A planogram is a diagram that shows where each product goes on a shelf or display: on which shelf, in what order and with how many facings, so every store can set it up the same way.
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A planogram (often shortened to POG) turns a merchandising decision into instructions a store team can follow. It is drawn to scale: the fixture with its bays and shelves, and every product as a block whose width is the pack width times its number of facings. A facing is one unit of the product facing the shopper at the front of the shelf.
What a planogram is for
Retailers and brands use planograms to decide how much space each product gets, to keep the same shelf in every store, to plan a reset and to show suppliers exactly where their products sit. A good planogram balances what the shopper needs to find, what the store needs to sell and what the shelf can physically hold.
It usually follows the order in which shoppers look for a category, keeps related products together and gives the products the team most wants found the space at eye level. It also tells the store team which product to put back where, so it doubles as a replenishment guide.
Example of a planogram
The planogram below is a two-bay supermarket gondola with four shelves of breakfast cereals. Each shelf lists its products from left to right, and the width of each block comes from the pack width and its facings, so the plan shows at a glance whether a shelf is full or still has free space.
Example planogram: a two-bay cereal gondola, 200 cm wide and 180 cm high. Each block is a product; the lines inside it are its facings. The blue band marks eye level.
Types of planograms
Horizontal blocking places a product family along one shelf, so shoppers scan it from left to right. Vertical blocking stacks a family from the top shelf to the bottom one, so every shelf height shows part of it. Brand blocking groups each brand's products together, while category or need blocking groups them by use, for example all children's cereals.
Fridge and cooler planograms follow the door: single-serve and impulse drinks high, heavy multipacks low. End cap planograms cover the display at the end of an aisle, usually for a promotion (what an end cap is). Peg and hook planograms place hanging products on a grid of hooks. Seasonal and promotional planograms are temporary sets for a campaign or a time of year.
Planogram vs store layout
A store layout is the plan of the whole floor: where each department, aisle, checkout and entrance goes, and therefore how shoppers move. A planogram works one level down: it describes a single fixture, shelf by shelf and product by product. The layout decides that cereals go in aisle 4; the planogram decides which cereal sits on which shelf and with how many facings. The two depend on each other, because the customer flow that the layout creates decides from which side shoppers reach each planogram.
Planogram compliance
Planogram compliance is how closely the shelf in store matches the planogram that was sent to it. Gaps, products in the wrong place, missing price labels and the wrong number of facings all lower it. Teams check it with store visits and checklists, and some use image recognition on shelf photos, the approach of vendors such as Trax (Shoppermotion vs Trax). Compliance tells you whether the plan was executed. It doesn't tell you whether the plan works.
How to measure planogram performance
Every planogram is a hypothesis: this arrangement will sell better than the previous one. Sales data alone can't confirm it, because sales also move with price, promotions and store traffic. Shoppermotion ties each planogram to its place on the floor plan and measures it from anonymous trolley and basket paths matched to the receipt: how many trips passed it, how many slowed down or stopped, how long they stayed and how many bought from it (planogram performance).
Because it keeps a history, every relayout becomes a measurable A/B test, and the result can be compared across stores and formats as shelf conversion or with category analytics.
Is your planogram selling? See traffic, engagement, dwell and conversion for each planogram in your stores in a 30-minute demo.
A map of a shelf. It shows which products go on each shelf of a fixture, in what order and with how many facings, so the shelf can be set up the same way in every store.
What does POG mean in retail?
POG is the usual abbreviation of planogram, as in POG reset (changing a shelf to a new planogram) or POG compliance.
What is the difference between a planogram and a store layout?
The layout plans the whole store: departments, aisles and checkouts. A planogram plans a single fixture: which product goes on which shelf and with how many facings.
What is planogram compliance?
How closely the shelf in store matches the planogram. It is checked with store visits, checklists or shelf photos, and it shows whether the plan was executed, not whether it sells.
How do you know if a planogram works?
Compare what shoppers do in front of it before and after the change: how many pass, stop, stay and buy. Shoppermotion measures this per planogram from trolley and basket paths matched to the receipt.
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