How Giant Supermarkets Fool Us Into Buying Things We Don't Need

In recent times there has been a rapid growth of supermarkets in Pakistan. Some of the most visited supermarkets are Imtiaz, Naheed, Chase up, Bin Hashim, Metro and many more. The reasons why these supermarkets are gaining popularity is because people are giving preference to shop from them, as it is considered that these stores offer product at relatively low prices and good quality but what people are unaware of a fact is that they are tricking your mind to spend more and more. The companies that stock their products have one goal that is to constantly look for ways to slow down shoppers to pick up the items that they really don’t want.

The following are the tactics adopted by the supermarkets to get the attention of their customers are:

• By lining entrance with rotisserie chickens and freshly baked goods, the smells get you salivating as soon as you walk in so that not only you will be tempted to buy these foods but you will feel hungrier when you walk the store tempting you to buy more.
• By placing products strategically at the fronts of the store, this ways you buy fruits and veggies first so that later you will feel healthy enough to treat yourself when you get to the junk food aisles.
• Designing the whole store so you walk past thousands of products you did not plan on buying, that’s why bread and milk are in the farthest corners so you will pick up some soda and chips along the way.
• Stocking high profit items where they know you are most likely to see them they are typically placed at eye level whereas food aimed at kids like cereal are placed at their eye level
• Adding flavor variety means more shelf space and customers attention
• Placing items on special shelf spots, food companies pay extra attention to the end of aisle displays and tend to make impulse buy from that section a lot of these are stacked with high profit products.
• Making you think you are saving money by spending more that’s why it tends to be “cheaper” to buy bigger packages of food.
• Luring you in with free samples, a free sample means you may feel guilty into buying the product especially when the person is standing right there.
• By giving you “shoppers club” cards that don’t just give you discounts but they also give retailers information on your buying habits
• Making shopping carts strategically bigger and bigger, the biggest the cart the more items you are likely to buy.

These supermarkets have taken over small business within a short span of time because people are considering them as “budget bazar” but what they really don’t know is that these stores are letting the customers to spend comparatively more money as they spend on retail shops.

So in future do remember while picking items from shelves that do you really need it? Or you are just purchasing it because it is on discount offer or the product is offering you free sample. Don’t get yourself fooled by these marketing strategies.

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