Supermarkets discussion

[jon0844]

I have to say in my experience bit supermarket changes are pretty rare and kept to a minimum, and often there is a lot of signage to inform people. It doesn't seem like a big conspiracy to get you to spend more (there are far more effective ways to do that now, especially with social media influencers pushing every new trend).

 

[jon81uk]

You will have probably noticed recent refits of Tesco stores have brought bakeries nearer to the front of stores as opposed to in corners

Tesco have also stopped with scratch bakeries and are now just bake or defrost from frozen. So I think there is now less of a need for the shelves to be close to the space where the bread is made.

 

[GusB]

I have to say in my experience bit supermarket changes are pretty rare and kept to a minimum, and often there is a lot of signage to inform people. It doesn't seem like a big conspiracy to get you to spend more (there are far more effective ways to do that now, especially with social media influencers pushing every new trend).

I used to do the merchandising side of things and, while there would be some changes within particular sections each period, I've never had to move sections around the store.

Of course, some aisle end displays do change frequently as different items go on and off promotion, but that's primarily what they're intended for.

 

[SuspectUsual]

I used to do the merchandising side of things and, while there would be some changes within particular sections each period, I've never had to move sections around the store.

The big changes tend to be around changes to entire categories being in or out of the range, eg adding / getting rid of clothing

 

[davews]

Our Tesco instore bakery seems to have totally given up on bread loaves. Loads of sticks, rolls, cakes etc but just a few higher cost premium loaves. No sign of a proper loaf sliced anywhere. As for shelf moves, they have two separate shelf areas for cooked meat, one for quality products and the other for cheaper and more snacky types. For some reason they have just swapped those sections over. And they never seem to update the big product signs above the aisles which are now well out of date.

 

[AM9]

It's not entirely just to get you to buy new products, although there is an element of that.

When I used to work in retail there was so much analysis available on each metre of the store - and it's a constantly moving goalpost with new product launches, discontinued as well as now in this world we live in "viral" products and changing consumer habits. If you imagine now everytime there is a craze (hot honey, Dubai chocolate, pistachio everything...) it comes with a ton of new products and big selling items - so your range mix changes. You want to ensure that your aisles are relatively laid out in an order - for example you don't want bread next to washing powder.

That's why every so often the supermarkets will do a full relay which means they'll work out how many metres of each category they need and then rejig the store accordingly which will inevitably mean things will have to move around. It's just as annoying for the shop staff as it is for the customers.

You will have probably noticed recent refits of Tesco stores have brought bakeries nearer to the front of stores as opposed to in corners and also larger fresh fruit & veg sections whereas ranges such as "American Sweets" which were a fad previously and had up to 3-4 metre runs in big stores now being a shelf at most. You'll probably notice a reduction in space given to tech products (think back to the early 00's and every large supermarket had huge aisles of TVs etc.) which are now relegated to a small drop of essential tech, because Amazon can offer it cheaper next day and they're frustrating for a store to deal with as you get more returns/queries and they disseaper through internal theft.

Notwithstanding all the facts you relate in your post, the overriding reason for the mobility of product shelf location is tom place products in view of shoppers, - particularly those who tend to follow a fixed path between picking regularly bought items. I've never seen anything as daft as washing powder next to bread, but new lines aren often remote from the category product that they would normally be displayed. The other case is the relatively recent trend to offer products to accompany others (the most common thing being snacks and drinks or add-ons to meal deals).

 

[D6130]

Notwithstanding all the facts you relate in your post, the overriding reason for the mobility of product shelf location is tom place products in view of shoppers, - particularly those who tend to follow a fixed path between picking regularly bought items. I've never seen anything as daft as washing powder next to bread, but new lines aren often remote from the category product that they would normally be displayed. The other case is the relatively recent trend to offer products to accompany others (the most common thing being snacks and drinks or add-ons to meal deals).

Are there not legal/hygiene rules which prevent the display of food items directly alongside household cleaning products?

 

[sprunt]

Tesco have also stopped with scratch bakeries and are now just bake or defrost from frozen. So I think there is now less of a need for the shelves to be close to the space where the bread is made.

And in my local Tesco, this has removed the opportunity to poke your head round the counter to the bakery and ask the staff to slice a loaf for you, Apparently you can ask a member of staff to take a loaf to be sliced, but that's obviously only if there is a member of staff around and then you have to hang around the bread like a spare part waiting for them to walk almost the full length of the store and back. It's the single most annoying outcome of the recent refit.

 

[BuhSnarf]

Our Tesco instore bakery seems to have totally given up on bread loaves. Loads of sticks, rolls, cakes etc but just a few higher cost premium loaves. No sign of a proper loaf sliced anywhere. As for shelf moves, they have two separate shelf areas for cooked meat, one for quality products and the other for cheaper and more snacky types. For some reason they have just swapped those sections over. And they never seem to update the big product signs above the aisles which are now well out of date.

Yes, they've pivotted away from what a 'traditional' bakery would offer (loaves etc) as they don't sell as much and so ended up with wastage or only baking a very small amount to reduce wastage which then leads to displays looking empty and becomes a vicious circle of poor displays lead to poor sales.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Apr 2026 ==

Notwithstanding all the facts you relate in your post, the overriding reason for the mobility of product shelf location is tom place products in view of shoppers, - particularly those who tend to follow a fixed path between picking regularly bought items. I've never seen anything as daft as washing powder next to bread, but new lines aren often remote from the category product that they would normally be displayed. The other case is the relatively recent trend to offer products to accompany others (the most common thing being snacks and drinks or add-ons to meal deals).

Of course bread next to washing powder was an extreme example - but yes I've seen aisles pre-relays where an aisle that contains general grocery down one side and pet food down the other, the reason being that they'd reducede the amount of space on grocery and increased space on pet food. The relay then moved it so that cleaning products which had become isolated on another aisle then went opposite the pet food and made it flow better.

New lines being remove from their product is intentional if they're on a gondola / aisle end. This is because the endcaps are usually paid promotional space as this where the most sales will come from. So if you're Danone and you have launched a new drink, you pay £x thousand to stick it on a promo end as you'll catch the eyes of people who didn't even go down the drinks aisle.

As for add on sales, absolutely. One of the main focus of retail is to increase the ATV (Average Transaction Value) as it's very hard to get new people to shop in your store (especially if you're the only store in a town/village you can't control how many people visit) but what you can do is increase the amount each customer spends.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Apr 2026 ==

And in my local Tesco, this has removed the opportunity to poke your head round the counter to the bakery and ask the staff to slice a loaf for you, Apparently you can ask a member of staff to take a loaf to be sliced, but that's obviously only if there is a member of staff around and then you have to hang around the bread like a spare part waiting for them to walk almost the full length of the store and back. It's the single most annoying outcome of the recent refit.

I've always found if you can't find someone, ask the customer service desk they'll get someone to come and slice it for you.

 

[sprunt]

I've always found if you can't find someone, ask the customer service desk they'll get someone to come and slice it for you.

Which is fine, but it involves a lot of standing around compared to just asking someone in the bakery to do it as I used to.

 

[jon0844]

I used to do the merchandising side of things and, while there would be some changes within particular sections each period, I've never had to move sections around the store.

Of course, some aisle end displays do change frequently as different items go on and off promotion, but that's primarily what they're intended for.

Yes, I see the end of the aisles as being for special offers or where companies can pay to have higher exposure.. and then there's the seasonal aisle that you know will change throughout the year.

Most products don't move much, except for when stores get major refurbishments (or are extended, or get new equipment like new fridges and freezers etc) or the reasons detailed above.

I think the supermarkets know it's unpopular to change everything around, so it would be suicidal to do it on a whim because it might mean someone now has to walk past something they otherwise might have skipped.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Yes, they've pivotted away from what a 'traditional' bakery would offer (loaves etc) as they don't sell as much and so ended up with wastage or only baking a very small amount to reduce wastage which then leads to displays looking empty and becomes a vicious circle of poor displays lead to poor sales.

Hasn't Greggs essentially changed their bakery offer in a similar way in recent years, i.e. it's now "food to go" rather than loaves?

 

[gg1]

Our Tesco instore bakery seems to have totally given up on bread loaves. Loads of sticks, rolls, cakes etc but just a few higher cost premium loaves. No sign of a proper loaf sliced anywhere.

Sainsburys still do them, at least a dozen different types of loaf, and they seem to be pretty good sellers. By 9pm (when I usually shop) there's generally only a handful left, if I want a loaf I make a point of going closer to 6pm.

As for shelf moves, they have two separate shelf areas for cooked meat, one for quality products and the other for cheaper and more snacky types. For some reason they have just swapped those sections over. And they never seem to update the big product signs above the aisles which are now well out of date.

My local Tesco goes one better worse and splits them across 3 sections. I got caught out a year or two ago when I thought they'd stopped selling a particular type of sliced chicken I liked, it was a few months before I noticed they'd actually moved it to one of the other sections. A few months after that it actually was discontinued, I do wonder if it was due to a drop in sales following the random move.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I have to say in my experience bit supermarket changes are pretty rare and kept to a minimum, and often there is a lot of signage to inform people. It doesn't seem like a big conspiracy to get you to spend more (there are far more effective ways to do that now, especially with social media influencers pushing every new trend).

I doubt supermarkets re-arrange layouts much as generally everything sold is the same. But, yes seasonal products can squeeze things around. Also the row ends are often for promotions so itms there will come and then go. I found Sainsburys annoying for the number of changes a few years ago BUT then looking back I had not visited for maybe as much as ten years.

I did wonder why I did not visit Sainsburys for so long and I wonder why I have drifted back. Answer could be when a Morrisons opened near us and that now perhaps the novelty is wearing off ten+ years later. The more distant ASDA get very few visits even though the main Tesco is arguably further away but doable by bus.

Our Tesco instore bakery seems to have totally given up on bread loaves. Loads of sticks, rolls, cakes etc but just a few higher cost premium loaves. No sign of a proper loaf sliced anywhere. As for shelf moves, they have two separate shelf areas for cooked meat, one for quality products and the other for cheaper and more snacky types. For some reason they have just swapped those sections over. And they never seem to update the big product signs above the aisles which are now well out of date.

What I had noticed in my local large Morrisons is that they moved things around a bit BUT the signs above have not been changed to reflect the relocations !. I think Morrisons is on the slippery slope as facing up seems to have been replaced by shoving the next delivery in front and there is just that bit more mess. American owners - hmmmm.

 

[Bishops]

The game I call ‘musical shelves’. The other variation is items placed in multiple locations. A large Tesco near me in the past, had five places where naan bread was filed. A right pain if the first four were empty.

you go looking for Bread Bread

And in my local Tesco, this has removed the opportunity to poke your head round the counter to the bakery and ask the staff to slice a loaf for you, Apparently you can ask a member of staff to take a loaf to be sliced, but that's obviously only if there is a member of staff around and then you have to hang around the bread like a spare part waiting for them to walk almost the full length of the store and back. It's the single most annoying outcome of the recent refit.

This is why i like the morrisons in town - they have their bakery and if you want a loaf sliced its done there and then with the machine

 

[BuhSnarf]

Hasn't Greggs essentially changed their bakery offer in a similar way in recent years, i.e. it's now "food to go" rather than loaves?

Yes, because there's much more demand for Food to Go than a loaf of bread. Unfortunately the improvements to the quality of "packaged" bread has killed many bakeries. If I think back to the 80's, packaged bread was awful and tended to go stale within a day of it being bought. Now the quality of a good Hovis or Warburtons loaf is good enough (not as good as) a bakery bought loaf for a better price. It's only natural that demand was going to drop.

Most ASDAs now don't have a proper bakery either. It's really only Sainsbury's and Morrison's of the big shops that do. Of course, local bakeries tend to pick up that slack and round here we have a few good little independent bakeries for when I feel like a nice doorstep sandwich!

I doubt supermarkets re-arrange layouts much as generally everything sold is the same. But, yes seasonal products can squeeze things around. Also the row ends are often for promotions so itms there will come and then go. I found Sainsburys annoying for the number of changes a few years ago BUT then looking back I had not visited for maybe as much as ten years.

I did wonder why I did not visit Sainsburys for so long and I wonder why I have drifted back. Answer could be when a Morrisons opened near us and that now perhaps the novelty is wearing off ten+ years later. The more distant ASDA get very few visits even though the main Tesco is arguably further away but doable by bus.

What I had noticed in my local large Morrisons is that they moved things around a bit BUT the signs above have not been changed to reflect the relocations !. I think Morrisons is on the slippery slope as facing up seems to have been replaced by shoving the next delivery in front and there is just that bit more mess. American owners - hmmmm.

Absolutely this. You wouldn't believe how much it costs to move around a store. Both in wastage, staff hours, planning, deep cleaning etc. etc. You also have the negative customer comments etc. Stores aren't moving things round willy nilly! Also, it really feels like a first world problem that it took 30 seconds extra to find their Twix multipack.

You're right on Morrisons, another retailler that is falling foul of "Just In Time" deliveries and cutting twilight staff where instead of utilising the warehouse you've straight to shop floor with pallets. Also means they struggle when there's shortages as they don't have any spare stock.

 

[cactustwirly]

Went to Asda the other week, my local Sainsbury's is my go to, but is closing early on weekdays evenings because of the store refurbishment

It was a complete and utter mess tbh, very limited selection and difficult to find things
I won't be returning it a hurry

 

[Peter Sarf]

Yes, because there's much more demand for Food to Go than a loaf of bread. Unfortunately the improvements to the quality of "packaged" bread has killed many bakeries. If I think back to the 80's, packaged bread was awful and tended to go stale within a day of it being bought. Now the quality of a good Hovis or Warburtons loaf is good enough (not as good as) a bakery bought loaf for a better price. It's only natural that demand was going to drop.

Most ASDAs now don't have a proper bakery either. It's really only Sainsbury's and Morrison's of the big shops that do. Of course, local bakeries tend to pick up that slack and round here we have a few good little independent bakeries for when I feel like a nice doorstep sandwich!

In Croydon Surrey Street Market there is now a bread stall - with a very long and orderly queue. I suppose people who appreciate proper bread are likely to form orderly queues.

Absolutely this. You wouldn't believe how much it costs to move around a store. Both in wastage, staff hours, planning, deep cleaning etc. etc. You also have the negative customer comments etc. Stores aren't moving things round willy nilly! Also, it really feels like a first world problem that it took 30 seconds extra to find their Twix multipack.

You're right on Morrisons, another retailler that is falling foul of "Just In Time" deliveries and cutting twilight staff where instead of utilising the warehouse you've straight to shop floor with pallets. Also means they struggle when there's shortages as they don't have any spare stock.

Yes I have noticed the cages filling up the aisles later in the day. Also a lot of trolley loads of ordered shopping being dragged out from the warehouse through the store. Really noticeable how many uniformed youngsters there are dashing around fulfilling orders. And delivery bikes carving up us punters at the entrance.

 

[jon81uk]

And in my local Tesco, this has removed the opportunity to poke your head round the counter to the bakery and ask the staff to slice a loaf for you, Apparently you can ask a member of staff to take a loaf to be sliced, but that's obviously only if there is a member of staff around and then you have to hang around the bread like a spare part waiting for them to walk almost the full length of the store and back. It's the single most annoying outcome of the recent refit.

Both a Tesco and Sainsbury's I've visted now have a self-service slicing machine.

 

[dgl]

Our local Sainsbury's now has a self service bread slicing machine, so no need to fnd someone. The Morrisions still bake some stuff from scratch so there is usually someone there.
Lidl manage to keep a decent bakery section (though naturally they aren't baking from scratch) so I'm surprised other supermarkets can't.

Of course the isles that they can't change that easily are the refrigerated and frozen/freezer sections, especially if the cooling equipment is separate to the fridge/freezer so coolant lines need moving.

 

[jon81uk]

Most ASDAs now don't have a proper bakery either. It's really only Sainsbury's and Morrison's of the big shops that do.

Sainsbury's are also removing scratch bakery and just doing bake from frozen or buying it in.

 

[sprunt]

There's a bread slicing machine in my two nearest Sainsbury's branches, but they're both a significant drive away - nothing in Tesco which is the main local supermarket here.

 

[maniacmartin]

Sorry this isn’t about bread.
My local Co-Op have just replaced all of the shelf edge price labels with tiny e-ink displays like in a Kindle. I couldn’t see any cabling so I guess they are battery powered, and wake up periodically to see if there is any new prices to display. They appear to be able to display at least two colours: the product name, weight and price is in black, and any promotions are in the background off-white colour against a red background.

Obviously with this new system, they can presumably change the prices across the whole store instantly. I wonder if this will lead to more dynamic pricing, with prices being changed more frequently based on supply and demand, now that it is logistically easier for them to change them with a computer system.

 

[DelW]

Hasn't Greggs essentially changed their bakery offer in a similar way in recent years, i.e. it's now "food to go" rather than loaves?

When Gregg's opened on my local High Street around a decade ago, I went in and asked to buy a loaf of bread, to be met with a surprised look and "we don't sell bread". It was (and is) effectively just a hot food takeaway.

 

[jon0844]

Obviously with this new system, they can presumably change the prices across the whole store instantly. I wonder if this will lead to more dynamic pricing, with prices being changed more frequently based on supply and demand, now that it is logistically easier for them to change them with a computer system.

I think all the UK supermarkets are denying any intention of using the new tech (it's not that new, but you know what I mean) for dynamic pricing.

It has been tested elsewhere and variable pricing is in use in parts of the USA, albeit they don't show prices on the products and the price changes are shown on the till when you scan. It started in NYC with higher rates on products for tourists, and cheaper prices for locals who shop early or late in the day.

I am pretty sure one supermarket will try to go public with a system, that will start by offering discounts at quiet times to try and encourage people to change their shopping habits. In time, you'll see prices rise also - but you need to make people think it's a good idea first and accept it, even telling others how great it is to save money by shopping at 6am or whatever.

Once one does it, others will follow.

It's like subs for things on cars. BMW got a lot of bad press for charging for things like heated seats, and have scaled things back - but they will try again. Other car makers are either doing similar or considering doing so. With EVs needing less time and money on servicing, it makes sense to try and get people to subscribe to things and give car makers a regular income.

Perhaps Tesco will find a way of doing dynamic pricing in conjunction with a subscription to get lower rates. Who knows? I doubt the supermarkets do yet either, but never assume they won't try anything to increase revenues.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Sorry this isn’t about bread.
My local Co-Op have just replaced all of the shelf edge price labels with tiny e-ink displays like in a Kindle. I couldn’t see any cabling so I guess they are battery powered, and wake up periodically to see if there is any new prices to display. They appear to be able to display at least two colours: the product name, weight and price is in black, and any promotions are in the background off-white colour against a red background.

Obviously with this new system, they can presumably change the prices across the whole store instantly. I wonder if this will lead to more dynamic pricing, with prices being changed more frequently based on supply and demand, now that it is logistically easier for them to change them with a computer system.

The reason for this change is the massive reduction in man hours changing shelf edge tickets when promotions change, and the consequential aggro when the tickets aren’t changed in time and there’s a mismatch between the shelf price and the till price. Now both are fed from the same source and change at the same time.

I’d be very surprised if the Coop moved to dynamic pricing

 

[ChrisC]

When Gregg's opened on my local High Street around a decade ago, I went in and asked to buy a loaf of bread, to be met with a surprised look and "we don't sell bread". It was (and is) effectively just a hot food takeaway.

I’ve just been reading that Greggs stopped selling loaves of bread in 2013.
This wasn’t very convenient in smaller towns where Greggs was the only bakers shop. Even before they ceased selling loaves of bread they were not always readily available. My mum used to find that they were sold out sometimes before 10am. The staff told her that they only had a very limited number and although they had tried to get more the management wouldn’t let them have more.

 

[Ediswan]

Sorry this isn’t about bread.
My local Co-Op have just replaced all of the shelf edge price labels with tiny e-ink displays like in a Kindle. I couldn’t see any cabling so I guess they are battery powered, and wake up periodically to see if there is any new prices to display. They appear to be able to display at least two colours: the product name, weight and price is in black, and any promotions are in the background off-white colour against a red background.

The prices are clear enough, but the product descriptions are a lot smaller than before, which matters when products have been moved by other customers. Sometimes yellow.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

This is because the endcaps are usually paid promotional space as this where the most sales will come from. So if you're Danone and you have launched a new drink, you pay £x thousand to stick it on a promo end as you'll catch the eyes of people who didn't even go down the drinks aisle.

Interesting; I find that more often than not I miss items that have been moved to the ends because I never look at the ends... and usually only find them after asking a member of staff where they've hidden whatever product it is after spending about ten minutes searching for it...!!

 

[Hadders]

A few things to point out here:

1. Store Layouts
There are two different types of change that happen:

• A 'micro review' - i.e. the space allocated to a particular category stays the same but there are changes within that space. For example, lets say a store has 6 bays of space allocated to canned vegetables. The six bays stays remains in the same location in the store but changes tae place to the location of individual items within that space stays the same. This sort of change happens for a variety of reasons - new lines, discontinued lines, seasonality and more space being required for items where space is increasing being some of the main reasons. These sort of reviews happen quite frequently.
• A 'macro review' - this is a change to the space allocated to particular categories. So our six bays of canned veg might become four and move to a different location. These sort of change happens to reflect changing habits and sales. For example, much less canned fruit is sold than when I first started working in retail but much larger volumes of nappies are sold. This needs to be reflected in the space allocated. These sort of moves are very labour intensive and expensive. A few years ago changes to where products that are high in fat, sugar and salt resulted in significant moves and big cost to comply with the new regulations.

Additionally stores will normally have promotional space - typically at the end of gondolas, but sometimes 'in-aisle' because products that are high in fat, sugar and salt cannot be displayed on gondola ends. Bulk displays around the store are also promotional space. Items ion promotion will normally be dual located in the promotional location as well as their normal location. Sales normally increase significantly when an item is on promotion and the additional space is required to help keep up with demand and visually promote the product in what is normally a high footfall area of the store. Suppliers usually pay to have their products displayed in promotional space.

Store normally have dedicated space for seasonal ranges. Examples include Valentines Day, Easter, Summrr Gardening, World Cup (and other events as appropriate) Halloween, Christmas etc.

Store layouts are tightly controlled. Home delivery shoppers are directed to the exact location of items by their picking handset and this technilogy can be used to guide shoppers to the location of items through an app or handset.

2. Electronic Shelf Edge Labels
Most retailers seem to be moving in this direction, they've been around for a few years now. The biggest advantage for retailers is the massive labour saving of implementing price changes.

While you never say never, I doubt we will see dynamic pricing any time soon. Supermarkets care very much about their reputation and I don't think this would enhance their reputation.

3. In-store Bakeries
'Scratch' bakeries are labour intensive and on the way out. For example, Sainsbury's removed the last of theirs in 2025. They are very labour intensive, not just the labour required in store (which has increased massively over the last 10 years - not just the headline rate but all the additional 'on costs' as well). Part bake and bought in quality has improved significantly. Sales of 'standard' bread is in decline with more 'artisan' bread being sold than ever before - this has never been part of the scratch range where I've worked.