Going to the store can be a memorable experience. Most people schedule their “travel” ahead of time and even go at a specific hour to avoid huge lineups. Everyone wishes for their visit to be as quick and painless as possible. These places, on the other hand, work in mysterious ways, and we always wind up spending more time there than we had expected. Don’t worry if this resonates with you. We’ve all been duped by these schemes at some point, and it’s never too late to recognize them and take action.\n

That’s why we compiled a list of techniques that these stores employ to get consumers to spend more money. Take a look to see if you recognize any of them.\n

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• Supermarkets place many large shopping carts right at the entrance. Unlike what you might have thought, this is not really done for your convenience, but rather, so that you fill these carts with products. It\u2019s no wonder why you end up taking home a large number of unnecessary goods. According to Martin Lindstr\u00f8m, a marketing consultant and author of the book, Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy, during an experiment, scientists doubled the size of the carts. This small change resulted in people buying 40% more.\n
• Supermarkets make good use of seasonal campaigns, such as Christmas, Easter, or Valentine\u2019s Day. That means that during these special periods of the year, you\u2019ll see products (especially chocolate) alluding to the holidays. Sometimes, we\u2019ll end up buying these types of products anyway. But when we don\u2019t immediately think about it, the supermarket has already created a need for them.\n
• Another trick that supermarkets use is to have fruit, vegetables, and even a bakery in the first aisle. The rationale behind this? According to Butler University\u2019s \u201cGrocery Shopping for Your Health\u201d article, this part is known as the \u201cdecompression zone,\u201d a space that mixes scents and colors that happen to make us feel good and healthy but that also lead us to buy other things impulsively. \u201cIt is no secret that many people have a goal of purchasing healthy foods at the supermarket, but the overwhelming environment tends to make that intention difficult to achieve,\u201d the authors of the article highlighted in their publication.\n
• One thing that makes you even more vulnerable to supermarkets\u2019 tricks to sell more is to do grocery shopping when you\u2019re hungry. \u201cGoing shopping when hungry is a recipe for disaster, further tempting you to give in to purchasing enticing sweets and junk food. When the human body is hungry, one tends to lose self-control, particularly when surrounded by food.\u201d This is another point covered in Butler University\u2019s \u201cGrocery Shopping for Your Health\u201d article. A study from 2015 concluded that hunger promotes buying in general.\n
• Free food samples are another way to encourage us to buy more. Have you ever been in a supermarket aisle and been offered to try a slice of juicy, fresh meat that they\u2019re selling? According to an article published in Supermarket News in 2004, 68% of consumers at a supermarket in Indianapolis, USA, said that sampling products persuaded them to make a purchase. This, in turn, was beneficial to the store, as it managed to increase sales of certain products they were trying to promote by between 600% and 2,000%. This technique is still relevant today.\n\n

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  • An all-too-familiar selling technique is to place products in plain sight to encourage you to buy more. This makes you want to buy stuff regardless of what the actual value of the product is. For instance, take sugary cereals.\n
  • These often have animated characters on their packaging. When children see those, they\u2019ll immediately want the product. Conveniently, they\u2019re placed at an ideal height for kids to reach them. That\u2019s exactly why countries like Chile and Mexico are jumping on the idea to ban fictional characters from appearing on cereal boxes. This strategy aims to reduce high obesity rates that affect both countries.\n
  • Another trap we always fall into is the \u201c3\u00d72\u201d or the classic \u201cbuy one get one free\u201d deal. These might not be as great as they seem. For instance, in the case of the \u201c3\u00d72\u201d deal, it\u2019s true that you\u2019re getting a 33% discount on each of the products you\u2019re buying. However, you can\u2019t really see it that way because for you to get the discount, you have to buy the 3 products. That might be a larger quantity than what you might need. So if you need large quantities of something or you\u2019re buying a non-perishable product (like olive oil, toothpaste, etc.), then it\u2019s a good deal, as long as they didn\u2019t increase the base price before. Otherwise, you might want to think twice before buying large quantities of something.\n
  • Supermarkets also use something called \u201cpsychological pricing,\u201d which is basically a way of establishing values for products according to the impact they\u2019ll have on consumers. There are different strategies of psychological pricing. The most common one in supermarkets is, by far, odd pricing. For example, a product that\u2019s actually worth $100 will be advertised as \u201cdiscounted\u201d and sold for $99. That\u2019s because consumers tend to perceive just-below prices as being lower than they actually are.\n
  • The music played in the supermarket can also have an important impact on our grocery shopping habits. As long as it\u2019s slow, quiet, or classical, we\u2019ll spend more time in the store\u2019s aisles.\n
  • You\u2019ve probably noticed that when you\u2019re about to pay for your groceries online, some supermarkets suddenly tell you that you\u2019re missing a certain amount of dollars to get delivery free of charge. This is also a trick that, even if it seems harmless, can end up having a huge impact on your monthly bills. A good solution would be to order together with others to reach minimum order values or free delivery.\n\n

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    • Sometimes, when you go to the supermarket, you\u2019ll notice that certain basic products, such as eggs, are not located in the same places as usual. Suddenly, you\u2019re forced to walk through all the aisles until you finally find what you\u2019re looking for. As if that wasn\u2019t enough, every so often, stores will change their whole layout. It\u2019s almost as if you were in a videogame and you just went up to the next level. Next time you go, you have to go through the whole store again. This is done mainly so that people get lost, which most of the time, will lead them to buy stuff they don\u2019t actually need.\n
    • Lighting is important and influences buying. It helps to bring out specific products. That\u2019s why supermarkets use special lighting to make certain products look fresher. For instance, fruits and vegetables always look like they\u2019ve just been collected from the field and brought to the store. \u201cLight should direct and guide a shopper through a store. Perfectly staged sales areas can then increase buying pleasure and sales success,\u201d says Andr\u00e9 Schweinsberg, Vertical Application Manager Shop EU at LEDVANCE.\n
    • \u201cColor emphasizes the quality of the products and makes them particularly attractive to customers,\u201d he adds. Indeed, color psychology has a lot to do with this as well. In many supermarkets, every department has a different color depending on what type of product they\u2019re selling. The butcher shop, for instance, should have a predominantly red color because that makes the meat look more appetizing.\n
    • Another common strategy used by supermarkets is something called \u201cpoint-of-purchase placement.\u201d This is basically placing products next to the cash register to spur consumer impulse buying. Basically, any type of product can be placed there. It\u2019s a way of making people try new products as well.\n\n

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      What supermarket tricks have you been a victim of? What other tricks do you think stores use to get us to spend more money?\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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