During a recent trip to Austin, I visited the Whole Foods on W 6th Street with Lamar Street. Besides being the brand’s hometown, founded in 1980, this store is attached to the company’s headquarters, so my expectations were high, and I hoped to see a well-tuned operation.
It did not disappoint. On the contrary, every time I visit Whole Foods, I admire how the brand takes great care of its merchandising, category management, cross-selling, and impulse buying. The latter two are extremely well-executed and give us many ideas on how to enhance these stimuli in various other types of retail.
What’s the twist
What catches my attention is how the chain likes to break paradigms. For example, seeing a Veuve Clicquot Champagne displayed as a bundled sale in a refrigerated area, was new for me. However, Veuve Clicquot makes perfect sense when the product in the horizontal freezer is wild crab legs and lobster. After all, money is not the issue here.
Speaking of alcoholic beverages, there was also a bundled sale at the end of an aisle with wines, offering a supplement to relieve hangovers the next day. Smart and daring.
More non-standard actions:
• Oranges in front of the vertical beer freezer.
• Mustard in front of the vertical nugget freezer.
• Magazine with soup and stew recipes in the fresh produce section.
Throughout the store, you can see how the brand ensures that relevant stimuli are created for the benefit of the consumer and the company’s margins, of course. At the end of the journey, you can see that the dynamics of Whole Foods are more convenient, enjoyable, interesting, and fluid.
After all, transforming chore shopping into emotional shopping is the new trend in global retail.
What a twist.