BE A SMART GROCERY SHOPPER
from the article "Frugal Grocery Shopping For the Smart Shopper"
http://www.frugal-living-tips.com/frugal-grocery.html
Remember how you need to start with a Grocery Shopping List? Now, it's time to do the actual shopping...
How to be a smart frugal grocery shopper
Many people don’t realise this, but supermarkets spend thousands of pounds every year on cunning little marketing ploys to make you spend more money than you intended.
They employ teams of people to analyse shop layout and consumer shopping habits to make sure that they place their items in their store just in the right place to tempt you.
However if you know and are aware of these ploys then you are more likely to recognise them and not fall headlong into them. Common tricks are:
* Moving Isles -Moving items to different places in the store, so that you have to go hunting down isles that you would not normally venture into and so exposing you to more of their products. Keep your head down and only focus on the items you came into buy.
* The long walk - Commonly purchased items such as milk, bread and eggs are normally placed along the edges of a store, often at the back of the store.
Again forcing you to walk past lots of tempting goodies. If all you want to buy is a loaf of bread then keep to the edge of the store and avoid walking through centre isles.
* Check those lower shelves - Shops will often put their most expensive items or their own brand on the shelves at eye level. This is because a lot of shoppers just take the first item they see on the shelves. Lets use baked beans as an example, you will often find the leading brand name right in the middle of the shelf, it’s a brand you know and hey, you need some beans, so why not.
But check out the lower or upper shelves first. If you are on a frugal grocery mission, here is where you will find beans at a much cheaper price or that have special offers on them. The difference in price can be far greater than the slight taste difference in the product; brand name is not always the best.
* Advertising – Beware of advertising hype. Shops and brands will bombard you with advertisements promising you all sorts of enticements, i.e. we are the best, this will make you stronger, and this will make your hair shinier. Be aware that this is advertising and their main aim is to get you to buy their product instead of someone else’s.
Don’t be fooled by this hype, many products are even made by the same manufacturer and sold as different brands. Remember buy what you need and not what the advertisers tell you that you need.
MY THOUGHTS
i had almost 4 years of hypermarket experience and we never looked at it that way - i mean designing store layout to trick customers into buying. store layout is about product visibility and shopping convenience. anyway, grocery trips should be well-planned. When you're in a rush, you tend to just grab the first thing that you see. If you want to save, you want to be able to compare prices. I've seen shoppers with calculators while shopping. Not a bad idea.
from the article "Frugal Grocery Shopping For the Smart Shopper"
http://www.frugal-living-tips.com/frugal-grocery.html
Remember how you need to start with a Grocery Shopping List? Now, it's time to do the actual shopping...
How to be a smart frugal grocery shopper
Many people don’t realise this, but supermarkets spend thousands of pounds every year on cunning little marketing ploys to make you spend more money than you intended.
They employ teams of people to analyse shop layout and consumer shopping habits to make sure that they place their items in their store just in the right place to tempt you.
However if you know and are aware of these ploys then you are more likely to recognise them and not fall headlong into them. Common tricks are:
* Moving Isles -Moving items to different places in the store, so that you have to go hunting down isles that you would not normally venture into and so exposing you to more of their products. Keep your head down and only focus on the items you came into buy.
* The long walk - Commonly purchased items such as milk, bread and eggs are normally placed along the edges of a store, often at the back of the store.
Again forcing you to walk past lots of tempting goodies. If all you want to buy is a loaf of bread then keep to the edge of the store and avoid walking through centre isles.
* Check those lower shelves - Shops will often put their most expensive items or their own brand on the shelves at eye level. This is because a lot of shoppers just take the first item they see on the shelves. Lets use baked beans as an example, you will often find the leading brand name right in the middle of the shelf, it’s a brand you know and hey, you need some beans, so why not.
But check out the lower or upper shelves first. If you are on a frugal grocery mission, here is where you will find beans at a much cheaper price or that have special offers on them. The difference in price can be far greater than the slight taste difference in the product; brand name is not always the best.
* Advertising – Beware of advertising hype. Shops and brands will bombard you with advertisements promising you all sorts of enticements, i.e. we are the best, this will make you stronger, and this will make your hair shinier. Be aware that this is advertising and their main aim is to get you to buy their product instead of someone else’s.
Don’t be fooled by this hype, many products are even made by the same manufacturer and sold as different brands. Remember buy what you need and not what the advertisers tell you that you need.
MY THOUGHTS
i had almost 4 years of hypermarket experience and we never looked at it that way - i mean designing store layout to trick customers into buying. store layout is about product visibility and shopping convenience. anyway, grocery trips should be well-planned. When you're in a rush, you tend to just grab the first thing that you see. If you want to save, you want to be able to compare prices. I've seen shoppers with calculators while shopping. Not a bad idea.
