Posts tagged as:

supermarket tricks

Psychological Supermarket Tricks That Make Us Spend

October 4, 2009

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 [...]

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How Food Packaging Illusions Cost You Money

August 4, 2009

I’m always amazed at how food companies alter the packaging and appearance of their products to entice us to make a purchase.
A recent example of this occurred with my regular orange juice purchase. A few months ago while browsing my local grocery store I came across a special promotional case featuring a new variety of [...]

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Supermarket Speed Bumps That Get You to Spend More

July 8, 2009

In today’s tough economy many consumers are now shopping with a grocery list to help save money. They realize a list focuses their shopping behavior like a laser, helping them avoid ever present, but costly, impulse purchases.
Yet supermarkets realize that shoppers are increasingly entering their stores with a singular purpose in mind – to grab [...]

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How Your Local Friendly Supermarket Profits From Your Inconvenience

May 29, 2009

A recent post by Myscha Theriault at the personal finance blog Wisebread.com got me thinking about our “friendly” local grocery stores. 
In the article she discusses things that frustrate us all about our local supermarket. Particularly how supermarkets will:
Dramatically increase the price on a favorite item.
Change the location of an item in the supermarket so it [...]

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Why Supermarket Pricing is Designed to Test You Mentally

May 23, 2009

Ever wonder why you’re seeing a proliferation of strange pricing at your local supermarket – 3 for $5, 4 for $7, 5 for $5.50, buy 2 get 1 free?
Much of it is related to our mental processing ability and the time of day. 
Let me explain.
We all have our hours of peak mental performance.  For some [...]

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