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15 Ways Retail Stores Trick You Into Spending Money

Tricky Retail Stores

The holiday season is all about spending time with family, friends and money on a credit card. Did you know that all retail stores compete for your business? In order to do this, many stores trick you into buying merchandise from them. Here are 15 ways that stores trick you into spending money.

1. Shopping carts. How often do you go into a store and expect to buy several items? Probably not very often. Department-store shoppers usually go into a store intending to buy just an item or two. Shopping carts are made available to shoppers just in case they decide to buy several items. The shopper doesn’t even realize they are being tricked into buying more merchandise.

2. Popular departments are often found away from the entrance. Why? These departments are hidden and far away to lure the shopper into walking through other aisle of merchandise before finding the aisle they really need. By the time you get to the aisle you are looking for, you probably already have a cart-full.

3. What department is the farthest away from the entrance? The toy section. If you shop with any young children, you know how excited they get to go to the toy section. Often times, parents bribe their children into being good throughout the store by telling them, “We’ll go to the toy section if you are good.” Once in the toy section, children never want to leave. By the time it is time to go, you have to wrestle a child throughout the entire store again just to leave.

4. Impulse items are found near the check-out lines. These items include: new release DVDs, magazines, unnecessary toys and books and overpriced drinks and candy. These items are purchased on impulse because they are thirsty or bored and have to stand in line for a while.

5. Where are the most expensive products? At eye level. Bargain brands or discounted items are found outside of eye level. This is a marketing tactic (that works) that is used to get the consumer to buy the more expensive version of the product.

6. There is nothing that I love more than to see a Sale tag in front of an item and then, in teeny, tiny print is let’s you know that the “sale” price is the same as the regular price. Don’t be fooled by ‘Sale’ tags. Check out the regular price before deciding if it is worth it to buy the sale item.

7. Commodity items are found in between non-commodity items. Socks are often found in the middle of aisle and aisle of shirts and pants. Case in point.

8. Items that are sold in bright, colorful and slick packaging are often more expensive than other items. Make sure you look careful for the inexpensive items. These items are not designed to catch your eye the way the expensive items are.

9. Stop. You are more likely to buy something extra or add something unnecessary to your cart if you stop, right? That’s why stores are designed to make you stop. Aisles that only fit two carts, escalators, sample vendors and attractive end-caps all call your attention and trick you into stopping.

10. Staples are found in the middle of the aisles while nonessential items are near the end. Staple items equal high-traffic items. You have to pass the nonessential items two times in order to reach the staple items once. This gives marketers and retailers double the opportunity to trick you.

11. Prices are chosen to make math comparison difficult. If you have the option of choosing two products the math is usually as follows…the 50-ounce product is 7.99 and the 100-ounce product is 12.59. Instead of making it easy to decide which is the better deal, you are forced to make a quick decision, using quick math.

12. Just because something is sold in a bin, doesn’t mean it is a bargain-buy. High end department stores sometimes put product in bins to give it the appearance of being a bargain. Don’t succumb to bin-bargain shopping.

13. Items that have been drastically marked-up are made to look rare and prestigious. These items are often placed in a glass-case to make it seem more attractive. Items that are sold in glass cases have often times been drastically marked-up so BEWARE.

14. What do you think the most profitable department in a retail store is? The first department you run into is usually the most profitable. Customers are more apt to making a purchase if they have to walk by the department several times.

15. The restrooms and customer service department can be either extremely easy to find or extremely hard to find. Again, this is to get you to walk by unnecessary merchandise over and over.

You probably didn’t realize that retailers were as tricky as they are. Make sure you head into the holiday shopping season prepared to not be tricked. Use your cash back credit card and stay away from these common tricks to make the most of your holiday shopping season.