Grocery Store I decided to visit the local Trader Joe's. The store that I visited actually has an almost identical layout to other Trader Joe's stores that I have visited in the past, with some minor differences in the details.

Design and Physical Surroundings

The main entry aisle sits to the right hand side of the store, aligned with the store's entryway, which is also on that side of the store. The entire store is lit with fluorescent bulbs, typical supermarket lighting, to a very bright level. Immediately, the size of the store seems inadequate for the number of people who are in the store at this point in time, and I tried to come at an off-hour. The first aisle is the only one that is genuinely visible at this point. The store layout features aisles that are slightly off-centered, which is quite unusual for a grocery store. Normally, the aisles run perpendicular to the front of the store, but that is not the case here nor in any other Trade Joe's. This odd store alignment perhaps is intended to give the store a unique feel and character, as it is something that is chain-wide. The main right aisle is one of the unique creations of this layout, so that is the aisle that I want to study. It has greater width than the other aisles, and as such can accommodate more shoppers and more goods. This is, by the look and feel of it, the flagship aisle. In other stores, this would be the vegetable aisle, possibly with a deli or bakery, but here the goods on display are somewhat different.

The main aisle here on the right hand side of the store has basically three columns of goods. Along the right hand side of the aisle, there is an open space, and then about 1/3 of the way to the back begins an open fridge. In this open fridge are the store's supply of vegetables, which looks like quite a bit less than I have seen in other stores, even ones of similar size.

The left side of this aisle has a miscellany of items, including a lot of different types of bread. This aisle, then, seems earmarked for items that have a limited shelf life. These are also staple items, so there is some logic in keeping these items together. In the middle section of this wide aisle there is immediately a pumpkin and gourd display, connoting autumn. The items for sale are not particularly useful, not everyday purchases, and goodness knows they are not big sellers, but they connote the season well and help to create a lively atmosphere in the store. Behind this display are the vegetables. Given relatively little space with which to work, there are only a few different tables of vegetables. The tables are typical -- slanted and with trays for holding the vegetables. The goods available are an assorted of basic vegetables, with perhaps one or two oddballs thrown in.

At the back wall, there are two things. The first is an open fridge with some meats, most of which are prepared meats. To the left of this is a permanent set-up for in-house samples. This is a fixture of the Trader Joe's brand, and here one can sample one of the company's coffees, another food item (today was vegetarian chili) and chat with a friendly staff member.

In my opinion, this aisle does expose the greatest number of shoppers to the greatest number of goods for the longest period of time. The aisle accommodates the greatest number of shoppers because it is the largest aisle in the store, and it sits in the entry way. There are few other viable options for a shopper upon entering the store -- we are all guided down this main aisle, albeit around the relatively useless pumpkin display.

The merchandise in this area is also key to encouraging shoppers to spend time in this aisle. This strategy is evident both in the amount of merchandise and the type. The amount of self-evident.. This is the largest aisle; it should have the most merchandise. That appears to be the case. The shelves at Trader Joe's are dense throughout the store, and that trait is in evidence in the main aisle as well. The density of the vegetables is no different from other stores, but the spacing of the tables is more cramped, presumably because this aisle is quite a bit smaller than the vegetable aisle would be in another grocery store.

The choice of merchandise is also important....

The items for sale in this aisle are staples, but they are also varied. They are also perishable. Meat, some cheese (there is a diary fridge elsewhere in the store), vegetables, fruits and bread are staple foods, and perishable as well. By having all in the aisle, it encourages people to spend time in the aisle, since most shoppers will have come to the store seeking items from one or more of these categories. That the aisle is subdivided into three columns also means that most shoppers will go up and down the aisle more than once.
I noticed as well that many shoppers will park their cart and wander around the aisle, gathering items. This is an interesting development, because most shoppers do not move in this way. However, the placement of items from the different categories around the different parts of the aisle almost seem to encourage this movement, especially in conjunction with the relatively cramped space. Despite being the biggest aisle, it is a bit clogged because there are so many people. This encourages the parking of the cart and wandering on foot, like at a European old town where you park outside the cobblestone streets and then wander around the narrow cobbled pedestrian zones. In both situations, the physical geography encourages you to park and walk, which means that you spend more time and you see more things.

Another element that encourages consumers to spend time in this aisle is the sample table at the back, which had coffee and chili. While I do not advocate having coffee and chili together -- trust me it does not work -- the friendly person running the table was chatting up the customers quite well. There was a high level of lingering at that table.

The combination of these tactics seems to work. I would say that a lot of customers were in that aisle for anywhere from 5-15 minutes. Nobody raced through it, because it was physically impossible and because people were in the store to purchase numerous goods from that aisle. At the end of the aisle, most people were at the sample table, and were directed either to the parallel aisle or down the back aisle towards the dairy case.

With respect to the quality of the merchandise displays, we must consult the Paco principles. The right hand bias is in evidence with the vegetables being oriented on the right side of the aisle. The breads were on the left and people actually twisted or turned their bodies to access the bread. I'm not sure how effective this was -- far more people bought vegetables than bread. It is also worth noting that the bread side of the aisle is at an angle -- it is hard to stand perpendicular to this shelf. That is something that characterizes much of the store's interior, but seems to throw the shoppers a little bit. The other elements of this aisle do offer the opportunity to stand perpendicular to the shelf, which allows for easier grabbing of items off the shelf. In this part of the store, there is very little at low levels. The bread shelves go down nearly to the floor, but they are the exception, and this again discourages bread purchase.

Arguably the bread part of the aisle represents the biggest need for change. The slanty angle is jarring, and the goods are organized in a more cluttered fashion. Going to the floor with bread discourages sales of bread from down there, leading to increased wastage. The angle is unusual and because almost everybody approached this with the bread on the left hand side as they moved towards the back of the store, bread was overlooked by a lot of people. Those who parked their cars and went on foraging missions seemed more likely to buy bread. The foragers, incidentally, seemed quit adept at carrying multiple items in their arms. But I would almost prefer to see another product relegated to what I would deem one of the worst locations in the store.

Signage

I found the signs at Trader Joe's to be a cluttered mess. There are many grievances that I have. The signs mix fonts, and many fonts are cursive, making them hard to read. The signs usually promoted prices, but nothing struck me as compelling about them. As Paco notes, and Otterbring (2012) supports, signage needs to catch the attention of the shopper to be any good. The signage in Trader Joe's seemed to be…