How Shelf Space Allocation of Terroir Products Improve the Financial Performance of Grocery Stores?

Abstract

The objective of this research is to identify the kind of shelf space allocation of terroir products that could influence positively the financial performance of grocery stores. Three possibilities of allocations have been noted in the literature (Albertini et al. Décision Marketing 65:21–30, 2011): on a dedicated shelf, on the shelves of their products’ categories, and double allocation. To achieve our research objective, an experiment has been conducted in a real convenience store “Vival by Casino” in France with 282 consumers, employing a between-subject factorial design. The results obtained show that the double allocation strategy impacts most positively consumers’ perceptions in terms of accessibility and ease of purchase. This space allocation strategy impacts most favorably the financial performance of the grocery store in terms of number of terroir products sold and turnover achieved specially for non-buyers and occasional buyers. Our findings confirm the superiority of the double allocation and the simple allocation on a dedicated shelf of terroir products, in terms of accessibly and ease of purchase as well as to improve the financial performance of the store. In addition, the results indicate that the simple allocation of terroir products on the shelves of their products’ categories is the least successful alternative.