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Thursday, April 19, 2007

15 Ways Stores Trick You!!

Hi Shoppers,

I was looking around checking out ways to help you to save more money when you are out shopping,came across this written by The Simple Dollar. So I did a little mystery shopping to see if this is true,and yes it is true all 15 ways! So here they are:





1. Shopping carts. Most department-store customers
enter the store intending to buy only an item or two, but the shopping
carts are right there by the entrance and, oh, wouldn't it be
convenient to have it so I can lean on it a bit while walking around
and to put my stuff in it?

The cart has a huge bin compared
with the size of most items for sale in the store, making it
psychologically easy to toss in an item you don't need -- after all,
there's room for plenty more, right?

2. Desirable departments are far away from the entrance.
Most of the items I go to a department store to buy, such as light
bulbs and laundry detergent, are located many, many aisles from the
entrance. This means I spend my time walking by a lot of consumer goods
on my way to find the item I want.

Because these consumer goods
are effectively marketed to me, there's a good likelihood that I'll spy
something that I don't necessarily need and toss it in the cart.

3. The toy section is far, far, far away from the entrance.
Naturally, if I take my son to the store, he wants to visit the toy
section. He gets excited and starts shouting "Ball! Ball!" to me when
we go in because he remembers the enormous plastic balls in the toy
section.

I tell him that if he's good, we'll go look at the
balls, and at the end of the trip, we usually make our way over there.
What do we see? Lots of children in that area, which means that there
are parents that follow their children.

4. Impulse-oriented items are near the checkouts. Stores stock the latest DVD releases and "froth" magazines there, along with overpriced beverages and candy.

Why?
Because people leaving the store are thirsty, and they're going to be
standing in line for a bit, which is the perfect place to hook them
with some entertainment options.

5. The most expensive versions of a product are the ones at eye level.
Take a look sometime at the arrangement of different choices for a
particular product, such as laundry detergent. Almost every time, the
most expensive options per unit are placed at eye level, so you see
them first when you enter an aisle. The bulk options and better deals
are usually on the bottom shelves.

6. Items that aren't on sale are sometimes placed as though they are on sale, without using the word "sale."
I noticed this over and over with diapers; the department store would
display a rack of them with a huge sign above them displaying the
price, but it would be the same price I paid for them a week ago.
Unsurprisingly, the diapers displayed like that were alwa

7. Commodity items, such as socks, are surrounded by noncommodity items, such as shirts and jeans.
If I'm looking to buy some socks, I have to traverse through a number
of racks full of different types of clothing in the clothing section
just to reach them.

Why? If my mind is already open to the idea of buying clothes, I would be more likely to look at other clothing items.

8. Slickly packaged items alternate with less slickly packaged items.
Look carefully at an aisle of, say, potato chips. The ones with the
bright and slick packaging are generally more expensive, which isn't
surprising.

But notice that there usually isn't a section of
just inexpensive chips -- in most stores, they're sandwiched between
more-expensive items. If there is a section of just inexpensive items,
they're down by your feet (think about the inexpensive bagged cereals
at your local supermarket).

9. Stop, stop, stop. You add items to your cart only
if you stop, right? So stores are designed to maximize the number of
stops you have to make: aisles in which only two carts can fit,
colorful and attractive layouts, escalators and, my favorite of all,
sample vendors. Even if it's not conscious to you, every time you stop
moving in a store, you increase your chances of putting something into
your cart.

10. Staple items are placed in the middle of aisles, nonessential and overpriced items near the end.
Why? If you enter an aisle to get a "staple" item (i.e., a high-traffic
item), you have to go by the other items twice -- once on the way in
and once on the way out. That gives these items two chances to make
their pitch at you.



11. Prices are chosen to make comparison math difficult.
Instead of selling the 100-ounce detergent for $6 and the 200-ounce
detergent for $11 (making it easier to figure out the better deal),
they sell the 100-ounce for $5.99 and the 200-ounce for $10.89.

Hey, look, they're basically the same, right, because five is half of 10? Uh, no.



12. Stuff in bins isn't always a bargain. Higher-end
stores will sometimes put items in "bins" to emulate the bargains found
at cheaper stores, but the prices are still quite high. They just use
the visual cue of a "bargain store" to make you think it is a bargain.

13. High-markup items are made to look prestigious. If
you see something in a glass case that has lots of space around it,
your gut reaction is to believe that it is valuable and prestigious to
own, and for many people it can be as attractive as a light to a moth.
The truth is that these items typically have tremendous markup --
you're literally just buying an idea, not a product.



14. The most profitable department is usually the first one you run into.
Ever noticed that at Younkers, JC Penney, Kohl's and such stores, the
cosmetic department is front and center? That's because it's very
profitable, and by putting it in a place where people walk by time and
time again, customers are more prone to making a purchase on an item
with a very big markup.



15. Restrooms and customer services are usually right by the exit or as far from the exit as possible.
Why? If you need to use either one in the middle of a shopping journey,
you have to walk by a lot of merchandise to reach the needed service,
thus increasing your chances for an impulse buy.



So there you have it the 15 was stores trick you into buying more then you want! Next is how to fight back,And Remember STAY SHOPPING!!













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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Jerry,

I really like your blog.

Very interesting information about the 15 ways a store can trick you. Thanks. I had never thought of it like that before.

All the best

Denise