive efforts have gone into making it more convenient and desirable to buy one product over another. The book is written from a US perspective, but there are some similarities to New Zealand supermarkets.

Professor Janet Hoek from the Department of Marketing at Massey University, agrees.

"Supermarkets are highly manipulative environments. The location of products and the ease with which consumers can find particular brands is carefully planned and monitored. Stores are designed to keep shoppers inside for as long as possible, stimulate impulse purchase, and promote high-margin items."

Rent this space

It's not simply a matter of supermarkets positioning foods in the high-traffic spots. If you ever see a product sitting in a prime location, you can be sure the manufacturer or distributor has paid "rent" to be there.

These are known as trading terms and are confidentially negotiated with each supplier.

By offering good deals for the store and consumers, sales increase and store data is used to show one company's products are selling better than a competitor's.

Trading terms may also influence where a product is placed on a supermarket's layout planogram.

This maps, for example, where all the cereals, muesli bars or bottled waters will go. A carefully planned planogram aims to maximise the supermarket's profitability with the best-selling and most profitable products at eye-level. See our interactive supermarket layout plan for more.