Plan-O-Grams are used by big box
retail organizations such as
Costco,
WalMart,
Staples and
Canadian Tire to effectively
merchandise their goods to their
customers.
Analysts study the
habits of
shoppers and suggest to the Plan-O-Grammers what should be where to
maximize sales based on their
price point.
Most large
stores use
shelves that can be accommodate gross amounts of
overstock merchandise in order to keep prices low and
sell mass quantities of it at the same time. Because of the
onhand product and the
competitive nature of
retail, some order must be struck for those working at store level to maintain
product flow.
Plan-O-Grams are
prefab maps of where everything goes. Every store receiving a particular plan will have displays of the exact same type placed in the exact
same place. There is zero room for
creativity; in fact it's
uniformity.
Assembling a Plan-O-Gram can be
painstakingly tedious or (picture 72' of
ballpoint pens,
pencils and
erasers in
blister packs on pegboard) or quite simple, depending on the products it features. During my
tenure as a
retail slave, I assembled many.
They're good things, but they also remind you of how
shitty your job really is.