Supermarket Marketing
1) For this assignment I decided to visit the Tom Thumb Supermarket located in Lovers Lane. When I walked into the supermarket the first thing I saw was a stand in the middle of a small-like room in which people get the kart to do their shopping. In this stand there were organic fruits such as apples, peaches, melons, kiwi and a couple of other small fruits. All of them contained the yellow sign of “every day savings”, meaning that the fruits were on a discount from their regular prices. I think that the retailer strategically puts these items in the entrance since they know fruits are a high demand product for consumers.
Once I passed through the doors and into the supermarket, I observed a flower stand with many flowers for sale and many stands containing chips and many soft drinks that came in boxes like coca-cola, sprite, Canada dry and others. I think that the flowers are great location since they attract every consumer that walks into the supermarket independently if he/she is going to buy flowers or not. It also gives a better experience to the consumer as he walks in, since flowers are produce a sense of calm for many. ) As I walked through the supermarket, I reached the pharmacy of the supermarket. As I had seen in many places before such as CVS and Walgreens, this supermarket also had generic brands in many of the medications being sold. These generic brands were found among the most common medications sold daily. Beside Advil, Tylenol, and ZzzQuil, there were the generic products. The generic products had a simpler look from the outside than the national brand names, but contained the exact same ingredients as the national brands, for $2 and up to $3 dollars less in most cases.
There were also generic products for well-known brands such as Tums, Mucinex, Aleve, Alka-Seltzer, and even Pepto Bismol. I believe that that these brands are positioned this way so the consumer is able to compare the national brand to a generic product and realize that the only difference between them is the price and a nice looking box. 3) While walking through the aisles I realized that there were products at the end-of-aisle that were not from the same category as the aisle. There was a similarity between all of these products that were located at the end-cap.
The majority of these items were snacks or small products for daily use. These items were mostly chips, there were some with water and it was the cheapest one, one contained small toys, wine, and soft drinks. I believe that these items are located at the end-cap since it is something that almost every consumer likes and wants. So it is a strategic location for retailers to place products that have a very high demand. 4) I was not shocked to see an item that was displayed in two different locations since it was one that we usually do not relate to a supermarket.
While walking to the pharmacy there was a stand in the middle of the aisle. This stand contained ceramic plates and silverware, there were also a few toys and a lot of hard plastic containers for water or drinks. These items were located in a different area than they usually are. I imagine that these products do not have a lot of demand. So the retailer tries to create this demand by separating the product into two locations and probably attract consumers in different locations such as the pharmacy that could be more interested in the product. ) When I went to the mustard category I realized that the most expensive type of mustard were also among the most famous brands. The most expensive mustard was Heinz, followed by other brands such as Safeway, Guldens, Jack Daniels, and Grey Poupon, which were in the same price range. The cheapest mustard was the French’s brand, which I am almost sure is no different than the Heinz mustard. The differences in prices among the mustards were also influenced by the type of mustard not only the brand. The Dijon, Horseradish, Spicy Brown, Sweet and Spicy, and Brown mustards were more expensive than regular plain mustard.
