Lack of space in stores - does not apply to canned chopped tomatoes! | General | Forum

Lack of space in stores - does not apply to canned chopped tomatoes!

Platzmangel in den Filialen - gilt nicht für gehackte Tomaten in der Dose!

When questions about the product range arise here, e.g. if a product is not (or no longer) available in a particular store, the standard line is that there is not enough space. I have often pointed out that this is a fairy tale that critical customers are told. The following example will illustrate this once again:

It's about the recently launched chopped tomatoes in the 400g can ofM-Classic
https://migipedia.migros.ch/en/153230100000

I assumed that they were to replace the Langobardi tomatoes, but these are still in the range:
https://migipedia.migros.ch/en/153228000000

Now I'm wondering why the two products are needed at the same time. The price difference per can is just 5 centimes, the contents are almost identical (Langobardi does not use citric acid as an acidity regulator) and they are indistinguishable in normal use. Completely surprising: both products come from Italy.

Within a short period of time, 6-packs of both products were offered as a special offer. And here's the best part: if you take advantage of such a promotion, the can costs only marginally more than the M-Budget product of the same size:
https://migipedia.migros.ch/en/153232200000

But that's not all. There is also an organic version of chopped tomatoes in the 400g tin:
https://migipedia.migros.ch/en/153227900000
and also as an Alnatura version:
https://migipedia.migros.ch/en/153271000000

Uff. 5 almost identical products, although there are actually stores that stock all five in their range. I haven't even mentioned that some of the different brands are also available in different sizes. These are the real problems that cause the lack of space.

By the way, I deliberately waited until April 1st to post this article...

(Machine translation)

M-CLAS GEH. TOMATEN 400G

2.8

Longobardi Tomaten gehackt

4.5

M-BUD GESCH. TOMATEN 280G

4.5

Migros Bio gehackte geschälte Tomaten

4.4

Alnatura Tomatenstücke in der Dose

4.7

All replies (3)

Guest

ion the shelvesiHello Federwolke I agree with you, firstly this causes (price) confusion for the customer and secondly, of course, Migros benefits from this. I imagine that it has so many tinned tomatoes on sale for financial reasons. The profit margin is probably high as tomatoes can now be harvested all year round. With the promotions, the profit margin on a single can is less, but you have to buy several at once, so it evens out. This means that the products on offer are not "slow sellers" but those that make a profit, which seems to be the case with tinned tomatoes.

(Machine translation)

Guest

Hello@Federwolke

Thank you for your request. Your considerations are of course understandable, but there are still various influencing factors that play a role in such decisions. On the one hand, we only have a limited amount of space available, and on the other, of course, the attractiveness of an item. It is also important to note that we allocate space per product range. For example, there are product ranges with greater innovation potential and those such as canned tomatoes, where space is also limited but fewer innovations are launched and the product range expertise is based on offering various price ranges.

We analyze our product ranges at regular intervals, evaluate the articles, identify trends and thus always try to find the best offer for our customers. Of course, we do this bearing in mind that we have very different customers with different interests, all of which have to be reconciled. The reason we always give for our limited space is absolutely correct. Because only if we remove an item from the range do we have space for a new one. So if we see a downward trend in an article, it is dropped for a new one where we see greater potential. New products are launched in response to trends, but also to requests from customers or new products from competitors that are developing successfully.

In order to satisfy all our customer groups, we have decided to introduce the additional item M-Classic chopped tomatoes. With these 5 price levels (M-Budget -> M-Classic -> Longobardi -> Alnatura -> Bio), we can cater for all customer groups, including price-sensitive and organic customers. Of course, there are also small differences in the recipe, even though all the tomatoes come from Italy.

I hope you can understand this and it explains why we have various canned tomato variants in our range.

Kind regards

Tanja

(Machine translation)

Federwolke

Hello Tanja

Thank you for your detailed reply.

Are there really customers who are calling for the introduction of a tomato preserve that is 5 centimes cheaper per can than the Langobardi and contains citric acid? Seriously? I've been in this world for a while now and it seems increasingly strange to me, but something like this still surprises me...

I certainly understand the price segment and organic, so I think budget/longobardi/organic is perfectly justified, but anything that goes beyond that just shows how much luxury we're swimming in.

And the space issue... You could certainly include more items in the range by not presenting a lot of things in double rows. However, this would require more logistical and personnel effort, as replenishment would have to be more frequent. I've already written about this several times, but no one has ever commented on it. So why keep bringing up the excuse of lack of space when customers with some knowledge of the industry can still see through the true background?

A few years ago, another reason was even officially announced in Migros magazine: the product range was being streamlined in many stores because customers were supposedly overwhelmed by the huge selection. That was the time when many of my favorite products disappeared from medium-sized stores, were then still available in the largest stores for a while and were finally completely removed from the range on the grounds of low demand. With this history in mind, the canned tomato story seems really illogical and inconsistent to me.

(Machine translation)