By Nick Mann

To your average consumer, product shelf arrangements in grocery or big-box stores may seem completely random. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Today’s top brands tap into a mix of psychological studies, eye movement patterns and decades of retail data to create fully optimized shelf arrangements to maximize profits. And this is something you can capitalize on, as well. As a military surplus/outdoor/tactical store owner, the same fundamental concepts apply to your retail space, where you can perfect your shelf placement to maximize visibility, increase conversions and boost sales. Here’s everything you need to know. 

Shelf height and sales performance

Let’s start by analyzing shelf levels and determining how well each location performs on average. Most retailers break shelf levels down into four areas. There’s top shelf (above eye-level), eye-level, waist-level and bottom shelf. Based on a mountain of retail sales data across a variety of industries, top shelf products tend to be seen less frequently, as the shopper’s eye doesn’t naturally gravitate to this area. Top shelf typically accounts for around 15 percent of total sales. Eye-level is hands down the most visible area because it naturally attracts a shopper’s eye, making it the most valuable shelf placement location. In fact, this area often accounts for as much as 50 percent of all sales. Waist-level offers solid visibility and tends to be the second most valuable shelf placement location after eye-level. It typically accounts for around 25 percent of all sales. Finally, bottom shelf receives minimal attention. In fact, many retailers say it’s the worst-performing area overall and usually results in around 10 percent of total sales. 

Using this data to optimize shelf placement

While every retail store is a little different, the data just presented should serve as a good rule of thumb for most businesses. To simplify, here’s a basic recap of about what you can expect from each shelf zone. Top shelf -15 percent of sales; eye-level – 50 percent; waist level – 25 percent; bottom shelf – 10 percent. Based on that data, one strategy becomes instantly clear: The two best-performing areas are eye-level and waist-level as they can often account for around 75 percent of total sales. So, the products you’re most interested in selling, such as your highest-earning items and core products, should perform best when placed at eye-level or waist-level. 

Again, eye-level is by far the best-performing location overall, which means this should be your top priority for the items you want to sell the most. But waist-level can still perform quite well, as it still offers solid visibility. On the other hand, top-shelf and bottom-shelf offer significantly less visibility, meaning they’re not ideal for core products or high-margin items. However, top-shelf can often work well for overstocked items or for those that are more niche. As for bottom-shelf, this is typically best for those lower-margin products as well as heavier items for better weight distribution. And if you sell kids’ products, this is an excellent space for the simple fact that it maximizes visibility, especially for younger kids. In fact, this can be a smart strategic move because what’s bottom shelf for most adults is closer to eye-level for children. 

The Z-pattern

Now that we know about the four main shelf height zones, there’s another critical phenomenon to be aware of. This involves the natural eye movement pattern that most people follow when looking at a shelf. Here’s how it works. In most cases, a shopper’s attention will first be drawn to the center part of a display, as this naturally attracts human eyeballs. Then, most people will shift their gaze to the right — something that’s especially common in Western countries, with shoppers frequently moving from left to right. Finally, most shoppers will then make a secondary scan, where they move their eyes left again. When you put these three movements together, it creates a horizontal sweeping motion that somewhat resembles a Z-pattern. The key takeaway here is that you can capitalize on this phenomenon by placing your best-selling products in the center of a shelf zone, those with the highest profit margins to the right, and those of lesser importance or lower profit margins to the left. 

The importance of creating contrast

There’s one other key strategy you’ll want to use for optimizing shelf placement and drawing attention to key products, and that’s visual design, where you intentionally use contrast to direct shoppers to specific areas. There are a few ways to go about this. One is to simply add unique signage to point out specific items you want shoppers to know about (red and yellow tend to be good colors for this). Another is to use bright or contrasting packaging that naturally stands out against the wall of other products on a shelf. Imagine, for example, a section of camouflage packaging amidst a shelf with primarily white and grey packaging. The key here is to break the pattern to direct a shopper’s gaze to the products you want to highlight. Also, using packaging that’s uniquely shaped or that has a unique texture can potentially create contrast and bring attention to the items you’re looking to emphasize. 

Let’s recap

Although your military surplus/outdoor/tactical store may carry hundreds or thousands of products, you don’t want to give all items the same level of attention. Naturally, there will be core products or high-margin items that you’ll want to highlight to maximize conversions and boost profits. A big part of this is leveraging shelf placement science, which follows fairly simple, predictable consumer behavior. It will likely take some trial and error, but once you figure out the right formula, you can fully optimize your store and make your shelves work for you.