Do you sometimes feel that grocery shopping is a game rigged against you? You’re not alone, and your instincts are right. Grocery stores use many strategies to encourage spending. As a service department assistant manager in a major grocery store chain, I have to implement these strategies on a daily basis. Among the most effective are impulse purchase points, managing customer traffic in the store, and putting certain products at eye-level. Understanding these strategies will help you stay in your grocery budget.
Impulse Purchase Points can Break Your Grocery Budget
There are many items you don’t buy on a regular basis, such as candy and magazines. Grocery stores know this and counter good sense by merchandizing in spots I call “impulse purchase points.” One that all grocery stores use is the check-out lanes. Name brand candies, small gadgets and tabloids surround you while you wait to pay for groceries.
People standing in line see their favorite chocolate bar and might think, “I can afford another dollar, and the kids were cooperative so I’ll get one for them, too.”
It’s an impulsive purchase, and overspending like this every week equals a lot of grocery money over a year. It’s not pocket change.
Another impulse purchase point is aisle caps. These are displays at the ends of shopping aisles, often with bold signs. The prices may be lower than normal, but anything above your planned grocery budget is overspending.
Grocery stores want you to spend as much as possible. Placing certain items right in your path at check-out lanes and aisle caps improve the chance you’ll buy something on an impulse. Don’t do it! Save those hard earned grocery dollars by sticking with your plan.
Routes Taken in the Grocery Store can Make or Break a Grocery Budget
You know all those security cameras in the grocery store? They’re not just for watching shoplifters. They also gather data on shoppers’ behavior. Everything is recorded and reviewed to understand the most common routes through the grocery store. Grocery store chains have learned that the majority of customers move along two or three common routes.
They use this information to design the layout of an entire store. Service departments like produce, the meat/seafood market and deli place displays on the edges of where we walk. For instance, non-produce items can be found in the produce area, such as caramel sheets, fruit smoothies and gourmet vitamin juice; or angel food cake is put with strawberries to suggest strawberry shortcake.
The best counter to this strategy is to simply be aware. Stick with what’s on your grocery list and afterwards if there’s more grocery money, go ahead and get stuff for strawberry shortcake.
It’s your money so spend it on your terms.
What the Grocery Store Wants You to Buy is Displayed at Eye Level
Have you noticed this? Expensive name brand products are almost always the easiest to find in grocery store aisles. You never have to kneel or squat to select Oreo cookies. Items put on sale are the same, rarely located in spots that must be searched out.
You can save a pile of cash by looking for lower priced, good quality alternatives on the lower shelves. There are many generic or store-label products with exactly the same quality as the familiar names. Guess what; they’re usually made in the exact same factory with the exact same recipes. (I know this from 17 years in a food manufacturing company.)
Compare net weight or serving cost. Occasionally something in a smaller package is actually cheaper per serving, or the store brand might cost more than the name brand.
The best way to break your grocery budget is to simply grab and go. Grocery stores know you’re in a big, busy, bumbling hurry and merchandize to your “convenience” instead of your needs. Search the shelves that aren’t at eye level and you’ll fit more food into your grocery budget.
It’s Just Smart Shopping
It’s not wrong or unethical for grocery stores to sell in these ways. It’s smart to understand customers. Shoppers simply have to be as smart as the grocery store. Keep these strategies in mind when grocery shopping and you’re more likely to keep your grocery budget.