Tricks Grocery Stores Use

Supermarkets are waging an all-out war for your money. According to MSNBC, the stakes are incredibly high, because their profit margins are less than 2 percent, meaning that for every hundred dollars you spend at a store, they make less than $2 in profit. Here’s how stores are trying to get your business:

·      First, they’re making shopping more of a sensory experience, by misting water over the vegetables so they’ll seem fresher, showcasing rotisserie chickens rotating over open flames, and filling the store with the aroma of fresh-baked bread. They also present a lot of products in Broadway-caliber displays, with special lighting and backdrops.

·     What else do grocery stores do to get your money? A lot of them make you think you’re getting a good deal, even if you’re not. They do that by lowering prices on the staples you buy the most - like eggs, milk and toilet paper. So you’ll assume the whole supermarket is cheaper – and won’t notice if everything else is 10 percent higher than normal.

·     Many stores have also doubled the size of their shopping carts, and watched as people immediately began buying 40 percent more.

·      Newer stores also force you to meander by pulling out the long, regimented rows of shelves, and replacing them with aisles that twist and turn – sending you past as many tempting products as possible.

·      Lastly, there are hand-held self-checkout tools, like Scan-It at Stop-and-Shop stores. They keep computerized files of every purchase you’re made for the past year. They know what you’re buying down to your brand of deodorant – and the hand-held scanner shows your location in the store at any moment. So, if you’re in the cereal aisle, an ad may pop up on the scanner for cereal. Or if you never buy paper products at their store, they’ll send you a coupon hoping to get you to change your spending habits.

Long story short...the goal of the store is to get us to spend money. Stay within your budget & ALWAYS ALWAYS bring your coupons!!!