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"The shoppers are already in the store, presumably to buy from their list. " This isn't really how it works. If it worked that way then lighting, music, displ

"The shoppers are already in the store, presumably to buy from their list. " This isn't really how it works. If it worked that way then lighting, music, display organization, cleanliness, shelf space, brand, packaging etc. 'would not matter'. All of those things matter, immensely, at any real scale. The kinds of comments I'm seeing here are a little bit uncomfortable in this regard, indicate a kind of lack of self-awareness as to consumer (i.e. our own) behaviours. This is just one of any number of studies [1] THE EFFECT OF SHELF DISPLAY ON PURCHASING DECISION "The final results show that, even though the students know that they should act like rational buyers who choose products according to their intrinsic value, when describing how they act in real situations, they admit to behaving differently, in the sense that they are influenced in one way or another by marketing policies ..." This is not revelatory or controversial, we've known this for a long time. These 'fancy displays' have a very obvious advantage purely in terms of their clarity and impact, and of course the reduce pain of having to constantly tweak tags and pricing. Distracting advertising and any kind of privacy invasion would be a drawback obviously. As would possibly the cost. But this looks like a really obvious opportunity to test for retail. My worry would be not so much any of the stated issues here, but that there would be a new kind of war for retail space and that brands would bid on the size of their placements on the screen, as opposed to their slot on the shelf. Just ugly and unnecessary operational overhead. [1] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjPvuCmlLTxAhVoUt8KHfI4CecQFjACegQIAhAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fedepot.wur.nl%2F369091&usg=AOvVaw1zxH0F2X8777BOAY2d6w0k https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...

hedora 5y ago
I suspect the downvotes are because your comment could be shortened to “My worry here is that this will inconvenience the marketing drones, distracting them from maximizing our suffering as they burn the planet down”. (Upvoted; thanks for the insightful comment.)
- jollybean 5y ago
  I don't think my comment could be shortened to that because the primary thrust points to the nature of how people react to in-store presentation and how that affects us. Almost all of the commentary on this board is missing 'the most obvious points' from a consumer retail perspective. Issues such as privacy, invasive advertising are obviously relevant, but if we are 'thinking retail' this is going to be about shopping experience and operational overhead. In terms of impact, experience, clarity and reducing labour input costs - it really has so many upsides. Far from being a 'bad joke' ... just the opposite it's a pretty neat concept. This is not fodder, it's very possibly the future.
  - chris_wot 5y ago
    I must be one of the few people who actually do know what they want when they go into the store. I want juice, eggs, butter, milk and cheese. Or I need cat food. That’s what I get. I often have wander about the store, but it is extremely rare that I get something other than what I have chosen to get.
tomcooks 5y ago
Don't know about the other regions where LIDL opened shop, but in southern Europe they've made a killing by avoiding all these optimization rules. Turns out there's a huge chunk of the population who cannot waste a single cent on what marketing dept has to say
- mongol 5y ago
  I don't think Lidl avoids them. They just play them differently.
- jollybean 5y ago
  The practices I described above generally improve sales, not reduce them. The notion of 'consumers can't afford' doesn't really make a lot of sense. The marginal cost of most of these things is very small. In places where people are super price sensitive, maybe, but most people are not that. Most people have some marginal flexibility which means an openness to buy things that can provide them more value.

hedora 5y ago

I suspect the downvotes are because your comment could be shortened to “My worry here is that this will inconvenience the marketing drones, distracting them from maximizing our suffering as they burn the planet down”. (Upvoted; thanks for the insightful comment.)

jollybean 5y ago
I don't think my comment could be shortened to that because the primary thrust points to the nature of how people react to in-store presentation and how that affects us. Almost all of the commentary on this board is missing 'the most obvious points' from a consumer retail perspective. Issues such as privacy, invasive advertising are obviously relevant, but if we are 'thinking retail' this is going to be about shopping experience and operational overhead. In terms of impact, experience, clarity and reducing labour input costs - it really has so many upsides. Far from being a 'bad joke' ... just the opposite it's a pretty neat concept. This is not fodder, it's very possibly the future.
- chris_wot 5y ago
  I must be one of the few people who actually do know what they want when they go into the store. I want juice, eggs, butter, milk and cheese. Or I need cat food. That’s what I get. I often have wander about the store, but it is extremely rare that I get something other than what I have chosen to get.

tomcooks 5y ago

Don't know about the other regions where LIDL opened shop, but in southern Europe they've made a killing by avoiding all these optimization rules. Turns out there's a huge chunk of the population who cannot waste a single cent on what marketing dept has to say

mongol 5y ago
I don't think Lidl avoids them. They just play them differently.
jollybean 5y ago
The practices I described above generally improve sales, not reduce them. The notion of 'consumers can't afford' doesn't really make a lot of sense. The marginal cost of most of these things is very small. In places where people are super price sensitive, maybe, but most people are not that. Most people have some marginal flexibility which means an openness to buy things that can provide them more value.