Are Tall Shopping Baskets Appropriate for My Store?

Three grey shopping baskets with "custom logo" on the sides

The shopping baskets you provide for your customers can have major implications on your sales and reputation. Offering the wrong-sized baskets can make shopping trips less enjoyable for your customers while simultaneously restricting the size of their purchases. Likewise, failing to provide enough baskets for everyone can lead to frustration. With all this in mind, the decision to purchase new baskets suddenly becomes vitally important — not only in terms of quantity but also in terms of type. 

Indeed, shopping baskets come in a range of shapes and sizes. Standard baskets tend to be a good fit for many retailers and grocery stores, but they’re not always the most optimal choice. Tall shopping baskets take the standard basket model and stretch it upwards to varying degrees, increasing the basket’s depth (and usually its carrying capacity, too). The question remains, however: are tall shopping baskets the right fit for your store? Here are some situations that may call for tall baskets.

Tall Shopping Baskets Benefits

You Sell Taller, Larger Goods

Retail and grocery stores sell a wide variety of products, ranging in shape, size, flexibility, fragility, and so on. That said, some businesses specialize in certain types of goods that may require a specific approach to how they’re stored and carried throughout the store. It only makes sense that a taller shopping basket would accommodate taller, longer items. Posters, for instance, are packaged in long tubes. A typical basket may not be able to easily contain such an object, as it will likely stick out and become top heavy. Tall narrow baskets, on the other hand, are much more accommodating for posters and similarly-shaped goods. If your store primarily deals with these sorts of products, it’s worth making taller baskets the primary shopping vessels for your customers. You can still offer standard and/or small shopping baskets for different types of purchases, but you’ll definitely want to offer these lengthier baskets to ensure most of your customers can easily pick up what they’re looking for.

Your Customers Prefer Baskets to Carts

Though shopping baskets and shopping carts serve the same basic functions (to allow customers to haul their loads throughout your store), they’re operated and optimized differently. These differences also correspond to specific pros and cons. For example, the fact that carts move on wheels contributes to increased mobility, making it easier for customers to navigate your store and make larger, heavier purchases. Baskets, on the other hand, are more portable, giving customers more control when walking through aisles. If your audience tends to lean towards baskets on the whole but also enjoys the increased carrying capacity of carts, tall baskets can offer a convenient compromise. Simply put, shoppers can still pack plenty of stuff into their tall baskets without worrying about crashing into aisles and others.

You Wish to Encourage Impulse Sales

While consistent shopping trips are the bread and butter of your business’s bottom line, those last-minute purchases make a significant contribution to your margins. Knowing this, it’s crucial to develop strategies that encourage your customers to grab that extra item or two before checking out. One way to facilitate more impulse sales is by providing shoppers with larger vessels for their purchases, such as tall, large baskets. When presented with additional space, some shoppers may feel incentivized to fill that space — similarly, the same-sized haul will appear smaller in a larger basket than in a smaller one, creating a sort of illusion that once again encourages shoppers to go the extra mile. At the most basic level, more space is required to accommodate larger purchases, so tall baskets can lead to bigger sales numbers in the long run.

You Want to Show Off Your Brand Logo

As we’ve discussed numerous times in previous blogs, shopping baskets are more than mere vessels for carrying items around a store — they’re also canvasses for marketing. Stamping your company’s logo on your shopping baskets is an important and useful way to drive home brand recognition and cohesion for each and every customer. And the bigger your baskets are, the more space they’ll have for a bright, bold logo. It’s important to keep your basket’s logos visible at all times, too. If your baskets are small, the logos they don may become obfuscated when stacked on top of one another. A tall basket, however, offers additional headroom so you can keep your company logo front and center on each and every basket when they’re stacked.

You Have Plenty of Room

Speaking of stacking your baskets, you must consider how much space these objects consume inside your store. On the one hand, it’s important to ensure that every customer has access to a basket if they want one — on the other hand, you only have so much square footage to dedicate to your baskets and other shopping vessels. Tall baskets are larger than standard baskets, so you may want to opt for smaller baskets if you’re working with very limited space and low ceilings. Conversely, if you have plenty of space, your store can likely accommodate a whole host of tall baskets.

A Tall Order for Shopping Baskets

If you’re not sure whether tall baskets are appropriate for your store (or which sized baskets are optimal in a broader sense), consider the types of products you sell, how your customers prefer to shop, your sales goals, how you wish to express your brand identity, and how much space you have at your location. Depending on the situation, tall baskets might be just right for your business. Even if not, the right type of basket for your store is out there — you just need to deal with a manufacturer that can deliver the custom supplies for your needs.


Good L Corporation delivers innovative shopping cart and basket solutions for retailers on a global scale. Good L Corp. can configure the right carryall strategy to boost your retail business, from a fleet of new custom carts to launch your store opening to replacement baskets that supplement your existing shop supply. Let’s get started! Contact us today for a no-pressure sales quote!

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