Every inch of a typical grocery store is designed to get you to spend more than you intend to or need to.
In fact, studies indicate that between 40% to 50% of all our grocery store purchases are impulse buys.
One of the tactics employed by grocery stores to increase impulse purchasing is the use of cross-merchandising of complement products.
Complement products are items that are frequently served together or used together to make a meal. Common complements include spaghetti sauce with spaghetti, peanut butter with jelly, ice cream with ice cream cones, and salad with salad dressing.
Supermarkets cross-merchandise complement products by taking items from their traditional shelf space and bundling them together with their complements in another area of the store. This is why you’ll find bottles of salad dressing in the produce section next to the lettuce. Why you’ll find salsa arranged next to the chips or why you’ll find ice cream cones so conveniently situated near the ice cream.
According to supermarket industry magazine Progressive Grocer:
“Cross-merchandising is fundamental to grabbing extra profit through increased impulse sales opportunities.”
The grocery store is counting on you to purchase the complement product when you pick up the regular item. Why not pick up the salsa when you’ve already thrown those chips in the cart?
Yet the problem is that frequently you may not even need the complement product. You may already have a half empty bottle of salad dressing at home when you purchase your head of lettuce. Do you really need that mint chocolate topping thats so conveniently positioned next to the ice cream?
There’s another way the cross merchandising of complement products gets you to spend more. Frequently, one of the items in the complement bundle is a more expensive variety or premium brand.
The salad dressing that’s conveniently located next to the lettuce in the produce section may be a dollar or two more expensive than the Kraft salad dressing you normally purchase. The premium brand of mustard positioned next to those packages of hot dogs may cost a dollar more than your normal French’s brand mustard.
This technique is especially evident at end of the aisle displays. Grocery stores often place complement products here, frequently with one of the products on sale. Drawn to purchase the sale item you’re more inclined to pick up its complement as well.
Yet the complement, is more often than not, a higher priced or premium brand, creating more profit for the store. A common example is the cheap spaghetti placed on the same display with bottles of premium spaghetti sauce. The money that the store loses on the sale of the discounted spaghetti is more than made up with the sale of the expensive spaghetti sauce.
The next time you’re shopping for groceries and are about to pick up a product placed alongside its complement, ask yourself if your really need the complement item. If so, take a walk down the supermarket aisle where you’ll often find a cheaper brand.
Why pay extra for a premium brand of spaghetti sauce to go with that box of spaghetti you’ve just picked up when you can simply walk a short distance to purchase a cheaper bottle of Prego or Ragu?
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Nice site. This is definitely full of inspiration for paying less for our most basic need. Way to bring all the information together! My favourite, most recommendable book on eating and nutrition: Joel Fuhrman, Eat to Live. (or some title like that). Anyways, I’ll be back – thanks for stopping by my site.