There are many “tricks” or strategies that supermarkets use to get customers to spend more money.
We even know how to recognize some, but the truth is that we repeatedly “fall for” the tricks supermarkets use to buy more products.
Read also: 10 tricks to save money when buying groceries
One solution to avoid paying more for a product is to compare prices between supermarkets. One example is Super Save app, for free, is now available for Android and iOS, allowing you to search among thousands of items from supermarkets such as Auchan, Minipreço, Continente and Pingo Doce. But there’s more: With the consumer in mind, Deco has launched a tool that helps you find out which supermarket has the lowest prices in your area of residence. And in the main Portuguese cities, Continente (information in simulation deco protest on November 3, 2022).
And if some of these supermarket techniques and strategies that get you to spend more money are quite obvious, there are others that are more conservative who succeed in their goal. To protect yourself from these “tricks” and not spend more than you should, stay on top of the most common of them.
cart size
The shopping cart may be designed to help us make purchases for the month, but its size is also a way to encourage us to fill it up. Because the cart is large, we can’t see the bottom when we’re shopping, and we end up “discarding” some of the products we’ve already put in the cart.
As long as there is room in the shopping cart, there may be a temptation to continue placing products, resulting in a higher purchase bill at checkout.
Fresh food at the entrance
Roast chicken or bread that just came out of the oven are just a few examples of the fresh produce that is usually right at the entrance. The smell will attract customers. Not only will we want to buy these products, but we will also get hungry, which will make us spend more money (one of the golden tips for saving at the supermarket is not to shop on an empty stomach).
Prices 0.99 €
This strategy is one of the most watched, but it still works. Prices ending at €0.99 make us spend more money. This is because customers perceive the first number – the unit of value in euros – but not cents, so a product at €9.99 is “seen” as a €9 cost instead of €10.
eye level products
The level at which products are placed on the shelves is also not random. The most expensive items are usually on shelves at eye level for most consumers, while the cheapest items are either very low or very high. This is another strategy that leads us to buy these products and spend more.
It is also common to place products such as toys on the bottom to attract the attention of the youngest.
Distribution of core products
Another method widely used in supermarkets is to place staples on the bottom of the commercial surface, for example butchers, fishmongers, bread or water. Thus, you will have to go through the entire store to reach them and, therefore, you are more likely to go shopping for other non-essential products.
Product combinations
There are absolutely guaranteed and not innocent product combinations that lead us to spend more money. For example, let’s say you went to the liquor aisle to buy beer. It is very common to find delicious snacks or other appetizers there, as they are products that go well with beer.
There are no clocks or windows
Have you noticed that there are no hours in the supermarket? It is purposeful, because in this way, as customers, we easily lose track of time. This is also why most of these roofs do not have windows, because in this way we cannot control, for example, the sunset.
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All supermarkets have themed items, both from fairs (children, school, products from the region, etc.), and themed (Christmas, Easter, summer holidays). These are always placed at the entrance to the store, so we’ll end up buying items we didn’t plan to buy, as we didn’t expect to find them.
Products next to the boxes
Upon reaching the checkout, and while waiting for payment, the supermarkets still made us spend more than we expected. Chocolate, chewing gum, energy bars, and magazines are just some of the products that are usually next to the checkout boxes.
We ended up taking these products as if they didn’t “heavy” on our final bill.
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