Overview of Who Decides What Big Box Sells? Our GAME Got Us Answers
This Planet Money episode follows Erica Barris as she pitches the show’s economics-inspired board game, Sell Me a Sasquatch, to big-box retail buyers and uses that process to explain how products actually get chosen for major store shelves. The episode blends behind-the-scenes reporting on the game’s development with a look at the secretive, high-stakes world of retail buying—where a tiny number of buyers decide which products make it into stores like Target and Walmart.
What the Episode Is Really About
The story centers on two parallel tracks:
- Building the Planet Money board game with Exploding Kittens
- Learning how big-box retail decisions are made through an actual line review pitch
The show uses the game as a “Trojan horse” to access a part of retail that’s usually opaque: the process by which buyers evaluate products, compare them against shelf space, and decide what gets ordered.
How Big-Box Retail Buying Works
Line review and shelf competition
The episode explains that big-box stores review product lines only a few times a year. During these meetings, buyers decide:
- what stays on shelves
- what gets cut
- what new products may be added
The buying process is highly competitive:
- There are thousands of new board games each year
- Only a tiny fraction get a line review meeting
- Even fewer ultimately get ordered
Buyers are thinking about shelf productivity
A former Target buyer explains that the core question is always:
- “Will this sell?”
Buyers are effectively doing “retail Tetris”:
- Every new item must replace something else
- Shelf space is limited and valuable
- Products are judged by sales potential, margin, and whether they justify their placement
How the Game Was Designed for Retail Success
The retail feedback shaped the final product in major ways.
Price point mattered a lot
One of the biggest concerns in the pitch was how to position the game:
- not so cheap that it looked flimsy
- not so expensive that it felt inaccessible
That led to a more premium version of the game, with upgrades like:
- higher-quality cards
- a sturdier box
- a more polished visual design
- the distinctive Pantone purple packaging
Packaging was tested in real stores
Exploding Kittens also did shelf tests inside actual stores to check:
- whether the box stood out
- whether the colors read well from a distance
- whether the product looked premium enough to survive on crowded shelves
Final details were still changing at the last minute
The team was still making decisions about:
- box finish: glossy vs. matte
- back-of-box copy
- instruction wording
- QR codes
- punctuation on the box
This underscored how many tiny decisions affect whether a game feels “retail-ready.”
The Big Result
After months of waiting, the good news came through:
- Sell Me a Sasquatch was accepted by two major U.S. big-box retailers
- Exploding Kittens secured a first round of orders for about 100,000 units
- The game ultimately reached shelves at Target, Walmart, and other retailers, including the NPR shop
The episode also notes that the buyers were especially intrigued by the unusual fact that a podcast host—Erica Barris—was in the room pitching the product.
Listener Involvement and Final Takeaways
The audience helped shape the game
Planet Money listeners contributed by:
- testing prototypes
- giving feedback on gameplay
- suggesting mythical creatures and economics-themed cryptids
Some listener-submitted cards made it into the final game, including references like:
- the Veblen
- the Bull Bear
- the Laffer
- the Ogo Pogo
- the drop bear
Main takeaways
- Big-box retail is still a massive part of U.S. shopping.
- Getting on shelf is less about novelty and more about retail economics, price positioning, and margin.
- A product’s final form is heavily shaped by the retailer’s expectations.
- A strong pitch often depends as much on the person and brand behind the product as on the product itself.
- Turning a podcast project into a real consumer product requires marketing, timing, manufacturing, and persistence—not just a good idea.
Credits and Call to Action
The episode closes by reminding listeners that the game is available through NPR’s shop and other retail channels, and that the audience played a direct role in shaping the final version of the game.