You have probably often heard that when shopping, you should bring a list and stick to it. You probably also know that this is easier said than done! Not only are there items innocently and legitimately forgotten from your list, but the whole store is full of schemes to separate you from your money. This is called marketing and it’s big business in America. It is the business of convincing you to spend more. This article will look at just a few marketing techniques. Knowing your enemy gives you an advantage.
Everything about a store is designed to get you to spend more. Let’s look at a grocery store as an example. I will not mention any names. All of them do it to a greater or less extent. Smaller “bargain stores” tend to invest the least, counting instead on lower prices (or the image of lower pricing) to attract you instead. Large or high scale chains do it the most. Whether its high quality or best prices, they have an image to promote that will make you think it’s worth it to buy more than you intended. I used the word invest. Stores invest considerable time and money into research and consultants to design the store to induce spending.
First, they want you to be comfortable in the store. Items should be convenient, service cheerful and efficient, and atmosphere pleasant. Let’s look at these three categories one by one.
Why do you suppose they place fresh flowers by the door or near the front of the store? At the beginning of the shopping trip, you haven’t spent any money yet. This is the time you are most likely to be “talked” into (by power of suggestion) a fairly large impulse purchase. The bakery is near the front for a similar reason – just in case you came in hungry! “Would you like a nice hearty bread or a sweet treat?” the layout of the store tempts. You still have hardly spent anything. Why not? (Less expensive breads and treats are much further on in the store.) Then one typically comes to the deli department with its expensive meats and cheeses. Less expensive lunch options are in the grocery section. Less expensive but nearly identical quality cheeses are in the back corner in the last aisle of the store. When you find it, you are tired from all your shopping. Do you really want to walk all the way back to the beginning of the store to compare prices on two nearly identical blocks of cheddar? Most people will assume they are probably close enough in price to not make the trip worth it. Not true.
The bakery and deli are both service areas. These people can greet you with a smile and set you in a good mood for shopping. It is not by accident!!! Then you proceed to the produce department. Time for something nutritious now that our “little” splurges are taken care of and we are feeling good. Why are the lights different here? Why baskets and decorations? They want you to feel like (or imagine) you are at a farmer’s market – where the produce is very fresh. This inclines you to like the quality of what you see. You may buy more. You may be willing to pay higher prices for such good produce. Everything is convenient and attractive.
Turn the corner and the ambience fades. You have had your fun. It is time to get down to the business of grocery shopping. Items at eye level are generally the most expensive. Look around when you grocery shop. You may see something better or at a better price. Items down low are often child magnets. Why do you suppose Mr. Bubble is kept on the bottom shelf? To make it accessible to kids’ eyes, so they will ask for it. These things are found throughout the store. Be aware of them. One time I was shopping with two preschoolers and we came to the frozen aisle. In it there was one of those big cardboard displays, brightly colored, with those little boxes of animal crackers; those ones that look like little circus train cars that have string handles. Why would such a thing be right there? Its first purpose is to attract little eyes with the colors and the fact that it is in the aisle. It is actually in the walking path. (Things in these “in the aisle” display cases (my pet peeves!) are usually expensive items that they want you to notice. Therefore they make them into obstacles that one must walk around.) Why the frozen aisle? It is about half way through the store. The cookie aisle is several rows back. The child is probably not so tired yet that they are misbehaving or in a bad temper, so it’s hard to say “no”. Many parents would not want to go “all the way back” to the cookie aisle to check its price against the just-as-beloved bargain brand. As a result, they may just do the easy thing and pick it up for the child (it’s only small) and spend a high premium without really thinking about it. Are you starting to get the idea, how your feelings are being toyed with to the store’s advantage?
Toward the end of the store are the things you can’t live without. Good thing. If they were just impulse items, you would probably be too tired to bother. You get your toilet paper and greeting cards, cleaners, holiday items, pet food, and bread and dairy products here. You can’t skip this section. These are necessary items. Many of them are also convenience items and could be purchased elsewhere at significant savings, but you are too tired, at this point, to even think about going to another store. The pharmacy is at the very end. If you dropped off your prescriptions at the beginning, you can pick them up now. If you need something else, you must stop anyway. Can’t go without medicine.
Before the checkouts are stuffed animals, dish sets, and other promotional items, often in large “bargain bin” style displays. These are just for those people who are willing to say, “I’ve spent this much. Why not?” At the checkouts are the candy bars and tabloids – also impulse items, but don’t you deserve a treat after all that hard work? Don’t the kids deserve a reward for being so good in the store? That’s what they want you to think.
Cheerful service and pleasant atmosphere go hand in hand with the placement of items. We have already mentioned the bakery and deli people – your greeters. At some stores they have actual official greeters. They have to train and pay people to do this job. Why do they invest in that position? Think about it. Why do they put up decorations, provide air conditioning in the summer, provide music? They have to pay for all these things. Why do they open more registers if the lines are long? If you don’t have a pleasant experience in the store, you won’t want to shop there. Conversely, if you like the store, you are liable to stay in it longer. Research shows that the longer people shop, the more they are likely to spend. If this wasn’t the case, they would not invest time and money in it. They exist to make money, not spend it. What about “thoughtful touches” like free hand sanitizers, free samples, community bulletin boards…. These are there to help you feel good about the store and your shopping experience so that you will want to do it again.
You may think I am cynical, but I’m not. I’m an optimist at heart. I just know a thing or two about marketing. What can you do about it? 1.) Don’t fall for the marketing!!! Go to the store with your list and use it. Look around you. Notice details. Ask questions. Think about the possible answers. Be wise to schemes and smile at them as weak attempts at manipulation. Don’t be taken in. 2.) Shop when you are neither hungry nor tired nor in a hurry. This will save you money! Be willing to walk by treats you don’t really want or need. Be willing to go back and forth through the store a couple of times as needed to check on prices. Knowing your prices is your number one weapon in enemy territory. Shop by unit price if possible. Bring a calculator to figure it out if needed. (Sometimes one thing is sold by the quart and a similar one by the pint or gallon or one type is sold by the pound and the other by the unit. This may be an attempt to obfuscate so that you won’t bother. Bother! You may need to do this from time to time as prices and items change. It always seems that just when they get me in the habit of buying one particular item, because it is the lowest price, I notice that prices have changed. A similar item is now a better price. It has happened too many times to be coincidence. I think they get you into a habit and then subtly raise the price on the item and hope you won’t notice.) 3.) Again, unit shop whenever possible. I heard a story about a teenage girl whose mother had died. She did the shopping for her family. When she got to the mayonnaise, a friend who happened to be with her that day, noticed her going for the smallest jar available. “Why,” he asked, “did you choose that one?” Her answer was simply, “Because it’s the cheapest.” By unit price, it was the most expensive one there. It was only cheapest only because it was smallest. She was trying to do her best for her family, but she just didn’t know! Unit pricing is how much an item costs per unit. Mayonnaise is usually sold by the ounce, I think. What is the best price per ounce? Which would cost least if you were to buy just an ounce? Most stores have this information near the price on the pricing label. 4.) Remember your budget. We all have a limited amount of money to work with. Don’t forget this important fact. Treat items should probably come out of blow money, gift money, a treat fund…that is also finite. 5.) Consider the psychology of not spending. You will enjoy shopping more if you leave with more cash and less stuff. (More on this in the article called “Feelings”)
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