Written in 2013, updated in 2026.
Among the many supermarket chains I visited with my father and Mr Paolo De Gennis in the 1980s and 1990s was King Soopers in New Jersey.
There, De Gennis was struck by a solution for nappies: in small shops, Americans placed them high up on specialised display units (metal rail systems).
Today, those displays can be found not only inEsselunga’s small supermarkets but also in other chains, as can be seen from the photos below, taken outside and inside the Carrefour Express on Viale Pasubio in Milan.
The nappies are poorly displayed and poorly maintained above the dairy products shelf, but there is a reason for this…
…in fact, according to a Plasmon (Plada, at the time) survey from the 1990s, families with children spent 23 per cent more than those without children.
At Esselunga, we didn’t just display nappies ‘in the air’ – we also displayed many other product categories that wouldn’t fit on the shelves.
Customers at smaller supermarkets know this all too well.
Today, the King Soopers chain is part of the Kroger group and is the world’s second-largest food retailer, second only to Walmart.
The practice of cross-merchandising (e.g. pasta and household goods) also originates from the USA
Thiscross –merchandising strategy was also practised at Esselunga in the food department, e.g.:
Dr Sergio Pelassa placed salad dressings next to the salads, meat sauces above the relevant counters, etc., following the example of what the Americans were already doing.
The plastic hooks (known as‘J-hooks’ in American English) used at Esselunga were very similar to those shown below (with the difference that ours had the price tag holder at the front) fromJewel supermarkets, direct rivals of theDominick’s stores in Chicago
The hooks were purchased by the late Mr Mattiozzi directly from Florida because nobody in Europe manufactured them.
Photo of the hooks taken from
General Merchandise/Health and Beauty Aids, Management and Operations, Cornell University, 1989
Essentially, Carrefour, along with other Italian chains, benefited from our experience in New Jersey(nappies) and in Illinois ( cross-merchandising)
See also:
From Supermarkets to Superstores 1 (and following)
