Have you ever wondered why stores are set up the way they are? Why the milk is all the way in the back corner of the store and why you need to stand on your tiptoes to reach the healthier cereals? (answers: to get you to walk past everything else to get to the milk and because they keep the sugary cereals at "kid level")
Navigating the grocery stores can be a nightmare....from the moment you walk in and smell the bread baking to the time you are standing in line at the checkout with your child screaming "But I waaaant a Herrrrshey baaa-aaar!". It takes skill and determination to avoid falling in to the traps that the stores set for us!
So what do you need to know?
1. Just because something is in the circular doesn't mean that it is on sale: typically, the best deals can be found on the front and back page of the circular. There will occasionally be a great deal in the middle of the circular, but much of what you see is just fluff.
2. Buying in bulk isn't always cheaper: Call it "The Costco Mentality". When the warehouse stores first became popular, they were often the best place to get the good deals. But now the "regular stores" have caught on and are offering the "warehouse sizes" hoping that you will grab them and assume that they are the cheapest way to buy things. Even without coupons, the smaller sizes are often a better deal. Make sure that you always check the unit price!
3. Just because something is on an endcap, doesn't mean it is on sale: we have been conditioned to believe that the sale and clearance items are at the end of the aisles. But the truth? The endcaps are the prime selling space in stores and manufacturers pay big bucks to have their products placed there. That isn't to say that stores won't also put the best deals of the week on the endcaps, but they will also mix in some "not so great deals".
4. Loss leaders are a trick to get you in the store to buy more expensive items: Chicken at $1.49/lb? They aren't being nice and there wasn't a sudden surplus of chicken. They want you in the store buying that chicken when you remember that you "just need a few other things". Next thing you know, you have a full cart of groceries and maybe even forgot to grab the chicken! The solution? Shop with a list and stick to it!
5. Look up and Look Down: Once again, manufacturers pay money to have their products placed at eye-level in the store. They know that if you are looking for canned tomatoes you are more likely to grab the ones in your direct line of site. But look up and look down at the shelves and see if there is a less expensive version of the same product. One exception to this rule is the cereal aisle, where they put Little Einsteins cereal so your children see it and demand that you buy it, even though the last time you got it they refused to eat it because the marshmallows "looked funny"...or is that just me?
6. Playing games with coupons: this ties in with #1. Stores know even before we do what coupons are coming out and when. They know that most people assume that if an item is in the circular, it must be a sale! So what do they do? They look at the coupons that are coming out, knock $.19 off an item and stick it in the circular that week! By doing this, they hope that you use the coupon immediately after it comes out, rather than wait a few weeks until the item hits the rock-bottom price!
7. The 10 for $10 Sale (or any X for $X sale). There is a reason that they advertise it this way instead of just listing the item as being on sale for $1...because they know that many many MANY people assume that you have to buy whatever quantity listed in the ad in order to get the good price. Unless the ad states that you must buy the number of products listed, you only need to get 1 to get the good price!
What other games can you think of that the stores play?
Anonymous
The 7th game is so funny!
My mom is trying to get rid of 9 jars of pickle relish!! She thought she had to buy 10. To me it's like she paid $10 for 1 jar of relish since she's trying to give the other ones away!
Gina
Giant is especially bad at #1--it makes me mad! I feel like I'm in the minority because I go into stores just to do #4--and then leave! I never pick up anything else. 🙂
Kris
I feel that my store purposely pulls items that are not on sale over on the shelf by the sale sign. So, if the 18 oz box of cereal is on sale, but they sold out, they pull the 24 oz boxes over on the shelf by the signs so you'll grab it and think you're getting the sale item. I've found this type of thing repeatedly and am really sure to check the size of the item I'm buying with the sale sticker! They'll also do this with brands, so if Delmonte canned veggies are on sale and sold out, they fill the space with Green Giant (but those won't ring up on sale!) It's very aggravating and makes it about impossible for my kids to help me shop, since I have to check everything so carefully!
Jennifer
The grapes are sold in bags. If someone comes in wanting to buy grapes, they simply grab a bag and go. But what if they only wanted 1 pound of grapes? Well, they just bought two. People believe that they have to buy what is in the bag they grab rather than adding or removing from the bag.
Keli
"The grapes are sold in bags. If someone comes in wanting to buy grapes, they simply grab a bag and go. But what if they only wanted 1 pound of grapes? Well, they just bought two. People believe that they have to buy what is in the bag they grab rather than adding or removing from the bag."
LOL ok. Can you really do that?! oh my... don't I feel stupid.... LOL
Heather
I wondered the same thing. I'd feel odd manhandling grapes to get the lb that I want and putting back the other lb. I get weirded out enough as it is thinking about the countless people that have breathed and possibly touched the grapes and strawberries that I want nevermind if they come in and start picking out the few grapes that they want and put the rest back.
Heather
#7 gets me. When I look at the Acme circular it won't specify that you have to by 2 for $5.00 then when you go to the store the sales tag says at the bottom "when you buy two". In any event I'll pick up one item if that's what I want but I really wish they grocery stores weren't allowed to get away with being so deceptive.
Kristin
The strawberries are weighed out into 1 lb or 2 lb or whatever containers, but things that do not have a weight can be readjusted - like grapes. And there's usually too many grapes in a bag, so totally take out what you don't need!
The 10/$10 thing is so confusing because sometimes you really do have to buy 10. Unless it says in the flier that you have to buy 10, does that mean you don't?
PGK
First of all, I just want to say that I am a big fan of this blog. But I also work in market research and wanted to play devil's advocate for a moment in defense of the grocery stores and food corporations. Much research on consumer psychology goes into designing the layout of stores. Seriously, no one is trying to deceive you, but it's got to be some smart person's job to figure out what different people are willing to pay for the same item. Call it Economics 101. That being said, readers of frugal blogs like this one make up an extremely tiny proportion of the population, so we can pat ourselves on the back for cracking some of the codes. As you all know, it is not easy to make the time to figure out all of these deals and then go running out to 4-5 stores a week to get them. That is not normal shopping behavior! 🙂