Supermarket Psychology 101

Hi All,

I usually post a "Tip of the Day" on my wall to share with my friends. I'm expanding on today's tip and thought this would be a good share for everyone.

Supermarket Psychology 101

What does psychology have to do with a supermarket?

You'd be surprised!

Did you ever notice that smell of baking bread when you enter? The pricier items installed at eye level on the shelves? The fact that common food items are placed in separate corners so you have to go through the entire store to pick up a few items? You may have just gone in for 2 items and instead, you leave with 20. What happened?!?!

NOTHING IS ACCIDENTAL.

Supermarkets do a tremendous amount of research to analyze their customers' shopping habits and encourage them to buy more.

THE TECHNIQUES

Food items are positioned for specific reasons:

Most commonly-used items are placed in the middle of an aisle so people have to travel down the aisles to pick up these items. In turn, the hope is that exposure to all the other foods will lead you to buy more.

Foods that go together in recipes and meals are often placed together so you'll buy all of them.

High-profit foods are placed at eye level; the bigger food corporations pay for the best exposure for their food and these visual cues may encourage you to buy.

The check-out counter has an abundance of candy and magazines, tempting you to buy them as you wait.

Narrow aisles and displays will slow down your shopping time. The goal is to keep you in the store longer, in hopes that you'll buy more.

Shopping while hungry will lead you to buy more items than planned, which is the goal of the food tasting stations.

Children are targeted as well. Kids' food items are placed at their level, especially ready-to-eat and snack foods in the hopes that they will bug you to buy items that you never intended on purchasing.

WHAT TO DO:

There are some ways to combat these problems. Here are a few:

Planning is key! Make a list ahead of time and STICK WITH IT. Impulse shopping will add up, in dollars and pounds.

Shop AFTER a meal. If you don't have that option, make sure to snack on an apple or some raw almonds beforehand. It's much easier to stick to a list when you're not starving.

Don't buy something only because it's on sale. While everyone likes a bargain, stick with your list and find sales for those food items when available.

Try not to shop with children if possible. They are the ultimate impulse shoppers.

Check for store brands, which tend to be cheaper than name brands and often times just as good.

Remember that larger-sized containers of foods aren't always better bargains, and the visual cues of more food may lead you to eat more than you would otherwise.

Stay away from the samples being offered, or just make sure to plan your trip on a day when they aren't being offered.

Try to stick to the perimeter of the store as much as possible. This is where most of the healthy, non-processed options are placed.

If you stick to these tips as much as possible, then grocery shopping won't have a dooming effect on your diet. And remember, if you don't buy it, then you don't have to try avoiding it while it stares back at you every time you open your fridge or cupboards.

Here's to happy, healthy shopping everyone!