We all know grocery stores are in the business of making money, and sometimes, we even KNOW that we are being duped into spending more money–or subconsciously buying things that weren’t on our list, but have you ever wondered HOW they do it? I hadn’t really given it a ton of thought until I ran across an article on treehugger that kind of detailed a couple of the supermarkets’ marketing strategies. I thought they were interesting enough that I would pass the info along.
The first one is the most obvious. They use our love of habit and our desire to be fairly efficient and mindless when we shop by placing certain foods on end caps–though, their prices are not necessarily any different than standard. They are convenient and right in your face, though, so you toss them in your over-sized cart {oh, yeah, over-sized carts is another way they trick you into buying more}.
They re-arrange the aisles frequently so that you have to go up and down the aisles looking for a product, and hopefully throw a few extras in your cart in the meantime. This drives me CRAZY. Yeah, Costco, I am talking to you. CRAZY.
Next, they use stereotypical combinations, like chips near the sandwich condiments {which leads us to throw the “classic side” in the cart while we are thinking sandwiches and burgers.
Finally, they play to the fact that you are probably tired, stressed, hungry, etc. They reaaaaallly want you to need a snack at the checkout counter, and purposely make you walk through the bakery to get to other staple items {the smell of fresh baked goods breaks you down}. While some grocery stores have also stocked healthier options at the weak points {checkout}, they will likely continue to provide sugary and salty foods too, because they are big time money makers.
Those were the big ones that the article mentioned, and honestly, after reading it, I have to admit, at one point or another, I have totally fallen for all of them. They. Got. Me!
How about you, do any of these get you from time to time?
~Mavis
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