Trader Joe’s seems to be constantly rotating its offerings, reports Fox 31 Morning News. This churn means items are often discontinued.
According to an Inside Trader Joe's podcast episode, one of the top reasons for an item to lose shelf space is low sales volume, which tends to occur more frequently than in other retailers because of their smaller stores.
“We just physically don’t have room to carry things that aren’t popular, as disappointing as that is to hear and experience,” said Matt Sloan, one of the podcast hosts.
VP of marketing Tara Jones explained, too, that Trader Joe’s doesn’t take slotting fees, a commonplace practice at typical retailers. These fees allow brands to keep store items on the shelf, even if they aren’t doing well.
“At Trader Joe’s, the only way we make money is when the customer buys something at the cash register,” said Miller. “We’re not getting paid by the producer of that product to keep it on the shelves. And our business model says let’s develop something new that might sell better and make more customers happy.” Full story
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