17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (2024)

Table of Contents
A big, bold "SALE" sign helps get people in the store, where they are likely to buy non-sale items. Once you enter, there's the shopping cart. This invention was designed in the late 1930s to help customers make larger purchases more easily. In supermarkets, high margin departments like floral and fresh baked goods are placed near the front door, so you encounter them when your cart is empty and your spirits are high. Flowers and baked goods also sit near the front of stores because their appealing smell activates your salivary glands, making you more likely to purchase on impulse. Supermarkets like to hide dairy products and other essentials on the back wall, forcing you to go through the whole store to reach them. Once customers start walking through a store's maze of aisles, they are conditioned to walk up and down each one without deviating. Most stores move customers from right to left. This, combined with the fact that America drives on the right, makes people more likely to purchase items on the right-hand side of the aisle. Anything a store really wants customers to buy is placed at eye level. Particularly favored items are highlighted at the ends of aisles. There's also kid eye level. This is where stores place toys, games, sugary cereal, candy, and other items a kid will see and beg his parents to buy. Sample stations and other displays slow you down while exposing you to new products. Stores also want items to be in easy reach. Research shows that touching items increases the chance of a purchase. Color affects shoppers, too. People are drawn into stores by warm hues like reds, oranges, and yellows, but once inside cool colors like blues and greens encourage them to spend more. Hear that music? Studies show that slow music makes people shop leisurely and spend more. Loud music hurries them through the store and doesn't affect sales. Classical music encourages more expensive purchases. Store size matters, too. In crowded places, people spend less time shopping, make fewer purchases (planned and impulsive), and feel less comfortable
. Stores not only entice you with sales, they also use limited-time offers to increase your sense of urgency in making a purchase. The most profitable area of the store is the checkout line. Stores bank on customers succumbing to the candy and magazine racks while they wait. Finally, there is the ubiquitous "valued shopper" card. This card gives you an occasional deal in exchange for your customer loyalty and valuable personal data. Now, see the tricks your brain is playing on you: 57 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up How We Think » FAQs

Strategy

Written by Alison Griswold and Gus Lubin

2014-01-09T20:52:00Z

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17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (1)

Citymart.com via http://www.flickr.com/photos/interlace-invent/4071684282/ creative commons

Accidentally buy much more than you intended?

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You may not have been planning on it, but the store certainly was. From supermarkets to clothing boutiques, shopping hubs are carefully engineered to get you to spend the most money possible.

Want to beat retailers at their own game? Then you'd better learn how they think.

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A big, bold "SALE" sign helps get people in the store, where they are likely to buy non-sale items.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (2)

Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Once you enter, there's the shopping cart. This invention was designed in the late 1930s to help customers make larger purchases more easily.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (3)

Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

Source: Idea Finder

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In supermarkets, high margin departments like floral and fresh baked goods are placed near the front door, so you encounter them when your cart is empty and your spirits are high.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (4)

Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

Flowers and baked goods also sit near the front of stores because their appealing smell activates your salivary glands, making you more likely to purchase on impulse.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (5)

Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

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Supermarkets like to hide dairy products and other essentials on the back wall, forcing you to go through the whole store to reach them.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (6)

Scott Olson/Getty Images

Once customers start walking through a store's maze of aisles, they are conditioned to walk up and down each one without deviating.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (7)

Chris Hondros/Getty Images

Source: Levy and Weitz 1997.Read morehere.

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Most stores move customers from right to left. This, combined with the fact that America drives on the right, makes people more likely to purchase items on the right-hand side of the aisle.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (8)

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Source: AllSands

Anything a store really wants customers to buy is placed at eye level. Particularly favored items are highlighted at the ends of aisles.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (9)

Tim Boyle/Getty Images

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There's also kid eye level. This is where stores place toys, games, sugary cereal, candy, and other items a kid will see and beg his parents to buy.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (10)

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Sample stations and other displays slow you down while exposing you to new products.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (11)

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

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Stores also want items to be in easy reach. Research shows that touching items increases the chance of a purchase.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (12)

Don Arnold/Getty Images

Source: lifehacker

Color affects shoppers, too. People are drawn into stores by warm hues like reds, oranges, and yellows, but once inside cool colors like blues and greens encourage them to spend more.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (13)

Dan Dennison/Getty Images

Source: 
Bellizzi et al. (1983).Full citation here.

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Hear that music? Studies show that slow music makes people shop leisurely and spend more. Loud music hurries them through the store and doesn't affect sales. Classical music encourages more expensive purchases.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (14)

Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Cain-Smith & Curnow (1966); Milliman (1982 & 1986); Caldwell & Hibbert (1999); Areni & Kim (1993).Full citation here.

Store size matters, too. In crowded places, people spend less time shopping, make fewer purchases (planned and impulsive), and feel less comfortable
.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (15)

Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Source: Harrell & Hunt (1976); Gillis et al. (1986).Full citation here.

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Stores not only entice you with sales, they also use limited-time offers to increase your sense of urgency in making a purchase.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (16)

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The most profitable area of the store is the checkout line. Stores bank on customers succumbing to the candy and magazine racks while they wait.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (17)

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

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Finally, there is the ubiquitous "valued shopper" card. This card gives you an occasional deal in exchange for your customer loyalty and valuable personal data.

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (18)

Chris Keane/Getty Images

Now, see the tricks your brain is playing on you:

17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (19)

moriza on flickr

57 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up How We Think »

Alison Griswold

Writer

Alison Griswold is a former Slate Magazine staff writer.

Gus Lubin

Senior correspondent

Gus worked at Business Insider from 2009 to 2017. Starting as an intern, he did a bit of everything, launching sections covering lifestyle, science, personal finance, military, and more, eventually serving as executive editor of Business Insider and editor-in-chief of Tech Insider.As a writer, some of his favorite stories looked facial bias,the philosophy of Peter Thiel, Chinese ghost cities, self-driving car ethics, the average family on earth, Wikipedia hoax-hunters, income inequality, bleak futurism,global communication patterns, and the worst hotel in New York.As an editor and executive producer, some of his favorite stories include photo essays from the Canadian tar sandstothe streets of Cairo, features aboutVine stardomand dog cloning, and a documentary on hacking the grid.Gus graduated from Dartmouth College. He interned at Boston Review, 826 Boston, and Yes! Weekly.

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17 Tricks Stores Use To Make You Spend More Money (2024)

FAQs

How do stores make you spend more money? ›

Eye-Level Buys

Higher-dollar, name brand products are often placed at eye level. Psychology suggests that seeing those products means you're more likely to buy them. Less expensive, generic brand goods are generally located on inconveniently low or high shelves — the ones you're not going to see on a quick scan.

How retailers trick you into buying more? ›

Retailers strategically position high-margin and popular items at eye level or even near the checkout, where they are more likely to catch your attention. They may even put certain items on the ends of aisles or high-traffic areas of the store where they know they will be seen.

How do supermarkets get you to spend more? ›

Supermarkets spur impulse buys of everything from candy bars and full-calorie soda to hand sanitizer and gift cards by displaying them at checkout, where customers must stand in line. Checkout boosts sales so much that manufacturers pay big money to get retailers to place their products there.

How do retailers use science to make you spend more? ›

The bright colours and fresh seasonal scents are designed to lift your mood for the shopping experience ahead of you. Why? Because the science tells us that when you feel good, you spend more. Psychologists call this effect 'implicit priming': where one stimulus influences a subsequent response to another stimulus.

How do businesses try to trick you into spending money? ›

The opposite of charm pricing or decoy pricing or deceptive discount pricing, prestige pricing operates on the assumption that shoppers will be more likely to buy an item if the price is higher, regardless of the actual production costs or quality of the product itself.

How can I increase my spend? ›

You may want to consider introducing more expensive products or services. Or offer a discount on a second product or service. Or offer an extra item at no cost to customers who purchase two products at the same time.

How do you keep retailers happy? ›

Send a gift that keeps on giving

Never to be underestimated, the act of gift-giving in any form has the power to forge and strengthen connections between people and businesses. Gifts that are meaningful but don't break the bank are key, such as a bag of gourmet sweets or a branded set of pencils.

How do retailers set prices? ›

Many factors go into a retail pricing decision. A retailer will consider what they paid for the item, supply and demand, market trends, and competition.

How do customers decide which retailer to go? ›

They don't want to make a mistake when they buy something. The reputation in the community; number of stores; their friends and/or their associates perception of the store & if it well liked and recommended by them are all factors that consumers consider when they decide on a store to visit.

How do I not overspend at the grocery store? ›

11 tips for saving money at the grocery store
  1. Pay with a grocery rewards card. ...
  2. Sign up for the loyalty program. ...
  3. Clip coupons. ...
  4. Join a wholesale club. ...
  5. Go in with a list and stick to it. ...
  6. Buy items on sale. ...
  7. Avoid pre-packaged items. ...
  8. Compare prices between stores.

What are the three most important things you want from a grocery store? ›

We all need staples such as cereal, bread, milk and eggs. Getting such items online is difficult. For example, it is hard to browse cereal labels online. Bread is unlikely to be delivered fresh if ordered online, milk needs to be refrigerated continuously and eggs are fragile.

What makes us spend money? ›

Consumer spending habits are influenced by so many factors. Some of these factors include personal income, financial goals, cultural influences, peer pressure, advertising, economic conditions (such as inflation or recessions), and individual preferences.

How do stores make money? ›

How do retailers make money? Retailers make money by purchasing products or goods from wholesalers or manufacturers at a wholesale price and then selling them to consumers at a higher retail price.

Why are retail stores better? ›

One of the primary benefits of in-store retail shopping is the tangible experience that it offers. In a physical store, customers get to touch, feel, and try on products before making a purchase decision. This provides a sense of satisfaction and helps customers to ensure that the products meet their expectations.

How do supermarkets persuade people to buy things? ›

3 very common tricks that you'll see in most supermarkets are: Placing bread at the back of the store: most people buy bread as part of their grocery shopping. Putting it at the back of the store forces you to walk through many other aisles/products, increasing the chances to buy things you didn't need.

Why do consumers spend more money? ›

With savings mostly depleted, the strong labor market, featuring low unemployment and solid wage growth, is helping consumers maintain higher spending levels despite reduced savings,” says Haworth.

Do you ever spend more money shopping than you intend to? ›

Impulse Buying

One big reason is that people buy on impulse. A staggering 76% of purchasing decisions are made when shoppers are already in the store aisles. As part of that, 57% of shoppers ended up spending more money than they anticipated.

Is it true the more money you make the more you spend? ›

You might think that an increase in salary means you'll have more money in your checking account, but this isn't always true. In fact, lifestyle creep can make it so you have less money on hand. Lifestyle creep, or lifestyle inflation, is overspending after your income increases.

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