Jiexin Yue MKTG3000
March 18th

Smucker’s Concord Grape Jelly - 10 oz.

The Facts

1) I visited the King Soopers store located on 17171 S Golden Road, Golden CO 80401. 2) I found Smucker’s Concord Grape Jelly on Aisle 17. Aisle 17 contains jam & jellies, peanut butter, cereal, sports bars, pancake mixes and syrup. 3) In this section, there are 8 shelves including top and bottom. The height of the top shelf is 6 ft from the floor. The section also contains small clear basket fixed on the shelves carry organic honey product. The length of the section from left to right is 8 ft. 4) There are different brands in this section but most of them are from Smucker’s. Some of them are from the generic brand, Kroger. 5) Smucker’s Concord Grape Jelly is on the 4th shelf. There are 4 products facing out, and we can see their tops and their labels. There are 16 items total for people to purchase. The products behind the products are placed disorderly, so I cannot really tell the number of units which behind each facings. There are other SKUs of the same brand on the same shelf as well as other shelves. Actually, the products are between two other Smucker’s products that are strawberry jelly and red plum jam. Besides, there are also other Smucker’s products on the 6th shelf and the Kroger products are placed on the shelf between the two shelves of Smucker’s products. For me, a 5‘3’’ tall woman, my products are placed below eye level. And for me, the products that are placed at eye level are those generic brand products. However, for my friend who is 5’6’’ tall man, the products are placed at eye level are still Smucker’s products.
My Analysis

6) To me, the products are placed according to mixed strategies. However, I feel that the products are placed according to brands more than other features. Because if you look at the section as a whole, you can see the Smucker’s products are usually placed on the same shelf without any other brands. Although there are some outliers, they are placed together most of the time. It’s not very intuitive to me as a consumer. I think the store chose this strategy is because Smucker’s is popular and it has a lot more options than any other brands. This strategy can attract shoppers’ attentions quickly. Besides, this also help Smucker’s brand to promote new favors because they are placed next to each other. I would merchandise products differently and I would arrange them by flavor. This strategy would make shopping easier because if I don’t like strawberry flavor, I won’t buy it although it’s from my favorite brand.

7) The current merchandising strategy favors some brands over any other. I think Smucker’s and the generic brand: Kroger’s have the advantage. Welch’s is at a disadvantage. I think it favors Smucker’s is because it’s a popular brand and it does offer more variety of jelly and jam. The shop also favors Kroger’s because it’s the store’s own brand. Because Welch’s only has the grape flavor products. The limited options make the Welch’s products difficult to promote the sale like Smucker’s do. What’s more, I don’t think all the pricing labels currently present in my section can impact consumer perception and competitive advantage at the point of purchase. There are some big yellow sale labels under some Smucker’s sugar free products. Those labels could have impact on consumers who consume sugar free products. However, those have no impacts to other people on their decisions. There are also other products that are on sale, but none of them is Smucker’s product. Besides, I don’t think those generic products’ lower prices can have a big impact on buyers’ decisions because the arrangements are random and people are not easy to be attracted by those generic products. 8) The section is surrounded by peanut butter section and honey section. Because the peanut butter section is right next to the jelly and jam section, I learned that the store maybe considered