The Grocery Aisle: The Little Black Book
By George Patterson Y&R, 2011

On any given day, in any given store, human dramas are being played out – an array of decisions and emotions, which have a profound effect on marketers’ bottom lines.

Babies will be crying, nerves will be frayed, office workers will be rushing, singles will be flirting. A young woman will be sniffing shampoo, replacing the bottle and picking a “fresh” one from the back of the shelf. A recently divorced man will be spending too much time staring at the signs in the aisles trying to re-orientate himself in a brave new world, as his children offer their own suggestions for dinner (they’re now experts after several seasons of MasterChef). An over-excited 4-year-old will be singing along to “We are fresh food people” as it blasts from the Woolies tannoy. And a hygiene-conscious mum will be making a mental note to apply some hand sanitiser because, when you think about it, those shopping trolleys are just filthy.

Shoppers are confronted with a visual array, different smells, samples for tasting, offers, announcements, radio ads and events – to the tune of one quadrillion (1 followed by 15 zeros) media exposures annually in stores around the world. All sorts of emotions are at play – family love, embarrassment, hope, pride and even fear.

Manufacturers need to help shoppers choose and find their products and get those products regularly onto shopping lists. The best way to do this is to be relevant, to help consumers find the products that fulfill their needs and represent value – saving them time, energy, worry and/or money.

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