Grocery Stores Trick Us Into Spending More

At a time when giant grocery chains are making record profits, families are paying a fortune for their food.

While this is, in part, thanks to the current food inflation rate of 3.8 percent, promotional tactics are also at play to catch shoppers’ attention and influence what they decide to buy.

Grocery stores have several things in place to get consumers to spend more time in the stores and therefore end up spending more…

For example, staples like milk, bread, cheese, and fresh produce are often placed far away from each other so that shoppers are encouraged “to go through as much of the real estate in the store as possible…

They say the music will move you…Stores also rely on sounds and other senses to slow people down.

“For example (supermarkets) … have their own music channels, and they curate them specifically for times of day, for seasons of the year to help consumers move slower or faster depending on what they need and the layout of the store…

According to a survey, 64% of shoppers make an impulse buy when shopping in-store…

A simple way to stop yourself from falling into this trap or going over budget is to create a list and stick to it.

Before purchasing a discounted product, it’s important to think about if you will use it. Even if it’s a deal, will you end up using it all right now?”

Research by consumer advocacy group Choice suggested one in four shoppers find it difficult to identify when a supermarket label represents a genuine saving on an item’s usual price.