It happens to all of us: we enter a store for a specific purchase, walk past the wine section and stop in front of the shelves, drawn in almost without realizing it. We look, compare, and often end up buying a bottle, even if we hadn’t planned to. Communicating to customers without persuading them or directly convincing them is the goal of nudging, a marketing technique increasingly used in supermarkets. It’s not just about how much a product costs, but how it is placed, lit, grouped, accompanied by labels or promotions, and even how it is described. When it comes to wine, all of this is even more complex, because what we sell is never just a liquid: it’s a story, an experience, a social act. Which is why every shelf becomes a small stage on which to act out stories, real or perceived, that help justify the price, choose one brand over another, give meaning to a color or a label.
From the physical path inside the store to the emotional layout of the shelves, every element contributes to guiding the purchase. The aisles direct the flow of customers, pushing them towards promotional areas and focal points; the wines are positioned to alternate bottles with different price ranges, and always leave room for labels with strong identities, capable of drawing attention and triggering interest. The idea is not to “trick” the customer, but to build a favorable context that facilitates choice. In the face of hundreds of options, customers often make decisions based on proximity, the recognizability of the label, the shape of the bottle, or the emotion a name or image evokes. In a sector like wine, which combines culture, identity, and price variability, nudging becomes an extraordinary key for interpreting consumer behavior.
