What Made Me Buy That - The Supermarket

What Made Me Buy That – The Supermarket?

 

Heidi here to talk about what makes us choose the foods we do.  I will be talking about three different topics – The Supermarket, Eating Out, and Advertising.  Today, we are going to focus on the supermarket.  So, just what does influence us in the store?  I’m sure you’re familiar with time-limited specials, or suggestions to buy say three items for the price of two, or 10 items for $10.  All in all, those techniques encourage us to purchase more!  Also, we tend to pay more attention to food at the end of the aisles, which may or may not be on sale.  And, you probably already know that food at eye level sells better than food on a high or low shelf.

Did you also know that we have a limited thinking capacity?  Essentially, as we use our brains over and over our ability to think carefully gets worn down.  When that happens we make snappy decisions based on superficial characteristics of food.  We wind up buying foods based on appearance and convenience.  Supermarkets are aware of this brain fatigue and purposely place candy and chips near the register, which is just one impulse marketing technique.  Along with brain fatigue, our self-control can get tired.  When our mental energy gets used up during the day our self-control lessens too.

Last, but not least is variety. For example, simply changing the name or flavors or even shapes of items makes us think they are different.  It’s that difference that makes those items attractive to us!  Think about all of those flavors of your favorite chip.  We wouldn’t recommend a boring diet as it’s important to eat a variety of foods so we can consume different nutrients.  Just think about where those nutrients are coming from – eating different vegetables serves us much better as opposed to eating a variety of chips.

Bottom Line:  Go to the store with a list to help avoid these supermarket traps.

 

Reference:  Nutrition Action Newsletter, March 2016, Under The Radar (p.4).