When choice doesn’t empower, it overwhelms

Imagine walking into a supermarket, ready to pick up a shampoo. You head for the personal care aisle. What greets you isn’t a shelf; it’s a wall of noise wearing labels.

There are rows of bottles in various colours, sizes, and variants. Some bottles promise bounce, others promise volume, some claim to prevent hair fall, and a few simply say “New”. You scan the shelf for your usual product but cannot find it. You crouch. You crane your neck. And with every second, what felt like a simple decision starts to feel strangely difficult.

Just then, your phone buzzes:

“Running low on shampoo? Get it delivered in 10 minutes.”

You click. Done. Gone.

That’s one sale lost, not because the product was out of stock, but because it was out of place.

The shopper isn’t wandering; they’re navigating

Shoppers aren’t wandering aimlessly in-store. They’re navigating based on habit, mission, and speed. Understanding the shopper's purchase decision hierarchy is crucial. It tells us:

• Choice sequence: Type → Benefit → Brand? Or Price → Format → Brand?
• What they consider substitutable if their preferred option isn’t available
• What visual or structural cues help them locate products quickly?

When shelves mirror this mental model, the in-store navigation feels natural, and decision-making is easy. But what if the shelf does not align with how shoppers are making trade-offs? What happens then?

Shoppers aren't here to play treasure hunts. If they can't find their usual pack or variant quickly, they'll move on or order online, standing right in your aisle.

A few sharp truths

Several behavior-driven insights make the urgency clear:

• Shoppers return to the same modern trade store 80% of the time: They expect layout familiarity and shelf consistency.
• They follow the same in-store path in 50% of visits: They are not likely to discover something new just because we put it there.
• The longer a shopper browses a shelf, the more likely they are to walk away: What looks like browsing is often confusion.

And if they don’t find what they came for, they don’t ask – they simply switch screens. With quick commerce growing at breakneck speed, your shelf has only seconds to deliver.

In short: when choice overwhelms, structure reassures.

And in today’s cluttered aisles, shopper-aligned planograms don’t just drive purchase; they preserve relevance.

Why planogram design must mirror the shopper’s mind

Even in familiar categories, shopper navigation is rarely linear. And it may not follow the logic we assume.

Let’s examine two very different categories where the decision tree might be more layered than it appears.

Hair Oils: What’s the shopper really filtering for?

In the hair oil aisle, is the shopper led by functional concerns, hair fall, dryness, or scalp health? Or do they begin with ingredient associations, like amla for strength or almond for shine?

Are there markets where the shopper choice is anchored to brand familiarity, built on trust and efficacy over time? If the brand blocks the shelf and the shopper prioritises benefits, we've created unnecessary work. They now have to scan across brand silos to find all the anti-hairfall options, compare ingredient cues, and then choose.

But if the shopper is thinking brand-first and the shelf is blocked by benefits or ingredients, we may disrupt shopping and make it harder to spot a trusted pack in a sea of similar claims.

In both cases, a mismatch between how the shopper thinks and how the shelf is structured creates silent friction and shows up in lost sales.

Biscuits: What’s the shopper seeking – occasion, pack size, or brand?

Shoppers don’t just think “biscuits”. They might be shopping for a tea-time pack for guests, a small tiffin pack for kids, or a large family pack to last the week.

If shelves are blocked only by brand, the shopper hunting for small Rs 10 tiffin packs or large family packs must search across brand blocks. Blocking shelves solely by benefit or occasion makes it difficult for the brand-loyal shopper to quickly identify their usual red or blue pack.

Either way, it slows choice, weakens substitution, and misses chances to grow the basket.

• For the retailer, an aligned planogram improves shopper flow, speeds up decisions, and drives higher conversion per square foot.
• For the marketer, it protects brand salience, improves portfolio navigation, and increases chances of substitution or repertoire expansion when the preferred SKU isn’t available.

When both sides design for the way shoppers actually think, the shelf stops being just real estate and starts delivering performance.

Not just for modern trade: PDTs in traditional channels

Purchase Decision Trees (PDT) are not just for modern trade. They are equally relevant in traditional trade formats, including stores where products are behind counters or inside closed units. 

Even when shoppers do not physically browse the shelf, they navigate visually, from afar, through glass cabinets, or based on cues provided by the retailer. PDTs help map this mental journey and guide the shelf layout accordingly. Knowing this dynamic helps ensure that the shopper leaves with your product, even if they didn't reach for it.

What’s in it for marketers and category teams?

Design planograms that follow shopper logic 

PDTs reveal whether shoppers begin with benefits, formats, price points, or brands. Structure the shelf to reflect this mental flow. It reduces decision fatigue, improves navigation and increases conversions.

Strengthen in-portfolio substitution

PDTs highlight what shoppers see as acceptable substitutes across pack sizes, formats and price tiers. Use this to build substitution ladders within your portfolio. If a top SKU is unavailable or unaffordable, shoppers are more likely to pick a backup that is still yours.

Improve product and pack role clarity

A good PDT shows not just what is chosen but why. Use this to define clear roles for each SKU – anchor, trade-up, impulse or entry pack – and design pricing, promotion and visibility accordingly.

Identify smart adjacency opportunities

PDTs reveal what sits in the same mental frame for the shopper, either as an alternative or a complement. Use this to design shelf adjacencies that increase trial, boost basket size and support repertoire shopping.

Guide in-store messaging based on decision triggers

PDTs clarify what shoppers filter for, such as "under ₹100", "anti-hairfall", or "no added sugar". Use this to place communication at the right point in the journey, so it becomes a helpful nudge, not noise.

Keep the shopper within the channel

When shelf navigation doesn’t reflect how shoppers think, they lose patience and may walk away. A PDT-aligned layout helps them find, compare and make choices quickly. This increases the chance they complete the purchase in-store instead of switching to a quick commerce app.

Enable scalable execution across banners within a channel

PDTs are built for a specific channel type. Once defined, they offer a consistent logic that can be scaled across multiple banners or markets within that channel. This brings uniformity in layout and SKU priorities while allowing local flexibility.

Conclusion

At the shelf, shoppers are not analysing your portfolio strategy; they are making decisions within seconds. If your product isn’t easy to spot, compare, and choose, it won’t matter how strong the proposition is.

It’s not just a missed opportunity; it’s a lost sale. The shelf doesn’t start the conversation; it closes the deal. And if you’re not ready, your competitor probably is.

(Our guest author, Sreyoshi Maitra is the Executive Vice President–Insights Division, Kantar India)