Re: How is this different to promotional product placement on supermarket shelves?
The primary difference is that in a supermarket, the cheaper options are not hidden away in another room via a security door. Similar items and brands are on the same shelves in the same aisle. The most they can do to push you towards specific products is put them on the eyeline shelf and the other brands above or below eyeline. There are other small, psychological tricks they can try, but few are proven to actually work. If someone wants the cheapest option, it's simple for them to find it. Only the frit and veg is more difficult since they often sell bagged items by item count and loose by weight. The loose is almost always cheaper, but sometime it's worth putting a bagged item on the provided customer scales and checking :-) And the supermarket may well earn more if you buy their preferred option, but they don't actually care that much so long as you do buy something rather than go somewhere else. Personally, I use a number of shops based on price, quality and convenience and the mood I'm in at the time. I never get a full "shop" in one supermarket because they don't all sell the same stuff and based on my personal choices, not theirs.
Supermarket buyers tactics and their stranglehold over much of the supply chain is another matter.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
