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I'm skeptical of the grocery store claim. Do you have anything to support the claim that one layout is more common than the other (and that would further sugge

by peeters 12y ago

I'm skeptical of the grocery store claim. Do you have anything to support the claim that one layout is more common than the other (and that would further suggest it's for this reason)? If I think of all the grocery stores I've been in, I can think of many examples of clockwise layouts. Much more so than counter-clockwise, but that's likely because of my personal brand preferences. The factors in the layout seem to be dominated by: 1. The position of the entrance (if the store is part of a mall, the entrance is often predetermined, and only one layout will be feasible). 2. The brand of the store. Thinking of Canada (and in my experience) Loblaws brand tend to be clockwise, and Sobey's counter-clockwise.

paulgerhardt 12y ago
I don't think you're going to get a concrete answer here. I've heard anecdotes justifying both layouts but in all major instances it's by design and not an arbitrary choice. In theory, forcing people to walk in an unnatural direction (clockwise) will make them go slower but be more on edge. This[1] paper suggests clockwise layouts result in higher sales in discount stores. If you want to put your customers at ease it may not be a good idea to go with a clockwise layout. This[2] article interviews a few retail strategists that describe their intent. This[3] article contends that 'legged-ness' does not matter at all (albeit with a very small pool). The science is soft enough that I wouldn't put too much weight in the grocery store example specifically. As I recall the trend in the '80's was initially pushing for CW stores to make customers browse slowly but shifted to CCW in the late '90's to make them feel more comfortable. I've heard other stores about shifting the grocery store layout from aisles to the "ring." This roughly coincides with Target stores pre-95 that were competing with Kmart for the blue collar and post '95 that focused on curated, upmarket design for the middle class. From personal experience, products on end caps absolutely do sell better by 30-60% than those in aisle. [1] http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/eacr/vol8/eacr_vol8_153.pdf http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/eacr/vol8/eacr_vol8_153.pd... [2] http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223808 http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223808 [3] http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post/do-people-really-walk-in-circles-2009-08-20/?id=do-people-really-walk-in-circles-2009-08-20 http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post/do-people-really... & http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1207918/Find-walking-circles-Scientists-reveal-struggle-walk-straight-line.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1207918/Find-...
- peeters 12y ago
  I totally believe that the choice of layout can cause those symptoms. But for me, I get them in a CCW layout, despite being right-footed. I think it has more to do with disorientation because I'm simply used to a CW layout. That's why I'm curious about if/how a study would eliminate that bias. Thanks for the paper, I'll take a look.
lione 12y ago
Interestingly, I find Independent to be mostly CCW, even though it's under Loblaws.

by peeters 12y ago

paulgerhardt 12y ago

I don't think you're going to get a concrete answer here. I've heard anecdotes justifying both layouts but in all major instances it's by design and not an arbitrary choice. In theory, forcing people to walk in an unnatural direction (clockwise) will make them go slower but be more on edge. This[1] paper suggests clockwise layouts result in higher sales in discount stores. If you want to put your customers at ease it may not be a good idea to go with a clockwise layout. This[2] article interviews a few retail strategists that describe their intent. This[3] article contends that 'legged-ness' does not matter at all (albeit with a very small pool). The science is soft enough that I wouldn't put too much weight in the grocery store example specifically. As I recall the trend in the '80's was initially pushing for CW stores to make customers browse slowly but shifted to CCW in the late '90's to make them feel more comfortable. I've heard other stores about shifting the grocery store layout from aisles to the "ring." This roughly coincides with Target stores pre-95 that were competing with Kmart for the blue collar and post '95 that focused on curated, upmarket design for the middle class. From personal experience, products on end caps absolutely do sell better by 30-60% than those in aisle. [1] http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/eacr/vol8/eacr_vol8_153.pdf http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/eacr/vol8/eacr_vol8_153.pd... [2] http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223808 http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223808 [3] http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post/do-people-really-walk-in-circles-2009-08-20/?id=do-people-really-walk-in-circles-2009-08-20 http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post/do-people-really... & http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1207918/Find-walking-circles-Scientists-reveal-struggle-walk-straight-line.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1207918/Find-...

peeters 12y ago
I totally believe that the choice of layout can cause those symptoms. But for me, I get them in a CCW layout, despite being right-footed. I think it has more to do with disorientation because I'm simply used to a CW layout. That's why I'm curious about if/how a study would eliminate that bias. Thanks for the paper, I'll take a look.

lione 12y ago

Interestingly, I find Independent to be mostly CCW, even though it's under Loblaws.