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Would you consider the fact that bread and fruit and veg are always at the start of a supermarket journey a dark pattern? Supermarkets have gotten customers to

by s_dev 6y ago

Would you consider the fact that bread and fruit and veg are always at the start of a supermarket journey a dark pattern? Supermarkets have gotten customers to spend more than they intended with all their patterns as well -- just like social media sites get customers to spend more time online. It's just what they optimise for. The concept is much older than the coined word.

Semaphor 6y ago
but they aren't? Fruit and veggies are first for our (Germany) two largest chains, bread isn't second for either. Aldi has neither at the beginning.
- maweki 6y ago
  Highly depends on the Aldi. Mine does indeed start with bread but has Veg at the end of the first aisle across the refridgerated goods. I would guess that the position of the bread depends on the infrastructure, specifically where the baking station can be built.
Bakary 6y ago
>Would you consider the fact that bread and fruit and veg are always at the start of a supermarket journey a dark pattern? No, because the term seems superfluous or euphemistical to me. But yes in the sense that it is psychological manipulation. Is an entity intentionally deceiving or manipulating the customer/user/etc. using their understanding of psychology? Psychological manipulation >The concept is much older than the coined word Indeed, we already have a name for it as I've been trying to say!
ben509 6y ago
Most of a supermarket's layout is determined by hard requirements like refrigeration, stocking heavy items and handling payments. If you're wondering why, for instance, the milk is in the back, it's because it needs to stay cool and it's heavy.
- Silhouette 6y ago
  Most of a supermarket's layout is determined by hard requirements like refrigeration, stocking heavy items and handling payments. That hasn't been generally true for a long time. The big chains spend a fortune deciding how their stores should be presented and optimising the layout of different products, and there is a lot of sophisticated analysis going on behind the scenes. There are certainly recurring themes in the results, but for example there are several major stores near me that have totally different layouts in many respects including all of the ones you mentioned, and it would be surprising if any of those differences was an accident. The stores don't run all those loyalty card schemes, nor rearrange their products from time to time, just for fun!
- perl4ever 6y ago
  The whole concept of the placement of the milk being suspicious and needing an explanation never made sense to me. Why would they or should they optimize for people who go to the supermarket just to buy milk? It makes perfect sense to me from the point of view of usually buying more than one thing per trip. If in a "normal" grocery store trip you go through most of the store then of course you want to get refrigerated and frozen foods last, just before you go to the checkout. So they don't warm up too much. By the way, frozen stuff is not all on the perimeter in my experience of US supermarkets. It's funny how something can be so mundane and everyday you never really look at it.

by s_dev 6y ago

Semaphor 6y ago

but they aren't? Fruit and veggies are first for our (Germany) two largest chains, bread isn't second for either. Aldi has neither at the beginning.

maweki 6y ago
Highly depends on the Aldi. Mine does indeed start with bread but has Veg at the end of the first aisle across the refridgerated goods. I would guess that the position of the bread depends on the infrastructure, specifically where the baking station can be built.

Bakary 6y ago

>Would you consider the fact that bread and fruit and veg are always at the start of a supermarket journey a dark pattern? No, because the term seems superfluous or euphemistical to me. But yes in the sense that it is psychological manipulation. Is an entity intentionally deceiving or manipulating the customer/user/etc. using their understanding of psychology? Psychological manipulation >The concept is much older than the coined word Indeed, we already have a name for it as I've been trying to say!

ben509 6y ago

Most of a supermarket's layout is determined by hard requirements like refrigeration, stocking heavy items and handling payments. If you're wondering why, for instance, the milk is in the back, it's because it needs to stay cool and it's heavy.

Silhouette 6y ago
Most of a supermarket's layout is determined by hard requirements like refrigeration, stocking heavy items and handling payments. That hasn't been generally true for a long time. The big chains spend a fortune deciding how their stores should be presented and optimising the layout of different products, and there is a lot of sophisticated analysis going on behind the scenes. There are certainly recurring themes in the results, but for example there are several major stores near me that have totally different layouts in many respects including all of the ones you mentioned, and it would be surprising if any of those differences was an accident. The stores don't run all those loyalty card schemes, nor rearrange their products from time to time, just for fun!
perl4ever 6y ago
The whole concept of the placement of the milk being suspicious and needing an explanation never made sense to me. Why would they or should they optimize for people who go to the supermarket just to buy milk? It makes perfect sense to me from the point of view of usually buying more than one thing per trip. If in a "normal" grocery store trip you go through most of the store then of course you want to get refrigerated and frozen foods last, just before you go to the checkout. So they don't warm up too much. By the way, frozen stuff is not all on the perimeter in my experience of US supermarkets. It's funny how something can be so mundane and everyday you never really look at it.