Came in for some orange juice and left with a cart full of crap.
FOILED AGAIN!!!
Hey everyone, Laci Green here for DNews.
Who hasn’t gone to run some errands and ended up leaving the store with stuff you
never came for?
Oh yeah people.
You’re not alone.
Stores are actually incredibly sneaky and evil and employ a number of scientifically-backed
strategies to make you spend more without realizing it until it’s TOO LATE.
One of the most heavily employed strategies is changing your perception of a bargain.
Have you ever noticed a sale sign on the window of your favorite store only to walk in and
realize that it’s not as big of a sale as you thought it was?
Some stores even seem to be in a perpetual state of SALES THAT ARE ENDING SOON SO GET
YOUR STUFF NOW!
Retailers purposefully create a high number of short sales to create the illusion of a
fleeting bargain.
Psychologists at the Association for Consumer Research have found that excitement while
shopping is caused by making shoppers feel like they’re a smart shopper who’s found
a great deal.
In reality, the price may not even be substantially lower and the product may be overpriced to
begin with.
Sometimes you’ll see something like “20% of MSRP” the manufacturers suggested retail
price, when in fact, no retailer could ever sell the product for that price to begin with.
Another way that our minds get tricked all the time is with prices that end in 99 cents.
Researchers at Rutgers have found that even though we know, rationally that it’s only
a 1 cent difference, our minds are still tricked.
When retailers end the price in 99 cents, they see an increase in sales comparable to
if they had marked the item as 10% off.
Perhaps a little more sneakily, retailers also use scents to sell.
The olfactory system is a powerful trigger of emotion and memory, and stores DEFINITELY
use that to their advantage.
There are giant companies that specialize in helping big stores, hotels, even restaurants
to manufacture smells that will help their clients have an emotional attachment to their
company.
Research at the Scent Marketing Institute (yes that’s a thing) has found that citrus
scents make people spend more, the smell of baked goods sells more homes, and the smell
of leather and wood encourages us to splurge on luxury furniture.
But furniture and houses are rarely impulse buys….which is why cheaper items are all
about encouraging a split second decision to spend just a little more at a time.
Have you ever noticed how stores that cater to younger crowds often have loud faster paced
music?
A study in the Journal of Applied Psychology says that music that gets your heart going
encourages more sales per minute.
But it’s about the RIGHT music too - this wouldn’t work in, say, a fine wine shop.
Psychologists have found in luxury settings, classical music encourages more sales.
It’s all pretttttty sneaky!
Have you ever fallen prey to these common strategies?
Tell me about it down below and we’ll catch you next time with more DNews updates!