Researchers find that clearing aisle islands boosts retail sales

However, a new study by Mathias C. Streicher of the University of Innsbruck in Austria shows that excessive use of secondary displays narrows the aisles, reducing in-aisle browsing and sales.  

In real-world field experiments led by Streicher over a 12-week period, sales rose by about 11.5% after removing secondary displays from a congested aisle, even though fewer products were on display overall. The research team compared shopping behaviour in the same supermarket aisle, with and without the displays. 

Their observations, published in the academic journal PLOS One, show a clear trend: After removing the in-aisle fixtures, customers stopped more often and engaged more with the shelves. 

“Both the stop rate and product interactions increased, and the number of product contacts multiplied in our measurements,” explains Streicher, who is from the university’s Department for Management and Marketing. 

Another key finding: Shopping carts amplify the downsides of additional displays. By expanding shoppers’ peripersonal space – the area perceived as near space by shoppers – carts make narrow aisles feel even tighter.  

The researchers believe people with carts are more sensitive to spatial constraints, which can have stronger negative downstream consequences for this customer group, compared to basket shoppers.  

“With shopping carts, customers are more sensitive to spatial crowding, which further amplifies the negative effects of secondary fixtures placed somewhere in the aisle,” Streicher notes. 

He adds that the findings do not mean that secondary fixtures or placements are inherently ineffective. Used strategically, they can lift sales of specific items and generate slotting fees from brand manufacturers. 

Excessive in-aisle displays are common 

In its research, the University of Innsbruck team found that excessive use of in-aisle displays is common practice in retail environments. 

The problem becomes acute when extra displays disproportionately increase perceived crowding; at that point, the drawbacks outweigh the benefits for total sales.  

“Supermarkets can counter this by systematically identifying bottlenecks, for example, through customer surveys and observation,” Streicher says. “Our results show that, in this case, less can be more.” 

You can find out more about the study, titled ‘When merchandise crowds the aisle and carts crowd the shopper: Joint effects on sales’ here.