Disrupt Habitual Paths to Peak Endcap Effect

Shoppers prefer counterclockwise to clockwise paths around a store. A team of researchers at Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos in Brazil and Universidade Nova de Lisboa in Portugal attribute this largely to the majority of us being righthanded and living in countries where we drive on the right side. The tendency is reinforced by stores being designed to accommodate the prevalent counterclockwise path and by any lefthanders navigating in an environment dominated by the counterclockwise-drifting righthanders.
     Then after these explanations, the researchers turn around to make a case for turning around the shoppers. It has to do with store endcaps—displays of products at the end of an aisle on a shelf or rack perpendicular to the aisle. In studies at University of South Australia, endcaps at the front of a store, facing the entrance or the checkout counters, uplifted sales by an average of 346%. Endcaps at the back of the store, facing the storage area or the building’s rear wall, uplifted sales by 416% on average. One explanation for the sales lift from endcaps is that it’s easier to see products there than on aisle shelving. One explanation for the advantage of front-facing over rear-facing is that shoppers spend less time lingering at the back of the store, so are less likely to spot merchandise on those endcaps.
     The team from Brazil and Portugal found that shoppers are more likely to attend to merchandise on the endcaps when moving in clockwise than when moving in counterclockwise patterns around the store. The explanation for this one relates to brain physiology: The pattern of dopamine concentration in the brain results in people developing a better mental map of an environment when moving clockwise.
     The implication is to nudge shoppers into breaking their usual habits of rotation when endcap selling would be especially profitable. A salesclerk asked by a customer where to find a particular item could lead along the clockwise path to get there. Likely companion purchases could be shelved in the store using positions which require clockwise routes for retrieval.
     A “virtual bundle” might serve the purpose in some situations. Virtual bundles are promotional offers where a savings is received when the shopper purchases a certain number of designated products shelved separately in the store. Contrast this with “physical bundles,” for which the items to be purchased at a discount are all packaged or shelved together.

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