Beer Store Shelf Shake-up?

[Bytowner]

So I was at the Beer Store on Tenth Line in Orleans today and they had completely shaken up their stock. Whereas the last time I had went there was an aisle of mediocre-good beer and several aisles of shite beer, this time everything had been mixed up according to some odd style guidelines. So that Flying Monkeys Hoptical appeared side-by-side with Brador and Molson Ex as "Ales" and Paddock Wood and Creemore were stocked next to Blue.

Was this just some confused employee or is this happening anywhere else? It would be pretty cute if the BS is trying to confuse people based on brewing styles.

[Belgian]

How a gigantic monopoly that sells one thing be so sumptuously ignorant of what it sells is quite amazing.

Imagine if the LC lumped together all styles "White Wine" and "Red Wine" without understanding any of the diferences.

[Bytowner]

Well that's just it. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that they know exactly what they're doing. Too many people bypassing the macro stuff these days, so mix it all up in the hopes of confusing people, making them think it's all equivalent. That's why I was wondering if it has happened elsewhere.

[atomeyes]

Well that's just it. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that they know exactly what they're doing. Too many people bypassing the macro stuff these days, so mix it all up in the hopes of confusing people, making them think it's all equivalent. That's why I was wondering if it has happened elsewhere.

i'd go as far as to say that not only do they know what they're doing, but they're making money off the shelving placement.

retails chains have something called Planograms. LOTS of thought goes into them. HWY 404 and Hwy 7 = Shoppers Drug Mart's concept store. no one knows it exists (its on Cochrane Rd) but its an actual store build inside a strip mall. SDM uses it to physically draw up their planograms.

they sell shelf rights to companies so their products are prominently displayed. they also place items in certain areas to maximize basket size (i.e. total $$ you spend each time you're in SDM).

so, applying that to a mega-million-dollar company like TBS, i'd assume that there is little to no way that they let individual store managers to decide what goes where. they likely get money from the various brewers and the one that pays the most gets the best shelf location i.e. highest foot traffic and highest eyeball traffic.

as an aside, does anyone really think that those LCBO radio commercials use Hops and Robbers just because it sounds cute or its a coincidence? its all payola.

[biegaman]

so, applying that to a mega-million-dollar company like TBS, i'd assume that there is little to no way that they let individual store managers to decide what goes where. they likely get money from the various brewers and the one that pays the most gets the best shelf location i.e. highest foot traffic and highest eyeball traffic.

As a former employee of TBS I can absolutely confirm they do. When we had floor displays (which do in fact cost the breweries a fortune!) they had to be in a very specific order, say, Budweiser/Coors/Moosehead. If we arranged it Budweiser/Moosehead/Coors... you better believe we'd get a huge slap on the wrist and have to change it asap. The brewery reps were anal about it. In fairness, they'd pay more money for one slot over the other. (Not sure why exactly, in our store they were all just sitting in the middle of the room on the floor.)

[Belgian]

Well that's just it. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks that they know exactly what they're doing. Too many people bypassing the macro stuff these days, so mix it all up in the hopes of confusing people...

Bingo, some of the most confused talk and questions I've heard is from people who orient their beer buying not to the LC but to The Beer Store. It's a gigantic market kept away from seeing the light of day, like veal calves.

I speculate if the deliberate confusion competitively keeps timid buyers from trying anything new, and discovering even what the LC has on offer. Everything our LC does is a threat to this multi-national owned TBS.

[rejtable]

My initial reaction was that the big guys have more to lose in this jumble-up than the craft brews.

Couldn't this backfire on them just as easily?

Plenty of people probably go into TBS and are either intimidated/confused/don't care about the small crafty beer sections and head straight to the Keith's/Lakeport whatever sections.

By sticking some Smashbomb or Mad Tom or whatever in the middle of the Keith's stacks, somebody may actually notice it them.

[Bytowner]

My initial reaction was that the big guys have more to lose in this jumble-up than the craft brews.

Couldn't this backfire on them just as easily?

Plenty of people probably go into TBS and are either intimidated/confused/don't care about the small crafty beer sections and head straight to the Keith's/Lakeport whatever sections.

By sticking some Smashbomb or Mad Tom or whatever in the middle of the Keith's stacks, somebody may actually notice it them.

Could be, but keep price in mind. The macro beers also look a touch more tempting next to boxes whose brands are indecipherable because of all the dust.

[Kel Varnsen]

I speculate if the deliberate confusion competitively keeps timid buyers from trying anything new, and discovering even what the LC has on offer. Everything our LC does is a threat to this multi-national owned TBS.

I was in the beer store a few weeks ago returning a bunch of empties, and I totally realized that (at least the one in Ottawa at Carling and Maitland) is designed so that a customer wants to spend as little time in their as possible. I mean the returns area is right by the main entrance, which means as soon as you walk in the door you are hit with the smell of rotten beer from those nasty black containers they use for returns. Plus since the returns area is right by the door if there are more than 3 or 4 people doing returns it actually blocks the door. Plus even though it is a store you can walk around in everything is super cramped together with a ton of stuff just stacked on the floor and the aisles are super cramped and poorly lit. Oh and because they do handle returns, even the retail area of the store is loud from glass being smashed in the back. This of course means that they expect people to come in either already having their mind made up, or spend as little time browsing as possible. This of course benefits the companies that can spend millions on ad campaigns (which just happen to be the beerstore owners).

[Lecocq]

As an employee of TBS, at least at my store, aside from the beer on pallets in the self serve section, all of which are Molson, Labatts, and Sleeman, the actual shelving placement we have no such instruction on where to place anything, other than in the "discount", "premium", "import" sections. I purposely give prominent shelf space in the cooler to brands I like . Seriously though, all of the following brands are on the top shelf, front facing in this order (off the top of my head): Mill St, St Ambroise, Big Rock, Paddock Wood, Unibroue, Magic Hat, Flying Monkeys, Mad Tom, Muskoka Survival, etc. When we get a new product in, we just try to find room for it in some location.

I am sure though, that not all Beer Stores have an actual "beer guy" or craft afficienado that actually cares about the placement. So in other words, come to Tilbury for your TBS shopping needs!

[sprague11]

as an aside, does anyone really think that those LCBO radio commercials use Hops and Robbers just because it sounds cute or its a coincidence? its all payola.

Considering rickards is in one of thise ads i think we alo know the answer.

I worked for Dominion before they became metro. Everything in the store is placed where it is for a reason. Premium shelf space sells.