9 sneaky supermarket tricks

[WordsintoHarmony]

This post comes from Amanda Geronikos at partner site Money Talks News.

Grocery list? Check. Coupons? Got 'em. Eat a snack so you won't shop hungry? Done. Mentally prepared to resist impulse buys? Totally.

Now you're properly prepared for your weekly trip to the supermarket. Or are you?

No matter how hard you try, supermarkets often find a way to eat up more of your budget than you bargained for. Don't feel bad. Today’s modern supermarket is less a store than a micro-managed, computerized retail laboratory whose sole purpose is getting you to part with as much cash as possible.

Here are some tricks of the supermarket trade. Knowing what they are can help you shop smarter and save money:

1. Store layout

It's no coincidence that staples like milk, bread and eggs are often placed in vastly different locations within the store, and nowhere near the entrance. Is it possible you can run a gantlet of 10,000 impulse buys on your way to the milk without succumbing? Sure. Is it likely? No.

2. Grouping foods that go together

You spot a bag of some heavily advertised tortilla chips. That's OK; you have a coupon. Too bad you don't have one for those jars of salsa sitting next to them. In the blink of an eye, they're both in your cart. So much for that carefully planned list.

3. Mouth-watering smells

It's a secret real-estate agents have known for years: The smell of freshly baked cookies can help turn an open house into your next home. If the smell of fresh-baked cookies will persuade you to drop $200,000 on a house, how are you supposed to resist dropping $4.95 on fresh-baked cookies?

4. Biggie-sized carts

Grocery store carts are growing. In fact, carts at Whole Foods have almost doubled in size in recent years, marketing consultant Martin Lindstrom told "Today" in a 2011 interview. Not only does a giant cart allow you to buy more, a half-empty cart makes it appear you're missing something.

5. Shelf placement

The most profitable items are often placed at eye level. If you're looking for mustard, for example, you'll immediately spot the gourmet and spiced mustards, but you may have to look down to find the more budget-friendly house brands.

6. Checkout line items

According to Business Insider, another home for profitable items is the checkout line. While you're waiting for the cashier to ring you up, you might pick up a magazine or a pack of chewing gum, the store hopes.

7. Music

Punk would probably make you want to get through the store as quickly as possible, which is why grocery stores play easy-listening tunes. The more relaxing the experience, the longer you stay. The longer you stay, the more you spend.

8. Mislabeled meats

While we hope stores wouldn't deliberately include the packaging in the weight or add ice to increase it, according to this TLC article, some stores use tricks like that to overstate the weight of packaged meats.

9. Store "deals"

Sometimes promotions help you save a few bucks. Other times, they don't. Ten Greek yogurt cups for $10 may seem like a deal, but will you be able to eat your money's worth before they expire? Also, you may not need to buy 10 to get the $1-a-cup price.

The bottom line

The solution is to be aware you're being played and respond accordingly. Your first line of defense is understanding the rules of engagement. Every business uses tricks of the trade; there's nothing sinister about that. But just as retailers are free to use them, you're free to understand and resist them.

Out of these 9 tricks on the list have you noticed any of these?
Do you know of any other tricks that markets do that are not on the list?
What are your reactions when you realize that supermarkets are playing their own version of Copperfield?

http://finances.msn.com/saving-money-ideas/11db6d6b-6270-4b27-9a78-872f2984046f

 

[Sparkey]

As a journeyman grocer who has also worked in management for a large "wholesale" firm, "Yes," I have noticed and used such principles while marketing goods to the public.

There are many trade articles that help grocers do it and back in the day, when I wanted to re-design the frozen food section, I solicited help from Morton rep., offering him (them) priority placement for their SKU items (Store Keeping Units) over both Swanson and Banquet. The rep. considered package color and many other factors, including the frequency of purchase (for things like concentrated Orange Juice) as well as many other sophisticated techniques. Suffice it to say that I was very proud of the result when our register sales show greater than expected rise in our frozen food sales.

At Costco, "End Caps" are given a lot of consideration. These are displays that are built on the ends of each isle.

I've also worked at a now non-existing large distributor who had a note posted in their breakroom that read something like: (BTW: I did not work for them for very long after reading this)

HOLIDAY PRICES:

The average customer simply can not retain all of the various prices and "deals" that are offered in their head as they shop.
One strategy to take advantage of this fact is to consider how likely it would be for our customer to recall, for instance, the price on a Teddy Ruxpin toy talking bear versus another toy that doesn't have the same demand. Increasing the price of the less known item will bring profits to each of us. If you, as a department manager know that the price has always been $5.99, you might want to change the sign so as to list the "normal price" as $7.99 and NOW REDUCED to $6.49. This would be seen as a competitive offer that our customers could likely consider in lieu of the more expensive and better known toy.

Regarding the deliberate packaging of meat, I have also worked for employers who have suggested that cashiers keep a broom near the cash register and include it in large sales but "forget" to give it to the customer. If the customer returned to complain, the broom or a refund could be offered and keeping the broom nearby would be seen as a sign of good faith.

This habit of "swindling" customers has a long history. My dad and my grand-father have also been in retail. I've been told stories about transitions from the old market place where an "order" was brought in to the time when customers were allowed to "help themselves" and "pick" the order themselves. Loss-leaders are a familiar concept where a retailer sells one item at or below cost in order to draw customers in so that they would shop for more while they were there. This resulted in a habit by consumers to simply wait for the item to be put on sale. Many do not know that certain items make no profit at all for grocery chains. Some unscrupulous retailers have "short-sacked" items in order to maintain profits. Consider bags of sugar that would be "put on sale" as loss leaders. My dad has told me about his competitors inserting straws into the burlap bags in order to draw off 1/2 pound of each 50# bag of sugar and rebag it for sale.

Another way to accomplish similar things (this more recent) is to shift the contents of a packaged frozen TV dinner. If one were to reduce the total amount of beef in a 12 oz package and increase the amount of a cheaper item (like carrots or desert) the net weight would remain the same but the pencil-pusher who thought of the scheme would be credited with the profit generated.

I could go on and on, and probably have, but there is too much to consider. For instance, consider the markup difference between groceries and HABA (Health and Beauty Aids) or other non-grocery items. Where is the store that has not taken advantage of this simple observation where one may go for groceries and not see non-food items?

 

[WIP]

Here's one you missed in your list, WordsintoHarmony.

Pay close attention to the label when you buy things. For example, coffee will often come in the same physical size container however, if you read the label you'll often find the amount of product inside can vary quite a bit. I've attached the advertisements from four different containers of coffee from a local retail grocery store. Notice the amount of product in each. I can tell you that at a glance in the store, all four of them appear to be the same but when you open them, the amount of product inside is quite different.

View attachment 3084

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

1. Make a list

2. Eat before you go

3. Stick to the list

4. Refuse to spend more than a previously determined amount

5. Resist using a store "discount" card unless it's got attractive benefits like reduced per-gallon gas price (marketing companies use your personal information to target your email and snail mail with junk)

6. Double check all discounts, coupons and deals -- the stores tend to advertise them but then fail to put the adjusted price in the system

 

[Deborah13]

Here's one you missed in your list, WordsintoHarmony.

Pay close attention to the label when you buy things. For example, coffee will often come in the same physical size container however, if you read the label you'll often find the amount of product inside can vary quite a bit. I've attached the advertisements from four different containers of coffee from a local retail grocery store. Notice the amount of product in each. I can tell you that at a glance in the store, all four of them appear to be the same but when you open them, the amount of product inside is quite different.

View attachment 4024

I noticed this, too. I think the best thing to look at is the unit price as the weights and costs are all different. I remember the days before uniting pricing.

 

[Sparkey]

My dad and I used to do independent tests to determine the quality of the various house brands that were being offered.

The test was easy enough. Get one of each of the various house brands (we used canned fruit and vegetables for our testing). For this purpose one could select mixed vegetables or fruit cocktail. Make sure that you're comparing similar products and cut then pour the contents. Look at the labels.

Look at the produce. Examine color. Do they look fresh? Then examine the cut, for instance on the vegetables, look for "ends and pieces" on the string beans. Finally, do a taste test. After the quality examination we are ready to look at cost benefit analysis. Some might be rejected as unworthy for your table, of those that we would consider eating, what represents the best value. What are the trade-offs between this and other choices?

I like the "scientific" nature of my dad's "cuttings".

 

[WordsintoHarmony]

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:ApplyBreakingRules/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> First of all everyone has good comments on this subject. Sparrowhawke shared a few I had not heard of, especially rearranging the food contents. When I was buying some breakfast like frozen foods I got upset at home when they were giving me 2 hash browns and brought it back to only 1. Yet they kept it at the same price.

WIP comments should make us know to read these labels. I knew that chips did not obviously. But I never thought of coffee and other items where ounces would be so much different in the same size can.

Disconnected gives some good sound advice when we go to the store. I think most of us have a problem going to the store to grab a few things when we end up walking out with 2 full bags of stuff we never intended before walking in. However if shopping was always predictable then it would not be as fun.

Ralph’s markets of Southern Calif. try to pull a blind fold. I was a regular shopper that helped me to spot this. Normally at this year and time soda was $3.50 to $3.90 on average. I knew it because this store was across the street. Whenever I ran out I got more. The sales said buy one case and get one free. Now they put the tag as $5.99 as the regular cost. Not much of a sale after all. I was only saving a dollar.

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:ApplyBreakingRules/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:UseFELayout/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> I would give this one tip. To the regular things you always get at the store always try to remember the general cost of what you bought. This way you will know when a sale is really a sale.
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[WIP]

Here's another one. In-store brand vs name brand. I won't share brand names but I can tell you that many of the in-store brand products you see on the shelf are actually the rejected pieces from the name brand products. When a manufacturer puts their name on the product they often have strict guidelines for product appearance. All the products must be the same size and shape for example and any that do not qualify are separated out. These lesser quality pieces will be included in the in-store brand products. There is nothing wrong or different about them aside from perhaps shape or size.

In some cases, the only difference is the label placed on the container.