Eyes to Thighs

Did you know that companies buy shelf space in grocery stores

Olipop is very popular with Gen Z — I never even heard of it — Photo by Author

“Eyes to thighs,” doesn’t that sound nice? It’s an actual phrase used by marketing people, according to NPR News.

Did you know that companies pay the grocery store for shelf space? And sometimes they pay for extra shelf space they don’t even need to knock competitors off the shelves.

Renting shelves — who knew?

Most consumers who shop at a supermarket have no idea that underneath the 42,000 items that are typically stocked is “real estate” that’s for sale to the highest bidder. CBS

Coke has the majority of shelf space at my Albertson’s Grocery Store, while Pepsi has the most at Stater Brothers — Photo by Author

I learned of this recently while talking with a grocery store manager.

Coke and Pepsi have been doing this for years, buying shelf space so the other brands have less and buying the all-important end-cap shelves. According to NPR, no one wants to be relegated to the bottom shelf.

A recent report from the Center for Science and the Public Interest said some grocery real estate is more valuable than others, such as the candy aisle next to the checkout counters and displays at the end of an aisle. One sweet maker paid a chain $500,000 to place a single product next to its cash registers for a few months. CBS

Half a million dollars for one item, and most likely, I bought it.

The NPR story is about Olipop, a type of soda that I never even heard of.

Often, new start-up companies have no other way to get their product into big chain grocery stores other than to buy shelf space. There is only so much shelf space, and to add a new item, something else has to go.

Olipop did that to get established. But they have become so popular now that they no longer need to buy shelf space, and their products are stocked because customers want them. Sales to Gen Z customers are booming now because of celebrity influencers and Tic-Tok.

I bought an Olipop to try it out — amazingly delicious and very healthy — Photo by Author

I don’t use social media other than Medium. Is Medium social media? I’m not sure, but anyway, I missed all the Olipop hoopla.

So, I bought one today, and it was very good. It’s not sold alongside the sodas but in the refrigerated case. You will find it sold by the can alongside the Kombucha products.

The Orange Squeeze tasted a bit like Orange Crush for you with long memories. However, Olipop has 32% of the daily requirement for fiber. That is right up there with Metamucil, and it tastes better. It also has prebiotics and botanicals.

You would think that with the Metamucil angle, it would be us old folks buying it, not Gen Z. But what do I know?

It’s a bit expensive, so maybe Gen Z is making way more money than this retired guy.

Food companies spend more than an estimated $50 billion in fees that guarantee their products will get placed on grocers’ shelves. CBS

And we wonder why groceries are so expensive!

I find marketing a fascinating subject, but one that constantly manipulates us — to separate us from our cash.

Have you heard of Olipop? It has the Mike Stamp of Approval, and I’m not even on Tic-Tok.