Have you ever wondered why popular goods like bread and milk are always at the back
of the store, or why product cost £3.99 instead of £4? We look at some of the top
strategies retailers use to get you to part with your cash.
Popular goods at the back
The first rule of retail is that the more items customers view the more likely they are to purchase something. So putting the popular items, such as milk and bread at the back of the store makes customers pass other products. By the time they get to the item they are after it’s likely they will have a few extra items in their basket.
Loss leaders
Tin of beans for 4p? How do they make any money with that? The truth is they don’t. They either break even or make a a small loss per product. But if it will lead a potential customer into the store to spend money it will be worth it. Coupled with the ‘Popular goods at the back’ rule and that loss leader will lead to profits.
Aromatherapy
There is nothing like a good enticing aroma to get customers into your shop. Whether it’s the smell of freshly baked bread in the morning or the afternoon scent of a cappuccino.
Impulse buys
You would never have bought it unless it appeared in front of you that very moment. This is the underlying concept of impulse buys. Typically impulse buys are found either at the entrance of the store or near the checkout. They are goods that rely heavily on the right timing, like batteries, chewing gum, or magazines.
The slow waltz
Studies have shown that a person who listen to fast paced music whilst driving tends to driver faster and more aggressively, whilst people who listen to slow paced or calm music tend to do the opposite.
The same is true in shops, you can control the pace at which customers shop, to a degree, by having slow paced music, this will make them shop at a slower pace looking at more product and thus increasing the number of items they may purchase.
Eye level products
Humans tend to notice things more quickly and with more attention when they are at eye level, so the best place to put products of a higher value are at eye level with similar products above and below eye level.
Long aisles
The longer the aisle the more products of the same kind you can view, and the more likely something will attract your attention and you will purchase it.
99p
Studies show that we place more emphasis on the first few digits or letters in anything that grabs our attention. So when we see something that costs £9.99 our brain generally stores the £9 putting less emphasis on the .99p leading us to think it’s cheaper, as we continue to shop we tally items up in our head as £9 + £4 + £6 = £19 instead of £9.99 + £4.99 +£6.99 = £21.97 meaning we spend more thinking we have spent less.
The disappointed sale
You see a sign that says 33% of designer perfume, you go to the cosmetics section and see the perfume reduced from £59.99 to £40.20 still well over your budget. You also notice another cheaper perfume for only £19.99, seeing that’s what you would have spent on the designer perfume if it was that price you ‘disappointedly’ purchase that instead. The truth is had you never seen the sign you wouldn’t have bought any perfume.
Highest price first
Sometimes you’ll notice that supermarket aisles are arranged according to price, with the highest priced items at the start. This fools your brain into noticing how much cheaper the items are down the aisle than when you started giving you a false sense of better value.
So the next time you visit a supermarket, high street retailer, or car showroom, see how many of these strategies you spot. If you own a shop how many of these strategies are you using or could be using.