Are you a spender? Today, I'm gonna talk about the tricks that supermarkets use to make you buy more than necessary.

You'll also improve your speaking with a funny mini-story.

Ok! Let's start!

When you leave the supermarket, have you ever wondered why you spent more money than you originally planned?

I do 🙂 If it happens to you, you may think that you don't know how to manage money, that you are a spender or simply that you don't have enough discipline, but don't worry, because supermarkets follow a whole series of very powerful marketing strategies that induce the buyer to buy, so don't feel too guilty 🙂

By the way, a spender is someone who spends money unnecessarily. And another interesting expression: "overspending," which means spending more than planned or necessary.

These supermarket strategies can simply be called tricks. The truth is that supermarkets have more tricks than a magician.

Let's take a look at a few of them, and learn some vocabulary on the subject.

The size of the cart matters.

The shopping cart is the element we push to add the products we want to buy. These trolleys, with time, have been increasing in size.

The logic is simple. Psychologically we feel more satisfied if we can fill the cart and, therefore, with a slightly larger cart, we tend to put more products inside.

The products they want to sell the most are placed right at eye level.

We are lazy by nature, and therefore, all products that are visually easier to see but overall easier to access are also easier to sell.

Prices with decimals.

This is another classic seller's trick. For some reason, $9.99 seems a lot, much cheaper than 10 dollars. We save 1 cent! Wow! If we do this 100 million times, we'll save a million dollars 🙂

The products we need the most are always located at the back of the store.

It's a very logical trick, and even those who don't think about it too much will find it obvious. The supermarkets place the most necessary products at the back so that you can see as many products as possible while you walk through the supermarket.

Change of location of products.

From time to time, supermarkets move certain products around. I hate it when they do that. The reason is the same as the previous point. They want to prevent you from knowing too well where everything is. So, once again, you have to walk more, and therefore the temptation to buy an extra item is greater.

Once you have filled the shopping cart, you have to wait in the queue for the cash register.

When you wait, right next to you, you have several products that are cheap and that you may need—for example, chewing gum or batteries. The temptation to add one more product to the cart is big.

Many times supermarkets only have a few open cash registers for two reasons. The first one is to save money on personnel. This was very obvious. But the second reason is to make customers wait a little longer to buy the products displayed next to the cash desk. This trick is dangerous because if the customer has to wait too long, he may not return to the supermarket. Therefore, the aim is to make you wait only for a short time.

Music also influences.

There are a variety of strategies here. Some supermarkets use fast-paced music to stimulate a more impulsive purchase and encourage faster shopping.

On the other hand, other supermarkets use a more relaxed, quieter music that makes the customer stay longer, and therefore has a better chance of ending up buying.

As you can see, supermarkets implement many tricks, but we can also have ours. For example:

Have a list prepared of what you really need.

Go to the supermarket after lunch. If you're hungry, you'll probably buy more than necessary.

Pay with cash. This you'll have more control over your expenses. Consider buying on the internet. This way, we will buy more wisely.