A TWO MINUTE BIT
Costco has held its rotisserie chicken at $4.99 since 2009, and loses money on every bird.
From the entrance (ENTRANCE), the path passes 6 stops: Electronics +$24, Apparel +$16, Bulk pantry +$12, Household +$10, Produce +$9, Rotisserie $4.99 (the focal stop). The bird lives in the back corner, past everything else.
The $4.99 chicken is a loss leader: priced below cost to pull you through the door. The real move is placement. It sits at the far back corner, so reaching it means walking past every high-margin aisle, and each one quietly adds to your cart.
The cheapest thing in the store is the most expensive walk you'll take.
That was a bit.
One idea, under two minutes, taught with a diagram worth staring at. A new bit lands every day when we launch. Until then, get the best bit of the week.
More bits
One teaspoon of a neutron star would weigh about a billion tons on Earth.
~1 min read
McDonald's makes more from rent ($10B) than from selling burgers.
~2 min read
Your phone's GPS would drift 10 km a day. So engineers built the clocks to run slow.
~1 min read
Losing $100 hurts about twice as much as winning $100 feels good.
~1 min read