How to Be Smart at Shops

Ex-supermarket director Amanda Brent tells us the secrets the shops don’t want you to know.
(1) ............................ You finish your shopping. You go to pay. You wait in a queue. You pick up some mints or some chocolate. Supermarkets know that people who are bored get hungry—especially when they see all those sweets near the checkout. ‘In fact,’ says Amanda, ‘supermarkets spend a lot of money on making people hungry. Most supermarkets have a bakery—not really to make bread, but to make a bread smell. It’s a very successful technique; nothing makes a person hungry like the smell of fresh bread’.
(2) ............................ Supermarkets think very carefully about where to put their products. People usually see what is eyelevel first, so this is where supermarkets put expensive things. Check the top and bottom shelves. You can often find cheap alternatives. ‘If it’s easy to see, it’s probably expensive,’ says Amanda. Use your head—and your neck.
(3) ............................ The things everybody buys such as bread, fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy products are usually at the sides of the back of the supermarket. In the middle are the more expensive products. Amanda’s advice: ‘Supermarkets want you to walk past these, so you can see them and think about buying them. Don’t! Go straight to what you want. The more time you spend walking around, the more you buy.’
(4) ............................ Why do things in supermarkets have such big boxes? So they look bigger and better than they really are. Amanda’s comment: ‘Supermarkets use big boxes and bright colours, especially red and yellow. Their goal is to make things look special and exciting. Look for small packages and boring colours if you want to find good deals.’