6 ms·

The last thing I want in a grocery store is an "experience". I just want to buy my stuff and go home.

by orlp 5y ago

happytiger 5y ago
Exactly. What consumer has a desire for a “retail media company?” Gross. Especially one that’s business model is to interrupt the retail experience to inject non-value added advertising?
- rhizome 5y ago
  A consumer of Walgreen's stock, which needs something new, anything, to juice attention and move the price, since it's taboo to be a public company that just cruises along. The de facto primacy of stock performance in executive qualifications means you have a lot more fridge-screens to look forward to if the initial antipathy toward these fades into begruding acceptance the way they are predicting.
bko 5y ago
Depends on how you define "experience". Do I want attentive cashiers that are efficient and friendly? How about clear standardized pricing to price compare? Conveniently placed workers that can direct me to the right location? Predictable product placements? Whether you like it or not, grocery store is an experience. For instance there are considerably cheaper grocers that can fulfill many basic goods (C-Town, Dollar General, etc) but some people avoid because the "experience" is not as pleasant (lighting, color scheme, spacing, etc)
- beeboop 5y ago
  Having item A showing the price in $ per pound and then the nearly identical item B next to it showing $ per ounce is the bane of my existence.
  - Out_of_Characte 5y ago
    If only there was an easy metric to convert to and from different base values.
    - beeboop 5y ago
      I'm not going to stand in front of 6 selections of deli meat and use my calculator and take notes on their price conversions to determine which one to get. I'm going to accept I'll probably slightly overpay and move on with my life.
- danhor 5y ago
  I want experience, I don't want "experience" (usually)
- netizen-936824 5y ago
  Taking a dump is also experience, should we want advertisers to optimize that as well? I don't think the optimization is the issue, it's who's doing the optimization and why/what purpose
  - bko 5y ago
    It's not "advertisers". It's the actual product brands. I agree the freezer thing sounds awful and hopefully is just a failed experiment. But products and layout are optimized by the brand. Just take a look at the packaging. Pretty standard comparable size, dimensions that fit in the place they're meant to be stored, meaningful information up front, clear well printed packaging, a million other things. I don't think you're giving enough credit to how incredibly convenient and curated a trip to a modern grocery store in an economically developed country is. The goal is to sell you more stuff obviously but 95% of the time my interests are aligned with the brand. I don't want to waste time figuring stuff out. They just make it easy for me.
    - netizen-936824 5y ago
      Advertisers work for brands, they're humans who make ads to sell us shit we didn't ask for. Personally I don't care which brand they work for, I want them all to stop. Whether its a blatant ad for a product or a product itself being turned into an ad, its all obnoxious and wasteful
      - grapescheesee 5y ago
        Yeah, and its worse than that. Since the brands are managed by brokers who setup sales, the facing/amount displayed on the shelf, the location on the shelf and the store, and so on.
  - Groxx 5y ago
    Ya know, I might approve of putting ads on toilet paper. Then I can wipe my ass on their brand and flush it down the drain like it deserves. It'd be cathartic.
  - 5y ago
- throwawayboise 5y ago
  This is why I mostly shop at Aldi. The store is small enough that even if you don't know the layout it doesn't take long to find something. There are only a few choices (if that many) for any given item so you generally don't even think about price-comparing on a per-ounce basis or anything like that. The cashiers are blazing fast. You are in, out, and get on with your day. No they don't stock everything but they have all the staple products you need from day-to-day.
- Bancakes 5y ago
  If I go in and out in autopilot, listening to my audio books, then it's not an experience. I frankly don't remember a single shopping trip. The harder it is to run in autopilot, the more inane distractions there are, the worse the activity.
XorNot 5y ago
Online shopping during the pandemic has been pretty great for me. The biggest problem in Australia is that it's very clear the supermarket chains don't process seriously enough - i.e. random substitutions without notification are way to common. But I miss absolutely nothing about going to a grocery store. EDIT: in fact in general the pandemic has been pretty good at cutting the number of ads I have to see and hear daily since I've been away from high trafficked areas a lot. That sensory assault I do not miss at all.
eps 5y ago
Well, there's some merit to measuring one's shopping in terms of "experience". Well-laid out spacious store, with good lighting and non-obtrusive background music is quantifiably better than a dirty, cramped corner store with a sus-looking shopkeeper and ethnic music blaring out of tin speakers. But, clearly, being exposed to #more# ads is not something that adds to said experience positively.
- lozenge 5y ago
  What's wrong with ethnic music? Well, I was in an Indian store recently and they were playing this story from the radio, I'll admit it wasn't a pleasant experience. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-60676276 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-60676276
  - mkr-hn 5y ago
    Some people can't tell an oud from a hole in the head. "Good" (in flaming hot Cheeto air quotes) grocery stores pick music to create a safe space where they won't be challenged by other music traditions. Or worse, the places where those traditions blend with Western music. Can't let little Timmy hear a 7th or he might turn out bad.
- jeltz 5y ago
  Why background music at all? I prefer shopping at places without it.
- systemvoltage 5y ago
  I would love to go to unkept, dirty and disorganized bazaar in Iran. Stores with owners that specialize in a couple of things. A granary for lentils. A butcher shop. A spice house. Complete contrast with Louis Vuitton store you’re describing. Now, that’s an experience.
- mint2 5y ago
  “Ethnic music blaring out of tin speakers” sounds racist because it is. Please don’t do be like that. Bad speakers are annoying but it’s annoying regardless of what musics so making it racial is not cool. Parking lot music is awful and it’s generic stuff

The last thing I want in a grocery store is an "experience". I just want to buy my stuff and go home.

by orlp 5y ago

The last thing I want in a grocery store is an "experience". I just want to buy my stuff and go home.

Exactly. What consumer has a desire for a “retail media company?” Gross. Especially one that’s business model is to interrupt the retail experience to inject non-value added advertising?

rhizome 5y ago
A consumer of Walgreen's stock, which needs something new, anything, to juice attention and move the price, since it's taboo to be a public company that just cruises along. The de facto primacy of stock performance in executive qualifications means you have a lot more fridge-screens to look forward to if the initial antipathy toward these fades into begruding acceptance the way they are predicting.

bko 5y ago

Depends on how you define "experience". Do I want attentive cashiers that are efficient and friendly? How about clear standardized pricing to price compare? Conveniently placed workers that can direct me to the right location? Predictable product placements? Whether you like it or not, grocery store is an experience. For instance there are considerably cheaper grocers that can fulfill many basic goods (C-Town, Dollar General, etc) but some people avoid because the "experience" is not as pleasant (lighting, color scheme, spacing, etc)

beeboop 5y ago
Having item A showing the price in $ per pound and then the nearly identical item B next to it showing $ per ounce is the bane of my existence.
- Out_of_Characte 5y ago
  If only there was an easy metric to convert to and from different base values.
  - beeboop 5y ago
    I'm not going to stand in front of 6 selections of deli meat and use my calculator and take notes on their price conversions to determine which one to get. I'm going to accept I'll probably slightly overpay and move on with my life.
danhor 5y ago
I want experience, I don't want "experience" (usually)
netizen-936824 5y ago
Taking a dump is also experience, should we want advertisers to optimize that as well? I don't think the optimization is the issue, it's who's doing the optimization and why/what purpose
- bko 5y ago
  It's not "advertisers". It's the actual product brands. I agree the freezer thing sounds awful and hopefully is just a failed experiment. But products and layout are optimized by the brand. Just take a look at the packaging. Pretty standard comparable size, dimensions that fit in the place they're meant to be stored, meaningful information up front, clear well printed packaging, a million other things. I don't think you're giving enough credit to how incredibly convenient and curated a trip to a modern grocery store in an economically developed country is. The goal is to sell you more stuff obviously but 95% of the time my interests are aligned with the brand. I don't want to waste time figuring stuff out. They just make it easy for me.
  - netizen-936824 5y ago
    Advertisers work for brands, they're humans who make ads to sell us shit we didn't ask for. Personally I don't care which brand they work for, I want them all to stop. Whether its a blatant ad for a product or a product itself being turned into an ad, its all obnoxious and wasteful
    - grapescheesee 5y ago
      Yeah, and its worse than that. Since the brands are managed by brokers who setup sales, the facing/amount displayed on the shelf, the location on the shelf and the store, and so on.
- Groxx 5y ago
  Ya know, I might approve of putting ads on toilet paper. Then I can wipe my ass on their brand and flush it down the drain like it deserves. It'd be cathartic.
- 5y ago
throwawayboise 5y ago
This is why I mostly shop at Aldi. The store is small enough that even if you don't know the layout it doesn't take long to find something. There are only a few choices (if that many) for any given item so you generally don't even think about price-comparing on a per-ounce basis or anything like that. The cashiers are blazing fast. You are in, out, and get on with your day. No they don't stock everything but they have all the staple products you need from day-to-day.
Bancakes 5y ago
If I go in and out in autopilot, listening to my audio books, then it's not an experience. I frankly don't remember a single shopping trip. The harder it is to run in autopilot, the more inane distractions there are, the worse the activity.

XorNot 5y ago

Online shopping during the pandemic has been pretty great for me. The biggest problem in Australia is that it's very clear the supermarket chains don't process seriously enough - i.e. random substitutions without notification are way to common. But I miss absolutely nothing about going to a grocery store. EDIT: in fact in general the pandemic has been pretty good at cutting the number of ads I have to see and hear daily since I've been away from high trafficked areas a lot. That sensory assault I do not miss at all.

eps 5y ago

Well, there's some merit to measuring one's shopping in terms of "experience". Well-laid out spacious store, with good lighting and non-obtrusive background music is quantifiably better than a dirty, cramped corner store with a sus-looking shopkeeper and ethnic music blaring out of tin speakers. But, clearly, being exposed to #more# ads is not something that adds to said experience positively.

lozenge 5y ago
What's wrong with ethnic music? Well, I was in an Indian store recently and they were playing this story from the radio, I'll admit it wasn't a pleasant experience. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-60676276 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-60676276
- mkr-hn 5y ago
  Some people can't tell an oud from a hole in the head. "Good" (in flaming hot Cheeto air quotes) grocery stores pick music to create a safe space where they won't be challenged by other music traditions. Or worse, the places where those traditions blend with Western music. Can't let little Timmy hear a 7th or he might turn out bad.
jeltz 5y ago
Why background music at all? I prefer shopping at places without it.
systemvoltage 5y ago
I would love to go to unkept, dirty and disorganized bazaar in Iran. Stores with owners that specialize in a couple of things. A granary for lentils. A butcher shop. A spice house. Complete contrast with Louis Vuitton store you’re describing. Now, that’s an experience.
mint2 5y ago
“Ethnic music blaring out of tin speakers” sounds racist because it is. Please don’t do be like that. Bad speakers are annoying but it’s annoying regardless of what musics so making it racial is not cool. Parking lot music is awful and it’s generic stuff