What is a planogram, and how do you set up shelf layout in a supermarket
Who it is forGrocery chains, category managers, space and planogram planners, store operations
"What is a planogram", "how to make a planogram" and "how should supermarket shelves be laid out" are usually answered as questions of visual order: colours, eye level, brand blocks. Yet a planogram's first job is arithmetic. If what fits on the shelf does not cover what sells between two deliveries, even the best-arranged shelf empties by mid-afternoon. This guide covers the decisions a planogram makes, how facings are calculated, how compliance is audited and how the statutory shelf rule for local products enters the plan. How much space a category gets in the store and the role it plays is the subject of the category management guide.
What does a planogram determine?
A planogram brings four decisions together in one drawing: which products go on the shelf, how many facings each gets, which shelf level it sits on and in what order the products are blocked. All four are linked; changing one changes the others.
A planogram works at two levels. At the upper level you decide how many metres of shelf a category gets in the store; that is a space allocation and category role decision. At the lower level you set how products are arranged within those metres; this second level is usually what people mean by a planogram.
A grocery chain does not draw a separate planogram for every store. Stores are grouped into clusters by shelf length, shopper profile and sales mix, and each cluster gets a template. How many templates to run is a trade-off between workload and fit to the store.
| Decision | What drives it | If it goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Product list | Category role, sales and margin contribution, store cluster | Slow sellers take space, sought-after products are missing |
| Facings | Sales velocity, delivery interval, shelf depth, case pack | Fast sellers run out, slow sellers overflow |
| Shelf level | Margin, impulse purchase tendency, product weight and size | Profitable products go unseen, heavy products on top shelves become a hazard |
| Blocking | The shopper's decision order: type first or brand first | Shoppers cannot find what they want or compare |
How are facings calculated?
Facings follow from sales velocity. The shelf must be able to hold the sales between two deliveries plus a safety allowance; a shelf that cannot will empty while the product sits in the backroom. That quantity is the minimum shelf capacity, and facings are found by dividing it by the number of units one facing holds.
The capacity of one facing depends on shelf depth and stacking height: how many units fit one behind another on a 40 cm deep shelf and how many rows can be stacked. The figure is calculated from product dimensions, or measured once in store and written onto the product record.
The second rule is the case-pack rule: at least one full case must fit on the shelf. The remainder of a case that does not fit waits in the backroom, the shelf is filled twice and leftover cases eventually produce count variances. There is an upper limit too: if shelf capacity sits far above sales between deliveries, the space has been taken from another product's facings.
- Minimum shelf capacity
Daily sales × Delivery interval (days) + Safety allowance- Capacity of one facing
Units in depth × Stacking rows- Facings
Minimum shelf capacity ÷ Capacity of one facing, rounded up- Case-pack rule
Shelf capacity ≥ Units per case + Safety allowance- Days of cover on shelf
Shelf capacity ÷ Daily sales
| Product | Daily sales | Safety allowance | Minimum capacity | Facings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole milk 1 L | 48 | 24 | 48 × 2 + 24 = 120 | 120 ÷ 12 = 10 |
| Semi-skimmed milk 1 L | 18 | 10 | 18 × 2 + 10 = 46 | 46 ÷ 12 = 3.8 → 4 |
| Lactose-free milk 1 L | 4 | 4 | 4 × 2 + 4 = 12 | 12 ÷ 12 = 1 |
Whether a product left with a single facing stays visible is assessed separately. Set a lower visibility limit; a product that cannot meet it either leaves that cluster's range or takes space from another product's facings.
How are shelf level and blocking decided?
Eye and hand level is the most visible and easiest-to-reach zone of the shelf. It holds the products that contribute most within the category and those bought on impulse. The bottom shelf takes heavy, bulky and bulk-bought products; the top shelf takes light products and slower lines. Putting heavy products on a top shelf is a safety hazard for staff filling it and for shoppers.
Blocking follows the shopper's decision order. Within a category, does the shopper choose the type first or the brand first? If, when their brand is missing, they switch to another brand of the same type, type comes first and products are blocked by type; if they switch to another type of the same brand, brand blocks are built. That behaviour is read from the rise in sales of similar products on days when the shelf was empty.
With vertical blocks the shopper sees every option of a type at a glance. With horizontal blocks the option that ends up on the bottom shelf goes unseen, its sales stay low, and at the next revision its facings are cut; the plan amplifies its own mistake.
- Eye and hand level: the category's highest contributors and impulse purchases
- Bottom shelf: heavy, bulky and bulk-bought products
- Top shelf: light products and slower lines
- Block direction: vertical blocks by type if shoppers choose type first, by brand if they choose brand first
How is planogram compliance audited?
A planogram can be right on paper yet change nothing unless it is applied on the shelf. Deviations have two sources and they are recorded separately. In an execution deviation the plan is right but on the shelf positions have moved, unplanned products have crept in or facings have been broken. In a plan error the shelf matches the plan but the calculated capacity is not enough, so the product keeps running out or overflowing.
Compliance is measured at SKU level: the share of planogram products found in the right place with the right number of facings. The compliance rate is read together with out-of-stocks and shrink; if compliance is high yet the shelf keeps emptying, the problem lies in the plan itself, not its execution.
- Planogram compliance rate
SKUs in the right place with the right facings ÷ SKUs on the planogram × 100- Plan error share
Deviations caused by plan errors ÷ Total deviations × 100
- Send changes to stores with a dateA new planogram goes out with an effective date. Which store is running which version of which template is on record.
- Check straight after implementationThe first check happens within a few days of the change. A correction made in the first week prevents months of deviation.
- Put the routine check on the audit listShelf compliance becomes a fixed item in the store audit, recorded with SKU-level marking and photographs.
- Record each deviation with its causeExecution deviations go to the store, plan errors to the planning team. Mix the two and the store pays for a plan that could not be executed.
- Read it alongside out-of-stocks and shrinkProducts that keep running out or passing their date are listed for the plan to be recalculated.
How does the 1 per cent shelf rule for local products enter the planogram?
Article 11 of Türkiye's Regulation on the Principles and Rules for Retail Trade requires large stores and chain stores whose main business is fast-moving consumer goods to reserve at least 1 per cent of their sales area for local (regional) products. A stand counts towards that area; if no producer applies, the space may be used for other products.
Under Article 3 of the same regulation, a large store is a business with at least 400 m² of sales area, and a chain store is a business with at least ten branches, each under 400 m² of sales area. The rule therefore also applies to small-format chain stores, and it sits as a separate module in the planogram template.
According to a Memurlar.net report of 6 July 2026, the Ministry of Trade opened for consultation a draft regulation that also covers grocery chains and bakeries; shelf priority for local products made by women's cooperatives is among its main headings. If the draft comes into force, the shelf plan is updated to the new text.
- Local product space ratio
Sales area reserved for local products (m²) ÷ Total sales area (m²) × 100
How the area is measured, which products count as local and the exceptions are set out in the regulation. Check the implementation plan with legal counsel.
How are planograms and shelf capacity managed in Mindpera?
In Mindpera, shelf capacity is defined in the Mind Space module: store space is held separately as sales area, shelf metres and storage volume, and product volume and display unit data feed the capacity model. Margin per shelf metre and occupancy are calculated by category; actual occupancy is compared with planned occupancy, and shelves that are persistently empty or persistently overflowing are listed. Current and proposed allocations are shown side by side, with the estimated sales and margin effect of the change.
The capacity constraint feeds directly into Mind Send's dispatch proposal; a proposal line that will not fit the shelf is flagged and the minimum dispatch pack applies as a constraint. In Mind Ops, the planogram compliance check is completed on the shop floor as a store audit, the result is read alongside sales data and any deviation left open drops to its owner.
- Mind Space: sales area, shelf metre and storage volume model; margin per shelf metre; list of persistently empty or overflowing shelves
- Mind Send: shelf capacity and minimum dispatch pack constraints, flagging of lines that exceed capacity
- Mind Ops: planogram compliance check, open item and escalation report
- Agents flag a shelf that keeps emptying or overflowing, open a task for the planning team and follow it until the work is closed
If shelf dimensions, product sizes and case data sit in different files, installation brings them into a single data model.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a planogram?
- A planogram is the shelf plan showing which shelf each product sits on, with how many facings and in what order. It makes four decisions together: the product list, facings, shelf level and blocking. In a grocery chain, stores are grouped into clusters by shelf length and sales mix, and each cluster gets a planogram template.
- How do you make a planogram?
- First set the shelf length allocated to the category and the product list. Then calculate each product's minimum shelf capacity: daily sales times the delivery interval plus a safety allowance. Divide that by the units one facing holds to get facings, check the case-pack rule, then block products by shelf level and by the shopper's decision order.
- How should supermarket shelves be laid out?
- Space should follow sales velocity: a fast seller gets enough facings to hold its sales between two deliveries, a slow seller stays on few facings. The category's highest contributors go at eye and hand level, heavy and bulk-bought products on the bottom shelf. Blocks run vertically, by type or by brand depending on which the shopper chooses first.
- How should shelf capacity limit orders?
- An order should not exceed shelf capacity plus the backroom allowance; the excess waits in the backroom and, in fresh food, turns into shrink. The reverse also holds: if shelf capacity cannot hold sales between two deliveries, the problem is the planogram, not the order, and facings are recalculated. At least one full case fitting on the shelf is a separate rule.
- How is planogram compliance measured?
- Calculate the share of planogram SKUs found in the right place with the right facings. Record deviations under two causes: execution deviations go to the store, plan errors to the planning team. If compliance is high yet the shelf keeps emptying, the problem lies in the plan rather than its execution and capacity is recalculated.
- Do Turkish supermarkets have to reserve shelf space for local products?
- Yes. Under Article 11 of the Regulation on the Principles and Rules for Retail Trade, large stores and chain stores whose main business is fast-moving consumer goods reserve at least 1 per cent of sales area for local products; stands count, and if nobody applies the space may be used for other products. In a store with 320 m² of sales area that means at least 3.2 m².