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Tip 3.
Recognize and avoid
supermarket tricks.
Let's be honest. Supermarkets are in the business of making
money. Their main goal is to get the most money from every
shopper that they possibly can. They do this professionally so
they have worked hard to make sure they do it well. When we
enter the market we are at their mercy. They have stacked the
deck in their favor and like it or not, we are playing by their
rules. Within this context our duty is to find the bargains,
avoid impulse buys and bring home enough food for the week while
sticking to our budget. This is a TALL order and it's easy to
be overwhelmed. Modern supermarkets easily have 20,000 items
competeing for their place in our cart. Larger stores confuse
us with over 50,000 products, each one tempting us try it just this
once. Out of this dizzying array we are only interested in a
couple of hundred items. We must track down the few items we
need and harden our hearts to all the rest. This enormous assortment
of wares actually works in the store's favor. We are
overstimulated by all the choices and this brings down our
resistance, which is what they want. They want us to be
vulnerable to their marketing devices. They want us to succumb
to every impulse buy possible. From the music we hear, to
product label designs and even the store lay-out, supermarkets are
doing everything in their power to disassemble our well made plans
and influence every purchase we make.
Supermarkets display high-profit items where they are most likely to
be seen and plunked into our carts. Low profit items and
necessities are placed where they are difficult to access and draw
little attention. Anything at eye-level or decoratively
displayed at the end of an aisle is going to cost more.
Bargains are usually high up on the top shelves, or down low on the
bottom shelves. Since most shoppers are in a rush they don't
take the time to stretch or bend to find the bargains. Since we
are are working with limited funds we must learn to ignore anything
placed at eye-level. Instead our focus should be on the upper
and lower shelves with one exception. In the cereal aisle all
of the sugary kids cereals are placed on the bottom 2 shelves, where
children are most likely to see them and place them in the cart
without Mom's knowledge. In all the other aisles upper and
lower shelves are gold mines of savings.
Have you ever noticed that bread, milk, meat and fresh produce are
all at opposite corners of the store. These items are staples
and supermarkets know this. They want us to hike through the
entire store so that we are exposed to as many of their manipulative
displays as possible. The more they can expose us to things we don't
need, the more likely we are to buy something we didn't intend to
buy. With all the temptations, it's no wonder some folks call
supermarkets The Devil's Playground.
End of the aisle displays should be ignored completely.
Sometimes markets pretend the items offered for sale in these
displays are on sale. They are not. If you see a big sign
that shouts "VALUE" in large red letters, then you can be
pretty sure you are being tricked. Value means nothing, it's
just a gimmick to draw your attention. Their hope is that you
will believe the lie that these products are a good value and place
them in your cart. By distracting you with the big Value sign,
they hope you will ignore a similar, but much lower priced item, that
can be found only a few feet away on the bottom shelf.
"SPECIAL" is another useless term. Once again it's
used to draw your attention, but it could mean nearly anything.
Marked down meats often have a sticker bearing the word
"Special" on them, and in this case, significant savings
can be had. In most cases though, Special means as little as
Value. If the market can get your attention with the big red
sign, and then the packaging of the product itself can entice you to
put it in your cart, then they have accomplished their goal.
Our job is to ignore as much of this as we can. Once we realize
what's going on, these tricks are easier to avoid.
Navigating the supermarket, avoiding stylized barricades and finally
making it home with our purchases is challenging for all of us. We
need to recognize the pitfalls and tricks markets play, sidestep the
temptations displayed on every inch of the market shelves, and stick
to our grocery list. It's not easy, and it's only getting more
challenging with time. The
only way we can keep our budget in tact is to arm ourselves with knowledge.
We must understand their methods and develop our own techniques of
avoiding temptation. Every time we buy what we choose to buy instead
of what they entice us to buy, we're one step ahead of the game and
our budgets are one step closer to aligning with our values.
Copyright
Hillbilly Housewife 2005-2007
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