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Undertoad · 03-15-2005, 08:49 AM

Why does a company put baked beans on the market instead of, say, tinned cattlefish? Or ground peanuts?

I don't know how it is in England any more, but in the US that decision starts with a ton of research and/or actual market data. It then goes to retail buyers who attempt to understand their consumers and what they will or won't buy and how it can be sold. If an item goes on the shelf and doesn't move, that will be recognized with the assistance of real-time inventory and sales data, and it will be replaced within a quarter.

And like Mr Dent finding that the Nutrimatic machine has produced a fluid exactly unlike tea, the entire system has produced a supermarket where I am routinely offended by 98% of the shelf contents.

03-15-2005, 08:49 AM	#45
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Why does a company put baked beans on the market instead of, say, tinned cattlefish? Or ground peanuts? I don't know how it is in England any more, but in the US that decision starts with a ton of research and/or actual market data. It then goes to retail buyers who attempt to understand their consumers and what they will or won't buy and how it can be sold. If an item goes on the shelf and doesn't move, that will be recognized with the assistance of real-time inventory and sales data, and it will be replaced within a quarter. And like Mr Dent finding that the Nutrimatic machine has produced a fluid exactly unlike tea, the entire system has produced a supermarket where I am routinely offended by 98% of the shelf contents.