Milkin’ it
Ten Tactics Applied by Grocery Stores to Influence you to Spend More Money
By: Courtney Dempsey, Katana Lemelin, Alexis Taylor, and Michael Barbara, PhD
It’s Friday night at 6 pm. You’re hungry. You walk into the grocery store to get four items. Your goals are to stick to your shopping list and feed your family on a budget, even though inflation and prices continue to rise.
Yet, you walk out 30-minutes later with five bags of groceries and a 50-pound bag of dog food. If this sounds familiar, take heart. It’s a common scenario. You are not alone. Grocery stores are using persuasive tactics to influence you to spend more money.
Most consumers don’t fully understand the amount of deliberate, decisive marketing that goes into planning your local grocery store experience. Each additional minute you are in the store, translates into more money being spent.
The average grocery shopping trip lasts 41-minutes. Every detail in the store – from the layout to the way products are arranged on the shelves, is scientifically designed to encourage you to spend more time and more money than you intended. By becoming aware of how the supermarket is marketing to you while you are pushing a shopping cart through their store, you can learn to dodge their strategies and walk out with your wallet still full and your budget intact.
TACTIC #1: PROMOTING “ONE STOP SHOPPING.
The larger the square footage of the store, the more time (and money) you will likely spend on each visit. Since the mid-1970’s, grocery stores have consistently become larger in physical space. Furthermore, if the store offers to fill your prescription, service your car, replace your mattress, and feed your family in one location, customers are likely to line up waiting for the doors to open. We like the opportunity to check off all the boxes on our “to-do” list in a couple of hours, without driving to multiple locations.
Although new store footprints continue to increase an average of 2.1 % annually, there is a new, emerging prevalence of larger, well-known grocery chains placing “community” stores in larger cities. These locations are designed to evoke the idea of the old-fashioned neighborhood grocer.
TACTIC #2: LARGE CARTS.
Costco and Sam’s Club have not cornered the market when it comes to large carts. Increasingly, stores like Walmart and Target are upsizing their carts, encouraging the customer to fill it to the brim. Although you probably don’t realize it, the size of the average grocery cart has tripled since the mid-70’s. So, even at Kroger or Aldi, you are pushing a much larger cart than the cart your mother or grandmother pushed around forty years ago at the very same store.
TACTIC #3: GIVING YOU SAMPLES.
Yes, it’s true. Stores know they could increase sales of specialty, deli, or convenience foods by simply cooking up a batch and serving it to you in little cups while you shop. If you take your kids shopping, the temptation to buy that product only increases. You are far more likely to purchase something you have had the opportunity to try – even if it was a couple of spoonfuls.
TACTIC #4: SELLING MORE LOCAL PRODUCTS.
Buying locally sourced products is important to nearly one quarter of shoppers. This has led to an increase in options which have large signs placed near them, informing customers that this item was grown or produced nearby. In response, you’ll find more options on the grocery store shelves, along with signage that lets you know that it is from a local vendor. Grocery chains of all sizes are appealing to the desire of the consumer to help support their “neighbor”, by placing products on the shelves that have been sourced from farms and businesses within a small radius from various store locations.
TACTIC #5: SELLING SHELF SPACE.
It’s a little-known nugget that manufacturers often pay for shelf space. This “slot fee” has resulted in branded products sitting on the much coveted aisle’s real estate. Products for children are likely to be placed at the child’s eye level; whereas, adult-targeted products are likely to be placed at the eye level of adults.
TACTIC #6: POINT OF SALE PRODUCTS.
We’ve all seen the soda, magazines, gum, and candy which line the precious few square feet approaching the checkout. Let’s face it, this marketing makes sense. Consumers spend more time here than anywhere else in the store. These are known as impulse items and they sell well. The space nearest the checkout lane is the most expensive real estate in the store. It is sold per square inch, while shelf space in the remainder of the store is sold per square foot.
TACTIC #7: CROSS-SELLING.
This marketing technique is prevalent on end caps and special displays. End caps are the small, short shelves which are adjacent to the regular shelving units at a ninety degree angle. They are the items you see just before you enter each aisle of the grocery store. This prime area is perfect for stores to display sale items.
However, many customers mistakenly think that each item on that shelving unit is on sale. While they are all “for sale”, they are definitely not all “on sale”. Savvy marketers will place boxes of ice cream cones, bottles of chocolate syrup, and glass parfait glasses on the shelf next to the marshmallow topping. Yet, the only item which is on sale is the marshmallow ice cream topping. The remainder are being offered at full price. The goal of this display is to influence the consumer into purchasing everything they want for their perfect dessert. Moreover, shoppers will likely pay a premium price for each item, except one or two which are likely being offered at a discounted price.
TACTIC #8: LIMITED TIME OFFERS.
When you see messages similar to: “3-Day Sale”, “Memorial Day Weekend Sale”, or “Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Only”, these mean that you are looking at a limited time offer. These offers create a sense of scarcity. It’s telling your brain, “get it now while it’s available”.
TACTIC #9: 10 FOR 10 DEALS.
The message that stores convey in signage is powerful. When the consumer views the message, “10 for $10”, they automatically assume they must buy increments of ten to get the special price. For the most part, this is not true. Although some stores insist on following the exact wording of the ad, most will allow you to buy less than ten and still receive the sale price on each unit.
TACTIC #10: STORE LAYOUTS WHICH ENCOURAGE BROWSING.
Modern stores are designed with wider aisles, which means you walk through them at a slower pace, pausing to look at items which catch your attention. In the refrigerated and frozen section, the lights inside the display cases turn off when no one is near them. Yet, when you push your cart down that aisle, each unit lights up as you pass. Your peripheral vision sees the movement – and you are sure to look that way to see the contents of that case. While shopping, you’ll notice that you can’t get straight through aisles, because large displays block one side or the middle of the aisle.
Additionally, some of the most frequently purchased products: milk, eggs, and meat, are positioned at the far end of the store. This is an opportunity for the consumer to view products that may not have been noticed. The path you’ll take to reach the far end of the store is not straightforward. Layouts are designed to take you in a zig-zag or circular motion to maximize the amount of square footage of products that you see on your way to the milk and eggs.
