Retailers have designed silent sales systems that exploit loopholes in our psychology, absolutely ensuring that we’ll spend more. This explains why we walk into a store with no intention of buying anything, but walk out an hour later with a cart full of stuff.
Would the sign:
“Snicker Bars – buy them for your freezer”
cause you to purchase more candy than the sign:
“Snicker Bars” ?
You might not think so. But according to Dr. Brian Wansink, Professor of Consumer Behavior at Cornell University, simply adding a command like “buy them for your freezer” to a sign can lead us to purchase 30% to 100% more than we’d planned!
Let’s take a look at some of the components of this silent sales process lurking at our local “friendly” grocery store.
Jedi Mind Tricks Snag Us
As Dr. Wansink has shown, even simple suggestive selling – “Buy snicker bars for your freezer”, “Purchase gum for your backpack”, or “Get some soup for your loved one” – cause us to purchase more than we normally would.
But so-called “limit signs,” have the same psychological affect. In studies conducted in American supermarkets, Dr. Wansink’s research team discovered that placing a “limit 4 per person” sign on food displays increased sales by 6%.
More surprisingly, “limit 12 per person” signs increased sales by a whopping 112%.
And how about those multiple unit signs – “2 for $3″, “3 for $1″? There’s a reason you see them everywhere. They make us spend more. Dr. Brain Wansink’s research found that this multiple unit pricing increased store sales by 32%.
It seems Jedi Mind tricks are alive and well in your local grocery store.
The Peanut Butter and Jelly Strategy Has Been Mastered to Perfection
Of course you’re going to buy spaghetti when you pick up that bottle of spaghetti sauce. And who doesn’t want a bun with their hot dog? Cereal looks awfully lonely without milk. You better believe supermarkets use these complementary pairings to their advantage.
Take the end caps, for example. These are the displays at the front of each aisle. Here, stores often feature a great sale price for one item – spaghetti, for instance – but place it right next to a “gourmet” or higher priced spaghetti sauce. If you feel good about saving money on the spaghetti, you’re more likely to pick up the high priced complement product sitting right next to it.
And end caps aren’t the only places this strategy is employed. Premium ice cream cones are placed in a special display next to the ice cream. A few brands of expensive salad dressing are placed in the produce section right next to the lettuce.
But sometimes the greatest trick is when complement products are purposely placed on opposite sides of the grocery store. To purchase the peanut butter to go with your jelly, you may have to travel several aisles away, making it more likely you’ll purchase impulse items along the way.
The More Time You Spend, The More Money You Spend
How is a supermarket like a casino?
They both have a vested interest in you losing track of time. The more time you spend, the more money you spend. Casinos know this. Supermarkets do too.
Just like a casino, there are no clocks on the walls of grocery stores. The temperature, humidity, and even the lighting are adjusted to make you feel ever so comfortable. Except for the front of the store, you’ll be hard pressed to find windows in your local grocery store, making it all the more likely you’ll lose track of time.
And to make sure you stay a while, your supermarket employs some other tricks along the way. Take ice cream for instance. Ever wonder why your ice cream and other frozen goods are frequently located on the far left side of the grocery store?
Humans have a natural tendency to travel counterclockwise. As we enter a store we naturally turn right. If we encountered the frozen goods first we might then rush to finish our shopping before our items melted. Ice cream and frozen dinners are strategically placed where we’ll run into them last.
Yes, everything is designed to make your shopping experience as leisurely as possible. Relax. Stay awhile …… and spend lots of money.
Price Confusion Tricks Us All
Did you know you’re more likely to buy an item whose display contains a handwritten price sign? Perhaps we automatically assume an item with a big handwritten sign is on sale. Yes, those Jedi Mind tricks are at work again.
In the same way we’re more inclined to purchase an item located on a special stand alone display. These displays frequently give the impression that something is on sale.
Supermarket flyers can be just as deceptive. Most of us assume everything inside is on sale. But have you ever taken a closer look? More often than not, the flyer contains a mixture of sale and non-sale items. You’re seduced to purchase the non-sales items because of their proximity to the sales items in the flyer.
Yes, pretty sneaky.
We’re a Sucker for “Sucker Sales”
Who doesn’t love a good sale? I’ll admit my heart races just a little bit faster when I see the red sales sticker and the promise of a great deal. You better believe supermarkets take advantage of this fact.
Enter the “sucker sale” – a poser, a fake: “15 cents off a 3.99 cartoon of orange juice”, “10 cents of a $2.99 package of cookies.” Sucker sales are interspersed among real bargains. We’re so conditioned by the savings from true sales that we often blindly place any sale item in our cart before checking to see if we’re truly getting a deal.
We Can Fight Back
Stores are chock full of psychological tricks and traps, and if you’re not careful, they’ll suck the money right out of your pocketbook. But you can fight back. Your greatest weapon is a shopping list. Creating a list allows you to know exactly what you need. When you stick to your list, you’ll walk right pass all the psychological land mines that await you in your local grocery aisles.
BMWK, what are some of the retail traps you’ve encountered.
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