The spices aisle design at the grocery store
So many times I was excited to buy spcies to try a new recipe, yet I get stuck in the spices aisle. Why is it so hard to find the spice I want?
As much of a grocery shopping-aholic as I am, I never thought about browsing stuff in the spice aisle. It’s a wall, the only library of a grocery store. I even feel intimidated to stand in front of it. Hundreds of bottles look similar; maybe the cap color is different. All crammed in a single row. The item label is so small that I have to lean in to read or guess from the illustration. If I stand there longer, I feel a little awkward about staying too long because there might be another lady waiting for me to finish. The experience makes me feel ignorant and not welcome to explore more spices, as if these bottles are pushing me to leave.
A new classification of spices
Last week I went to a grocery store in Carmel, IN. The way those spices were organized fascinated me. It’s the first time that I saw the herb and spice aisle can follow the library classification system.
It’s that simple! Use alphabetical order. For those who knew what to get, it’s barely effort-taking to find the right one. What may be confusing is whether the left or right part of the sign means “A-Ba”.
The spices are not put in the bottle, either. I like the hand-made/fresh/organic feeling but slightly doubted the source.
Take a closer look. Same issue here, how can I read text small like this? Why are you leaving so much padding? Why is only the spice name in the hand-writing font?
Interestingly, I found nutmegs sitting next to nutmeg powers! I’ve never seen a whole nutmeg.
Then, random price-drop labels ruined the good feeling. Yea I know it’s cheaper, but for what?
Other classification systems
In addition to alphabetical order, spices can also be sorted by color, country, popularity, price, etc. There is a balance between the efficiency of finding things and the excitement that the store can bring.
It seems that Trader Joe’s is putting spices in similar colors. Thankfully, I can read tags that are for on-sales items.
If finding the right spice is no longer annoying, can the experience of browsing and trying spices be better?
Create good atmosphere
A spice store in London used jars and wooden aisles to make customers more calm and have time to explore.
Encourage trying and buying little
Buying nuts and coffee in bulk is common in large grocery stores. Why is it not for spices? Bringing your bottle and getting a small amount to try sounds good. Ugh, but you only use a little in your dish. It may not drive much profit for the stores.
