Shopping Secrets Stores Don’t Want you To Know
Close your eyes and think about the layout of your favorite store. You probably know it like the back of your hand. What you might not know about your favorite place to shop is that the layout and memorable organization is not for your convenience. There is a science to shopping, and it is a science perfected by retailers designed to find new and improved ways to make you spend more of your hard earned money at their place of business. If you uncover these secrets, you are on to their endgame, making you a better -and more frugal- player.
The Displays
Pretty, well-lit displays are no accident. Stores fashion attractive displays on purpose. They design them to appeal to a customer’s sense of self-esteem and desire for instant gratification.
For example, stores will put shirts they paid $3 a piece for, folded beautifully on a well-lit display table with a photo of a beautiful model near the Eiffel tower or some other exotic location. The store will mark up the price from $3 to $24 dollars for the attire; not because it is what they are worth, but because this is what the public will pay, based on the psychology of shopping.
The patron is drawn to the aesthetics of the display and the shopper is compelled to buy the product because, psychologically, the shopper associates herself with the model in the display; believing that somehow, the shirt will make her look more attractive and exotic.
BOGO’s and 2-fers
Buy one, get one free has an certain appeal for many shoppers because they trick you into believing you are always getting a bargain. However, these “too good” deals are budget busters more often than not.
Retailers use BOGO promotions to boost numbers and ticket averages, often increasing the price of items before the sale, meaning that you are not actually saving anything at all.
Do not go right
When most people enter a store, they turn to the right because they are right-handed and right-oriented by nature. Because of this, retailers highlight everything to the right of the entrance. The lights are brighter, the music is louder and the sale signs are bigger. Going right means heading into impulse buy turf.
Betting You Won’t Deal Hunt
Clearance racks and sections are put in the back of the store or in a dark and dismal corner because the retailer counts on you being distracted by the more expensive merchandise before wandering over to the clearance rack. The retailer is betting that you will fail, that you have already blown your budget and will not stick around to find the best bargains. This is the same reason that retailers leave the clearance area messy. Retailers do not want you in the clearance section, they want you drifting toward the high end, expensive displays, because they want you to pay full price. After all, that’s what’s best for their bottom line.
Change your shopping habits, remember that the clearance rack is king and save your money.