In Response to Aubrey's post on Google "Plus One"

In response to the question of whether or not the Google plus one button will make Google more competitive to social networking sites, I would say that it definitely will. I don't think that this is going to prevent people from using social networking sites like facebook less often but I do think that it will bring more attention to Google. I think that the area that Google will see the most impact on will be with businesses. The advertising business is huge now-a-days and it is the only reason that made facebook worth as much money as it is. With companies now being able to add this Google plus one button to their page it will give them another way to advertise besides on facebook. Some companies may look at this as an even more effective way to advertise than facebook because this will open up their ads to who ever is using the world wide web and not just people on facebook. I am predicting that this Google plus one button will be extremely successful and large companies may rather want to advertise with this Google tool instead of facebook because it allows you to reach so many more people.

Product Placement and Supermarkets

After recently making a visit to Shaw's Supermarket I noticed how they use product placement to their advantage. The most noticeable thing that stood out to me occurred when I walked down the cereal isle. Cereal is a product that you can really set clear distinctions on by age groups. Supermarkets like Shaw's are aware of this and apply a concept called "Eye Level Shopping" to their advantage so that customers with specific wants see what they want right away. Eye Level Shopping is the concept that when you walk down an isle like the cereal isle that depending on your age and height, that whatever brands are at your eye level are put there strategically. Cereals that are geared more towards adults like Raisin Brand are placed on the upper shelf while cereals that are meant for kids like Luck Charms are placed on the bottom shelves. Supermarkets do research into finding out the average height levels of all the age groups are strategically place their boxes of cereal according to the data they collected. Another way they use eye level shopping is with items that are on sale. If your walking down the cereal isle and at your eye level on the shelf are boxes of cereal that are on sale you are probably going to be more willing to buy them. For example if I were to be walking down the cereal isle and there were boxes on sale that were on the bottom shelves I may not notice them because my eye level and I would not buy them for that reason.
    I think that this is a very affective tool that supermarkets use and it is an extremely important aspect of shopping. The more that items are at my eye level the more I'm going to notice those products and not the products on the bottom shelves. I think that this concept is effective but I am wondering if other people think this way as well, or if placement on shelf levels don't matter to them when they are shopping?