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Marketes: product pacteng aims to draw shoppers- eyes
By Cathy Higgins
. The goal of supermarket merchandising
is more to attract the customer's attention
rather than inducing shoppers to buy un
wanted items, according to three Lincoln
merchandising specialists.
Don Parente, University of Nebraska
Lincoln professor of Journalism, said the
location and packaging of a product Is
important to its salability.
"The important thing is to give people
what they want and put it (the product)
Where they can find it,M Parente said. He
added that demand items are placed at eye
level and impulse or related items shelved
close by.
'Many people feel that marketing
people are mysteriously tricking customers
into buying unwanted products," he said.
"Advertising is basic and straightforward
in a productive way."
DENNIS BISSELO, merchandising
manager of Flemings Food Co. of Nebraska,
said the most important function of ar
rangement is to create a smooth movement
from item to item.
"Some products are placed to induce
customers into buying certain items," he
said, "but this is a common concept. We
position income items next to demand
items, but they are related in some way or
another."
Robert Steinberger, O . Street Hinky
Dinky manager, said it is impossible to ar
range demand items in specific aisles in his
store.
"We carry about 10,000 products so We
can't have any special merchandising," he
said. "What is a demand item to one person
is an impulse item to the next.'
Steinberger added that the seasonal flow
of money has an effect on what people
buy.
, "We are now merchandising budget
products or -less expensive products
because money is tight this time of year,"
he said. "Soon well start merchandising
spring-type merchandise, like garden seeds
and fresh vegetables."
All three agreed that packaging plays a
major role in attracting customers.
"PACKAGING IS very important In cer
tain products" Parente said. "The color of
a package is important because people like
attractive things."
"We are more concerned that a person is
ignoring a product than ty!ng to manipu
late them into buying a certain item," he
said. He added that different colors attract
buyers in different areas.
"Red does well in Nebraska, Red China
and the Soviet Union. Green does well in
the United States but not in southeast Asia
where it is associated with the jungle and
disease," ha laid.
The basic theory is to use packaging to
help shoppers identify the brand, Parente
said. ,
Steinberger said the most difficult
aspect of his job is to create a reliable at
mosphere.
"You gain business by establishing
honesty with people," he said. "People
need to know that we are offering them a
variety of products at the lowest prices
possible."
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' An example of a supermarket display where related items are shelved dose to each Other.
Photo by Bob Ptarson
Farm policy mini-colirse, causes student to transfer opinions
By Val Swinton
Curt Alan Brown has just completed a three week
course on farm policy and the federal government. He
didn't like the teachers and he thought the campus was
lousy, but some of the lessons he learned hell remember
for the rest of his life.
The course wasnt sponsored by UNL, nor was it held
!r Lincoln or Omaha. The campus was the nation's capital
and the sponsor was the American Agriculture Movement.
Curt returned this week from the AAM's tractorcade to
Washington;D.C.
Brown, a UNL business major, was not impressed with
the city, the politicians, the news media or the police. He
said he thought the people were prejudiced against the
farmers; the media and police overreacted to most of the
Incidents involving the AAM.
. My impression of D.C.?" he asked. "I wish it would
blow away.'
Brown has a- lot of memories of his trip to Washingron
t).C. He said he remembers, for example, four policemen
hovered over a farmer after they had dragged him oft his
tractor and beat him with billy clubs. Or a fifth policeman
. trying to drag a farmer's Wife off the tractor, and how he
' beat a Nebraska woman with his club as she tried to stop
' him. . ' .
v '-,v t: ... . i ,:. -. r- k ' ilr .
: : !IB SAID HE remembers a farmer who was taken to
a hospital after police sprayed enough teargas in his
tractor cab to disperse a large mob. Brown said he heard
htsr that the farmer had lost his sight in one eye, and
doctors werent sure yet if they could save the other eye.
Drown also remembers a SWAT officer driving a four
wheel drive vehicle. ,
VI Us job was to make us co something wrong, Brown
soli. "If you were Iranians going into that place, the
police woxd have protected you. But not Americans "
Drown slx s&id he thought it was funny that the news
media in Ytefaington would show trp at a certain point
z?.i thj street jutf before trouble developed. And, he in
CM It Tent the fanner thit tipped them off about
pctentLl trouble. . . . ' -
. - ' ....
PCJ34
"The press back there was very bad," he said. "Tney
just picked up on the bad things."
TTie UNL sophomore gave as an example the damage
the farmers allegedly caused to Capital Mall. It was esti
mated at about $2 million, according to. the morning
papers.
"A better estimate of that might be $10,000, he said.
BUT DESPITE the bad memories, Brown insists the
tractorcade helped the farmers.
"We know the tractorcade definitely helped Us' he"
said. "It gave us press and everything. It gave attention to
the problems that we have. -
But Brown admits he doesn t know what effect the
tractorcade will have on the politicians.
"I dont know What the government is ping to do.
They all agree there is a problem and something has to be
done, he said, but added, -"Most of them don't even
know where their foodfis coming from -vl v
. What the AAM -Is demanding. is that farm prices be
raised to "90 percent Of "parity a measure of prosperity
intended to keep the price of farm commodities in tine
with rising inflation. Eut to do so requires government
subsidies, and to combat Inflation, the government is
tightening it's belt and reducing those subsidies. ;
at also Is hurting farmers like Brown and his father
tldon is the fact that.most farmers are thriving Total
farm income soared 40 percent in 1978, totalling $28
billion, the second highest in history. The price of milk,
hogs and cattle all increased last year, and the trend
appears to be continuing.
BUT THOSE figures have little significance to the
Browns, who farm 2,000 acres of wheat in Banner
County. Brown said the price of wheat now is $2.69 a
bushel, the same price as in 1948. He added that it's
pretty hard to buy supplies and equipment at 1978 prices
when you are gettong 1948 prices for your crops.
Curt said that he and his father have not rod a profit
able year since 1974. ; : - , .
."When you havent made any money in that amount of
time, it draws on you pretty hard, he said,
fathom
When asked why the Browns don't invest in livestock
and take advantage of the high prices, Curt pointed out
that a lot of farmers bought more land In 1974 when
wheat prices were soaring and then the bottom fell out of
the market. He said they dont-want to take that gamble
with livestock.
The USDA is no help,he said.
"The USDA will come out with a report of a bumper
crop of wheat in the fall," he said. "Then that will drop
the price." V -
Although much of the wrath of the AAM appeared to
be aimed at U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Robert Bergland
during the tractorcade, Brown said he doesn't feel Berg
land is to blame.
"MY IMPRESSION of Berand from what our
congressmen tell us, is hes really a nice'man, (and) it
just isn't like him to be this way," Brown said. "He's a
puppet of President Carter. He has no control oyer the
situation. He has to be loyal to his paycheck."
And Brown Is even more Specific as toXvho tha farmers
must deal with if they are going to win their battle for
greater government Subsidies. .
The problem of the tanner is solely Carter's dealing,"
.heaald,.!So Carter Is the man we're Hgting. '
wBut hell, he continued, "he's running all over the
world. He's more concerned with other countries than he
is with the United States. .
The UNL student says he feels the right In Congress
should be concentrated in the House of Representatives.
The Senate Is more sympathetic than the House," tie
said. "New York and Los Angeles representatives just have
no idea at all what it costs to raise things." ;
Brown, a member of the Sigma Alpha BpsHon Fratern
ity, dropped out of school this semester so he could go to
Washington D.C. But he insists that his education in Wash
ingron was equal to any one semester in school, j'.,
"I teamed more out of this past month and a half than
any length of time in school" he $aid.I have no faith
in the national government at all." t c ; .; .
fridrnsrch2,1979