Did you know the average American spends $87 per week on food? That number, pulled from a US census report, is probably the gross sales divided by the number of Americans, including kids. So the average family spends a heck of a lot more.
With that in mind, the second part of our supermarket series shows how supermarkets manipulate us to spend more money that we want to. And how very good they are at it.
Supermarkets don't want you to buy just the basics. They want impulse purchases. That's why milk is at the far end - to make you walk past lots of other temptations. Here are some more tricks they use to make you buy more.
END OF AISLE DISPLAYS Part 1 - We expect these to be deals, but sometimes they’re not on sale and sometimes they’re ready to hit their expiration date. Be leery.
END OF AISLE DISPLAYS Part 1 - There’s a trend with end of aisle displays. They’re cluttered and massive. They’re supposed to look like bargain bins and promote the idea the store is full of bargains.
EYE LEVEL, THE BUY LEVEL - Items at eye level sell more, maybe twice as much. Is that why manufacturers pay for prime location? Kid’s stuff is at their eye level. So the most expensive, most profitable items are at eye level. Look up and down for better deals.
READING LEFT - We read left to right. We do the same in supermarkets. So guess where the most expensive, most profitable items are? On the left.
STUCK IN THE MIDDLE - Have you noticed that items you want are always in the middle of an aisle? They want you walk by lots of other things and be tempted. See, they want you to forget about your shopping list and budget.
MOMMY, MOMMY, PLEEEEASE! Store gurus know how kids influence buying, especially impulse purchases (there's that word again). Kids’ items, like sugar-ladened cereals with huge ad budgets are at their eye level. Oh, and they’re beginning to put candy near cereals.
MOMMY, MOMMY, PLEEEEASE! Part 2. You're finally at the check out and yet another chance for impulse buying - magazines and goodies. We told you shop alone! The kids wouldn’t be pestering for this junk!
THE MOVEABLE FEAST Just when you've learned where everything is, the store is rearranged. It’s all part of the plan. If you don't know where it is you look, and if you look around, chances of impulse buying are increased.
THE STATIONARY FEAST - TVs, a cafe, newspapers, fresh coffee, maybe a bakery with enticing aromas - all designed to have you stay awhile. In my research I read that a rested shopper is a better shopper. They lull you into submission then steal your wallet.
FREE SAMPLES - Nice people with a hot plate offering you tasty tidbits for free. Their studies say that when they give us free food, our mouths water, our stomachs crave and we buy more.
ALL TOGETHER NOW - Specialty items or non-basics are grouped together. Chips, soda, popcorn and dips all next to each reinforces impulse buying.
DIVIDED WE FALL - Stores find that like items in two areas means shoppers may buy twice. There’s bread in the regular area and then again by the bakery where the aroma spurs that impulse buying.
MUZAK ON STEROIDS - Music influences shopping. The average person walks about 90 steps per minute. By slowing the tempo they slow us down, giving us more time for that impulse shopping. One report showed when German music is played people buy German wine, switch to French music, French wine.
LOYALTY CARDS - The Frugal Yankee is opposed for many reasons. You're not really saving money unless you are quite disciplined. Card holders buy 42% more groceries. Discount vouchers tempt you to buy products you don't need. Even worse, the stores use the information to tailor specials. This information is theirs, not yours. They can sell it to your HMO. Do you really want them to know you buy potato chips and beer every week?
FUTURES - As supermarkets get more aggressive, we'll see new techniques. We’re following an emerging technology called directed sound. It allows small areas, like 10 square feet, to be inundated with sound no one else can hear. This can also be used subliminally - scary.
So being a savvy shopper and being wise with your money is what being a Frugal Yankee is all about. Check our web site, FRUGALYANKEE.COM. You'll find Podcasts, How-To reports and more. Look for THE SKINNY ON SUPERMARKET PRICES, a podcast on a recent survey showing which Massachusetts supermarkets have the best deals on food.
If you have comments about this article, please leave them. We love feedback.
Next week: Dirty Little Secrets part 2
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Comments: 44
If you've ever read Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk, he mentioned the subliminal directed sound, in a slightly different manner. The book is about a poem that, when heard, kills people. Said that we never know what sound they could slip it into. It works just as well with making us want to buy items.
I never take one of the free samples to eat. I'm there to shop, not to eat. Plus, I don't shop when I'm hungry.
I think that you and others may be giving the ends of aisles a bad rap though. I am sitting next to the manager of an Albertson's...(okay, he is actually snoring in his chair, but we talked about this earlier) Their policy is to have the things that are in the ad on the ends. The only time that they deviate is for holidays or unadvertised deals. So if you are in CA, don't be afraid of the ends:)
Don't get me wrong, I love the big grocery stores, too (whole foods, western, foodworld, etc.), but not being a junk food kind of person, I'm in no real danger there.
A list is the best defense against impulse and you don't end up going back for the one thing you forgot. I keep a printed checklist of my personal staples on a fridge magnet with a dangling pen, and check off things as I see them running low.
The other comment I liked of your was the buying local. I've been calling that practice being a loca-vore. I've been looking into it some, and I think there is a strong argument that not only is the quality better, but economically it makes sense. Less transportation costs, money staying within the community, helping small businesses, etc.
Anyway, thanks for the feedback.
There's also the theory to find the fresh food, stick to the perimeter of the store - avoid the aisles.
You know what grocery store story I can't get out of my head? The one where the grocers are doing R & D by putting radio transmitters on the shopping carts, and then tracking every move we make in the store. That's so they know exactly where to put those expensive and tempting items. Seems Big Brotherish to me!
Oh, and Perle, you've made my mouth water for the days I lived in New Jersey and could get fresh garden stand produce. I'm stuck the West in a town that wouldn't know a good tomato if you threw it at them.
Secondly, if you use Freecycle, please use common sense: try to have people show up when you are not alone OR leave your item on the porch, trust your instincts and say "NO' to anyone who seems even slightly strange, request a phone call before they come, etc. We have NEVER had one bad experience.