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Grocery Store Shopping Tricks
According to a 1995 paper published by the North Dakota State University Extension Program the average American family spends about 15 percent of its monthly income on groceries and food-related expenses. To spend all that money, a family member's probably in the local grocery store more otter than once or twice a month. And the more often you're at the store the more opportunities the store's marketers have to entice you with the latest and greatest items Supermarkets are in business to make money and their marketers are savvy about the buying tendencies, weaknesses and temptations of the average shopper, so the single greatest money-saving tip for grocery shopping I can share with you is to beware of impulse purchases (or buying more than you intended when you just go in for one or two things). Impulse buys can easily drive up that quick trip to the store for milk and eggs into a $30 experience complete with designer coffee and frozen éclairs.
In this section, we try explain how you can avoid falling prey to impulse purchases and how you can combat common budget-breaking snares and pitfalls at the grocery store.
Avoid Common Tricks of the Grocery Store Trade
Grocery stores spend money specifically to learn how to fool you into parting with your hard-earned money in their store. Whether it's enticing you into the store in the first place with sale items sold below what the store paid for the items or convincing you to buy
more expensive items it's helpful to be aware of some of these tactics.
Seeing through the aisle switcheroo
When you walk into the local grocery store and realize all the aisles have been reorganized and everything you usually purchase isn't where it usually is, you're experiencing a common grocery store gimmick (or a scheme for tricking you into spending money you wouldn't have spent otherwise). Yes your grocery store actually
moves items around just to make you, its loyal customer feel confused and unable to find anything.
So, do you want to know the method behind the madness? If you shop at a particular store regularly, you know where everything you buy is located in each aisle, right? Without realizing it, you've developed a form of tunnel vision and don't really see anything except for what you need. But what happens when the store rearranges the aisles or moves items from one position on a shelf to another? You have to look around and actually focus on each aisle and every shell. By losing your tunnel vision for a time the
possibility of something new catching your eye increases dramatically, and consequently your impulse purchases increase too.
Avoid making impulse purchases and sending your grocery bill through the roof by being extra vigilant about sticking to your shopping list. lf you notice your store is going through a major overhaul and rearranging everything on the shelves know that
impulse buys are lurking around each corner and on every aisle. Turn on your tunnel vision and beware!
Understanding the store's layout
If you've ever run into the grocery store after work to buy a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs for breakfast the next day, you've probably questioned why you have to walk all the way to the back of the store just to find those two items. Here's the answer: Most grocery stores have the same general floor plan - they keep produce, bread, dairy, and meat products along the edges of the store or up against the walls. Often times the stores put commonly purchased items against the farthest wall or way off in a back corner. Store marketers know that if a customer has to walk to the back of the store for one little item, they pass numerous displays and shelves full of goodies.
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