Starbucks brings its café shelving to supermarket aisles

Instead of the dark supermarket shelves it typically uses, Starbucks is testing out café-style displays in grocery stores.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the displays are trimmed in dark wood, with a faux-tile backsplash, and are currently being trialled in 12 stores in the U.S.

The company told the WSJ it will roll out the coffee display in hundreds of U.S. grocery stores next year.

Jeff Hansberry, president of Starbucks channel development and emerging brands, said stores that have the signature aisle sell two to three times more coffee than those that don't.

Further enhancing shopability, the shelves are colour-coded with stickers to indicate decaf or the type of roast is light, medium or dark.

The high-end Starbucks displays are favoured by grocery chains, where premium coffee and single-serve coffee pods are among the higher margin items, said Troy Alstead, Starbucks's chief financial officer in the article. "The whole idea to reshape the coffee aisle is something they believe will be profitable to them."

In addition to the displays, Starbucks afficionados will also be able to earn rewards on their Starbucks cards when the purchase coffee in at the supermarket starting next summer.