I have to hand it to them. Grocery stores are the masters of consumer psychology. How else can you explain walking into the grocery store for one item and coming out with a basket full of stuff?
In some ways they remind me of carnival pitchmen who’ve refined their sales pitches to perfection. In the process we spend more than we need to or would like to.
Let’s take a look at the subtle grocery store manipulation that drains hard earned money from our pocketbooks.
The Limited Quantities Trick
How many times have you ever heard a cashier say,
“No ma’am, you’re over limit on those mangos – there’s a limit of 3 per person you know.”
Do you really think that the store cares how many items each customer purchases? Of course not. Their only concern is making sure they sell as much as possible.
Here’s a simple fact – In the direct marketing world the two easiest ways to influence a person to make a purchase are (1) limit the time an offer is available or (2) limit the quantities of product available for purchase.
Don’t believe me. Just take a look at the Home Shopping Network or any typical late night infomercial to see what I mean.
It seems supermarkets have adapted these time tested marketing ideas for use on the grocery store floor.
Placing a limit sign on the side of a product automatically guarantees that more customers will buy. I mean if the quantities are limited it must be a great deal – right! Not only will more customers purchase but I’m quite sure each will make sure they get their limit.
So with a simple limit sign the grocery store has both increased the number of people interested in the sale and also guaranteed that those who do buy will buy more – probably the limit allowed by the sale.
Now don’t get me wrong. Sometimes these “limit sales” turn out to be great deals. I’ve run into a few great limit sales recently. I’m simply saying that you should always check out such a sale before reflexively placing items in your cart.
Check the regular price to see if you really are getting a deal. Sometimes you’re only saving pennies. Make sure to check the expiration date of the product or the condition of the items if they are perishables. A limit sale is a quick way for a supermarket to get rid of items past their prime.
Finally, if it is a legit sale be careful of going over the limit because the scanner may charge you full price for any extra items.
The Limited Time (4 Day Sale) Trick
This limited time sales trick is another adaptation from the direct marketing world. Typically supermarket sales run for a week. Sometimes, however, stores feature “special” 3 day or 4 day sales – the typical limited time offer trick. I believe they want to secretly give you the impression that the deals at these sales are especially good.
One night I was in the store to get some milk and noticed that a “special” 4 day sale was going on. I better make sure I check out all the deals as I won’t be back before the sale ends, I thought. Yes, I have to admit that there were a few great bargains – what I like to call “super sales” when you can get an item at 50% off or more.
But the truth be told, the normal week long sales also had many of these same super sales! Yet the difference is that because it was time limited – 4 days long only instead of the normal week long sale, I felt compelled to stay and shop.
The Sucker Sale
This is perhaps the most interesting of grocery store tricks I’ve come across. Supermarkets understand this simple fact. Everyone loves a sale. Don’t you? I have to admit my heart races just a little bit faster when I see the red sales sticker and the promise of a great deal.
Yet, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in the process of putting a “sales” item in my basket only to notice how much I was really saving. Ten cents off a $3.29 box of cookies, twenty cents of a $2.99 carton of orange juice! Not quite a deal after all.
These “sucker sales”, as I like to call them, are particularly effective since they are interspersed amongst real bargains – items that are on sale for 30%, 40%, even 50% off their regular price. We’re so conditioned by the savings we get with the true sales that we blindly act as if all sales are deals.
Next time you’re about to throw a sale item in your cart take a second to figure out how much you’re really saving. You may be about to become the next victim of a “sucker sale”.
Do you have any grocery store tricks you’ve come across? We’d like to hear from you. Share your experiences with others by leaving a comment below.
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Sometimes stores make items look like sales without using the word “sale.”
They will put brightly colored signage around the item with the regular price so you get that excitement of a sale without any savings.
I’ve noticed this a lot at Target. They will put a special tag over the regular tag. When you slide the special tag over, you notice the price is the same as the regular one on the shelf.
Dee.
Good point. I know exactly what you mean! I’ve noticed that Walgreens does this a lot as well.
It also happens frequently with handwritten signs that they’ll place on certain items to make it look like a clearance item. When you check the regular price its the same as the handwritten price.
I hate it when grocery stores put only certain varieties on sale. For example, the regular and blueberry bagels will be on sale but the raisin bagels will not. Frustrating.
I expecially admire the “super-sucker sale”!
I see these wallet leaches at Albertson’s and subsids like Acme. You see these shelf tags in bright — usually red with yellow — graphics with “We’ve Slashed Prices” type phrases. But on closer inspection, or if you know your prices, you realize that the price is the same as it was last week, two weeks ago, three weeks ago, and will probably be the same in weeks to come, ignoring price changes due to wholesaler’s increases.
I purchased two bags of tortilla chips at Wal-mart some time ago that had the “2 for $…” price gimmick. You know 2 bags for a special “low” price.
They were priced at 2 bags for $3.00. In actuality one bag was cheaper than $1.50 around $1.25-$1.30. (Can;t remember the exact price.) So you buy 2 bags thinking that is a great deal, when in reality they get you to not only buy 2 bags, but more than 2 bags would actually cost. Gotcha again!!!!
@ Steve – Don’t you love those phrases like “We’ve Slashed Prices” – Yeah they slashed them a whole 5 cents or in your case not at all. Wonder how they get away with this.
@ Debi – Wow that’s a new low. I’ll have to watch out for it the next time I shop. Thanks for the info.
I don’t think it’s true that the only reason stores limit quantities of sale items is to make people think they’re a good deal. When we buy a sale item and quantities are limited, it usually *is* a good deal–so good that it’s almost certainly a loss leader for the store. They are selling that item at a loss as a way to get people in the door in the hope that they will go on to do the rest of their weekly shopping at the same time. However, since they are losing money on every sale of that item, they don’t want someone coming in and filling up a whole cart with it–so they put a limit on how much each customer can buy. It isn’t psychology, it’s economics.
Haverwench,
Thanks for stopping by. I don’t necessarily disagree with you. As I pointed out in the article often these “limit sales” are a good deal. My point is that you should always check out such a sale before reflexively placing items in your cart.
Be careful of food displays. Recently, Fry’s (in Arizona) had a display of Chees-Its right inside the door, and coincidentally had Chees-Its in their sale ad. We picked up 2 boxes from the display, only to discover when we checked out that the display contained larger sized packages than those in the sale ad.
Deceptive marketing if you ask me.
Mary
That’s a pretty sneaky. I guess I’ll have to start checking the product sizes more carefully from now on.