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Dry storage using steel frames and wooden paneling, holding tones of weight in dry storage goods |
There is a growing battle between "home-based shopping and store-based shopping" warns Kotler and this home-based shopping phenomenon extends the conventional cold chain to move from producer through to the processor, transporter, distributor and retailer; to add another transporter between the retailer and consumer. This does mean that there exists more of a chance to add on some extra value and thus some extra charges, but how much money is made in the long term over the store-based shopping method, that can cover those physical store assets -that no one visits.? It is alarming as Kotler did the estimate in 1999 that store-based shopping was growing only "about 2% per year" where as home-based shopping was "growing at a double-digit rate". A decade later, and these figures have grown with the advances in internet communication technologies. Today the need to please the physical shopper is more than offering low prices, it means providing a physical experience that is value packed and worth while. This begins with how a supermarket is fitted out, particularly with the optimization in the racking and shelving of the meter squared area.
2. Utilising racking and shelving for enticing and comfortable shopping.
Besides simply fitting out a supermarket with just a rack where the coffee tins or fridges where cakes will stand, there seems to be much more to this process than just adding a rack and shelf. There are many concerns to be taken account of, namely the style of the store, the size of the store, the rack placement, the types of racking, the size of the racking, the height of the racking and the distance between the racks where the aisles will be formed and the weight threshold capacity of the shelving. This is not just a rack, but a principle of management, marketing and of course persuasion. Beside the fact that store arrangement is an element of marketing, the racking and shelving embedded within the Supermarkets¡¯ area can also be aesthetically be designed and designed out of unique materials to be an aspect of marketing.
In his book Kotler on Marketing: How to Create, Win and Dominate Markets, Philip Kotler explains that when designing and delivering more customer value "useful hardware and software tools need to be provided for customers". In a supermarket, the hardware definitely encompasses the products that are passed along the supply chain and the cold chain, but hardware also includes those fixed assets in the business of the Supermarket. Software could possibly consist of those promotional activities within the supermarket such as those little LCD screens fixed onto the shelving systems or those scan guns to check pricings.
In the current economic crisis, customers have less to spend and are very selective in the items they wish to spend. Now more than ever it seems more important to encourage more spending through the subtle means of making shopping a more pleasant experience. Firstly it is quite obvious as to why one groups the staples of diary, meats and sweets in their own sections and on the opposite sides of the store, but on a more logical level, Gass and Seiter say that this "forces shoppers to meander through the aisles where they will be tempted to buy all kinds of other goodies". One of the aspects which make up the psychological processes of getting ¡'more for less' in the mind of the consumer is an "array of attractively laid out" supermarkets according to Kotler.
In the study of interpersonal communication one finds the element of proxemics, a term for how the human uses his or her physical space. Aisles that are too close together cause the consumer to take it personally as the store has forced a stranger to enter and violate their intimate zone which Let's talk about...Interpersonal Communication authors, Marianne Louw and Franzel du Plooy-Cilliers, say lies between "0-45 centimeters and (this) is reserved for lovers, family, children and close friends".
3. Properties of racks and shelves for efficiency, reliability and usefulness
3.1.Rack and Shelf Thickness
Once the store space has been optimized, the question beacons as to what type of racking and shelving best suits that plan. "The thickness of a shelf does make a difference" says Andre Boshoff of Active Shelving. He goes on to say that "the steel does make a big difference in the load capacity as a 0,8mm steel is normally used for shelving. A practical example is that a rack that is "914mm wide x 305mm deep up to a 914mm x 457mm, can carry a load of up to 160kg spread over the shelf and a 0,8mm steel is standard for a shelf of 914mm x 610mm with a load capacity of 120kg spread over the shelf." Andre says that a "1,2mm steel is used for shelves 914mm x 762mm and for 914mm x 914mm with a load capacity of 100kg spread over the surface of the shelf."
Steel Deck Panels are 305mm wide x 305mm up to 305mm x 1219mm and is normally open or Sigma beams that can be used with the steel deck panels. The beam length of the rack and shelf influences the total weight that a pair of beams can carry. In general steel panel¡¯s capacity is set at 100kg/ square meter as per I. S. O. 9001 standards. "In cold storage the rate at which rust forms on steel is higher between 3c and -5c, and from about -6¢ªc the rust rate returns to normal", Boshoff says as he discloses this as a norm.
Generally, dry storage can come in the form of a wire racking or steel or metal iron plating. This is generally more durable than the properties of other materials such as woods that would need constant treatments to survive the years. The average Supermarket shelf can be customized to fit the likings of the owner and a shelf can on the average (depending on manufacturer) have a maximum bearing capacity of 100kg.
3.2 Getting creative with shaping
As for shape of the racking and shelving, the gondola type racks can optimize the amount of packing space with their box shape where one can pack on the north, south, east and west sides of the rack and they can have up to five shelves, each holding an average top weight of around 80kg per shelf. These gondola type racks also come as smaller mobile types with wheels fitted onto them for ease of moving around the super
market when moving the layout around. There exists a box shaped shelf, known as a ¡®Smart shelf¡¯ commonly used by the Woolworths group, and this is very sturdy and it can hold a considerable weight above and beyond its fancier look.
Display shelves, that have a 'C' -shape, generally have a peg wall to hang products and this would need to be top light due to its shape. The American style Supermarket shelf comes in the form of an 'L' -shape and this type combines the benefits of the gondola shapes packing space and the display shelves peg holes, whilst adding to the aesthetics of the shop. The 'U' -shape has similar advantages of having pegholes and adding to the aesthetics, but unless the 'U' in the 'U' -shape rack is a considerably largely sized, one can expect much traffic congestion and invasions of the consumer's intimate zone's. Gass and Seiter explain that to have one¡¯s supermarket persuasively communicating to the consumer to buy more, "childrens products are placed on the middle shelves so that they are eye level to the little precious seated in the shopping cart, whereas adult products are placed at higher elevations". Anton Reeves, of Benoni based Dot Activ, says that this is what is referred to as "Plannogramming" of the items stocked on the shelves to emphasize one product over another. This is very supermarket specific as to which products go where. Reeves agrees that eye level placement is the prime placement of stock items.
Thus this plays on the height of what supermarket heights have to require to have.
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Dairy cold storage using the steel smart shelf concept |
To add to this items that inherently always go together, such as ice-cream and chocolate sauce should be close together so as not to inconvenience the shopper and thus 'violate' the shoppers' experience. A delicate balance must be sought between convenience as a value adding factor and leading the shopper around the market by the invisible thread of enticing store layout. When it comes to getting the customer to pay, those well positioned book shelves making up the
Sin aisle' of delectable sweets and luxury magazines are a last mechanism to get the consumer to comfortably hand over more moneys.
3.3 Protecting the racks and shelves
Racking can come with a standard steel look, or they can be powder finished or have an epoxy or plastic spray over them to make the racks more tantilising to the eye and more durable. Companies such as Euroshelf epoxy coat, electro-galvanise, provide chrome-plating, zinc plating, chemically cleaned, electro polished and stainless steel racking and shelving's. In the cold storage sections, Peter Meirs says that Euroshelf provides what they call a Euroseal corrosive resistant finish. However great steel is, a corrugated board shelf for short-term promotional storage adds the elements of novelty to the store and brightens it up with some colour. Within the supermarket though, one does not always find solid shelving's. In the cool drink refrigerators, a wire shelving mechanism is commonly found, and some promotional materials have found ingenious ways of stocking the product in the Supermarket using wiring in order to get a 'hanging' product effect without taking up space on the actual shelf. This would place some Newton's on the uprights or supports of the racking systems and not additional weight on the shelves, not to mention that it allows for more product placement.
3.4. Backroom storage:
Supermarkets cannot put all inventories on the supermarket floor and so, the need for back room storage areas arise. Here racking and shelving can be as important, if not more important, as the need arises to optimize the floor space not for the consumer, but for the efficiency of packing space. Universal Storage systems in Gauteng provide a push-back racking and storage concept, mobile racking systems, high-rise racking systems, narrow aisle racking systems, slide rail racking systems, multi-tier racking systems and raised storage areas. Acrow scaffolding and form work provides a product called the Selfix Towers which are "quick, safe and easily erected portable towers" that have "components that simply slot into together" and they can be "mobile or static" just like the gondola concept within the supermarket. Scot-Rack designs and manufactures "light and heavy duty scaffolding made from SABD 657/1 hot rolled tube".
These products can well be suited for the back room storage of supermarket products. The backroom cold storage areas can be cooled through the use of insulated products such as those provided by Africhill and with a reasonably powered refrigerant \system. Here in the cold room area¡'s and cold chain containers, the steel properties of the racking and shelving is not much different to the conventional racks and shelves used within the store, although they can have a wire shelving
4. Closings
The fitting out of a supermarket is not as simple as putting coffee on any rack in any aisle, in any part of the store. Product placement is important, but one cannot simply place a product, a supermarket needs racks and needs shelves to optimize the surface area of the store's floor space. How one presents even the parts products laid out for the customer adds to the experience of shopping. A tangible affair is much more personal, remembered, appreciated, valued and sought after than a more digitalized experience. The physical shopping experience will make a come back it seems only when a supermarket pays the necessary attention to the aesthetics and functionality of the store, making the shopper feel like he or she has had a worthwhile experience. ◊
