Regdeveloper tries to debunk the wonderful story about the co-buying of diapers and beer. And it turns out the story is based on an actual finding, but the reasons for the covariation is left to the imagination of the marketeer.

My take on the situation was always that diapers is a stress purchase. When you run out of diapers, you don’t wait until the next time you go shopping – someone has to get in the car right away, or pick up something on the way home from work. The man of the house gets the job, enters the store and goes straight to the diapers section, then rewards himself with a sixpack since he is out shopping anyway.

The fact that Osco never moved beer close to diapers to increase sales is neither here nor there – they could have. And perhaps they should, at least between 5pm and 7pm on Thursdays.

So I will continue to tell this story, with careful insertion of “it might be a good idea to” rather than the affermative.