Strategy
Written by Alison Griswold and Gus Lubin
2014-01-09T20:52:00Z
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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.
Once you enter, there's the shopping cart. This invention was designed in the late 1930s to help customers make larger purchases more easily.
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.
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.
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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.
Once customers start walking through a store's maze of aisles, they are conditioned to walk up and down each one without deviating.
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.
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.
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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.
Sample stations and other displays slow you down while exposing you to new products.
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Stores also want items to be in easy reach. Research shows that touching items increases the chance of a purchase.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
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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.
Now, see the tricks your brain is playing on you:
57 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up How We Think »
Writer
Alison Griswold is a former Slate Magazine staff writer.
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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