A hidden war around the supermarket shelf

This world is not to say "good things can always be sold". Even though many years passed, I thought that it was not a shame to defeat many new products challenging the classic products that are placed in the center of the shelf, but in reality some shops are Shelf space fee "has been taken to show products are pointed out.

Rigged | Center for Science in the Public Interest
https://cspinet.org/resource/rigged

The hidden war over grocery shelf space - Vox
http://www.vox.com/2016/11/22/13707022/grocery-store-slotting-fees-slotting-allowances

Gary Livrin of the Public Science Center (CSPI) said in a report entitled "Rigged", "The back deal between the retail store and the food maker is forming a supermarket today" and "the shelf space fee" I pointed out the existence of. The shelf space fee literally means "payment for the display shelf space", and even before Mr. Livrin, "Grocery Goliaths" issued by the non-governmental organization "Food and Water Monitoring" in December 2013 But it has been pointed out, it goes back to Congress in 1999 and in Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2001.

Grocery Goliaths - How Food Monopolies Impact Consumers
(PDF file)https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/sites/default/files/Grocery%20Goliaths%20Report%20Dec%202013.pdf

For example, in the United States, the two biggest heads of Nestle (Haagen Dazs · Dryers etc) and Unilever (Ben & Jellies · Klondike etc.) occupy the ice cream market and there is little room for other manufacturers to enter. In one supermarket, 22 of the 24 freezers were occupied by Nestle Unilever · Super's own brand and shelf space fee was necessary to have it placed on the shelves of only two freezers left.


Ice cream maker ·Clemmy'sIt was also a manufacturer I wanted to put the item in the remaining small space somehow. According to founder John Gordon, he got $ 30,000 (about 3.4 million yen) to be placed in "Albertsons" and $ 50,000 (about 5.7 million yen) to be placed in "shop light" Although I paid each, it seems that it turned out that my face was pale as I realized that 500,000 dollars (about 56.7 million yen) was still needed for a chain store called "Stop & Shop". By the way Gordon said supermarket freezers "22 out of 25 are Nestle, 3 are Unilever".

However, few people talk about circumstances like Mr. Gordon, Mark Heckman, a former supermarket executive, says, "You are about to tell the deep and dark secret of the retail industry, I do not want to know if I am paying for it. "

The shelf space is to be given to the "highest bidder", for example the compartment called the most valuable "beachfront" will cost $ 5 (approx. 340 yen) per inch (2.54 cm) About 570 yen). There seems to be cases in which the company paid 500,000 dollars (about 57 million yen) against a supermarket chain that has a maker to put items for several months.

The place called "end cap" at the edge of the shelf is $ 60 per item (about 6800 yen). There were cases where expenses at the time of deployment at 300 stores were $ 17,000 (about 1.92 million yen).


Burns and Noble are nominated as a store that takes shelf space fees, and this case is confirmed not only in the United States but also in the UK and Australia. On the other hand, we know that we do not charge for shelf space at Wal-Mart, Costco, Whole Foods Market, BJ Wholesale Club. A spokeswoman for Walmart commented, "Unlike many other grocery stores, Wal-Mart does not take shelf space, we work for our customers everyday with manufacturers, etc."