Business Intelligence and FMCG Glossary: #gondolahead
Gondola heads
What are gondola heads?
In the world of FMCG, “gondola heads” (or “gondola ends”) is the name given to the extremity of the shelf fixtures constituting the aisles of supermarkets and called “gondolas”.
Gondola heads are one of the key elements of efficient promotions. All sales elasticity studies agree on the fact that enhancing the attractivity of some products by displaying them on a high-visibility location such as a gondola head is an even more important success factor than a price discount.
As a result, offering brands a gondola head presence of their key products during a week or two has since long become a way for distributors to justify a significant economic counterpart in trade agreements. Manufacturers pay dearly to get their hands on them, especially in the most sought-after periods.
However, not all gondola heads are created equal. The most popular ones are located on either side of the store’s central aisle and those in the corner opposite the main entrance or in a “cold” and less transited area give results only slightly higher than normal shelf sales.
Similarly, if the gondola head is shared between an excessive number of products (more than 2 or 3), it loses much of the desired effect of increased visibility. To ensure effective promotions, these key elements should always be mentioned during negotiations between manufacturer and distributor, but this is not always the case.
