I’ve devised a list of 10 common and useful tips consumers can use to avoid marketing tricks in grocery stores.
1. Don’t Go-carts. Grocery carts are right by the door, but baskets re always a little harder to find. Carts = more room = more grocery.
2. Smell the sell. Walking in to the grocery store, you're never greeted with the smell of raw fish from the meat section but rather with the smell of flowers, fruit, freshly baked bread or a mini restaurant/coffee shop. Smell is our strongest sense – it triggers hunger which triggers excessive food shopping.
3. BOGO = No No! Economics 101: There is no such thing as a fee lunch. The product price is just hiked up so you think you’re getting two products for the price of one. Note, these types of sales are typically applied to products that aren't doing well or new products building awareness.
4. Bulk does not equal bargain. Coupons and bundle deals are again a way to get rid of old merchandise. And does anybody ever really need 10 boxes of cereal at a time?
5. Look up and down. The most profitable products [for the company] are placed at eye level. The better value deals are always at higher or lower viewpoints that are missed by instant glance.
6. Step into the aisle. Marketers create an illusion f a sale by placing products on the “end cap” of an aisle with colorful “low price” signs. However, more often than not, those products are at their actual price. Unless a savings discount is shown, there is no sale.
7. Looks aren’t everything! Look beyond the packaging. Sometimes the only thing “new and improved” about a product is the package and wording on it. Read the labels for specific changes.
8. Work your way from back to front. By the time you get to the back of the store to start checking off your grocery list, your cart is already half full of things you didn’t need. Essential products like milk, eggs, etc. are always placed at the back of stores for this exact intention.
9. Quantity is not Quality. This may seem obvious but research has shown the bigger the item is, the higher purchase frequency it has in comparison to a smaller size of the same item. Funny thing is, a lot of times, the quantity inside is not even different.
10. Self check-out. Unlike regular cashier counters, self check lanes aren’t laced with last minute purchase seduction of items that you probably didn’t need in the first place. Not to mention, a bottle of pop at a self check lane is the same price a 12-pack in the store.
Buyer, beware.
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