Five Things Your Supermarket Won’t Tell You

1. WE KNOW HOW REPRESSED YOU ARE

Remember the days when you went shopping to your local grocer and depended on him to tell you what to buy, or what the best prices were? You were sort of at his mercy. Today, a shopper is like a jailbird set free. President of Food Bazaar, Damodar Mall, refers to the traditional shopkeeper as the “shopkeeper-inlaw”—someone the young bahu would have to turn to for guidance.

Now, with supermarket chains offering unbelievable choice, shoppers are on top. They can browse, compare, choose, and feel a great sense of accomplishment at finding the best deals. Shoppers have found freedom from at least one in-law, says Mall!

And supermarket chains fully take advantage of this fake power trip. “It is a complete release of the suppression that has taken place over several generations in India,” says Mall. Retail strategists often experiment with these repressed shoppers who hardly know that they are guinea pigs in a consumerist Truman Show. For instance, retailers know how every Indian shopper loves “discovering a deal”.

So, they may purposely place a two-for-one deal in a corner section and allow people to “discover” it, which they know gives the bored home-maker a great sense of accomplishment and brings her back for more. “It’s a continuous game we play where we need to keep offering deals that she hasn’t seen before,” says Mall.

2. WE LOVE BRATTY KIDS

In the West, where mothers usually go grocery shopping with their toddlers in tow, it is common for the cereal aisle to be located directly across the sweet and chocolate section.

Why? So that Junior can whine his way into a sugar high, while an exasperated mom is trying to organise good breakfast foods. The worst, most expensive sugary kids’ cereals are usually placed on lower shelves where grimy little hands can reach for them. And there is nothing more embarrassing than having a toddler tantrum disrupt the piped music, so moms usually give in.

3. WE CON YOU INTO BUYING MORE

You would never know this, but there is an informed science to the way products are placed in supermarkets. Shops strategically arrange products on shelves to catch your attention and eyeballs. They will always place the store’s label products, premium products, and larger size packs at eye level. They also know that, except for Middle Eastern countries, people read from left to right. This means the eye always goes to the left first, so the better, more premium products will be kept on the left side.

Another trick to get you to buy more, is to get you to slow down. People walk into grocery stores at high speed, with a mission, armed with their list. But if the store can succeed in slowing you down, and getting you to browse and amble a bit, it has sucked you in. Says Mall, “The slower you travel, the more you will buy.”

Since stores know that the majority of shoppers are women, they will try to achieve this by stocking the first aisle, just as you enter, with highchoice, attractive and inviting beauty care products. Which, they have found, do slow women down. Once buyers have gotten into browse mode, they are more likely to stay at that pace through the rest of the store. In the West, supermarkets have found that playing slow piped music slows you down. So if you don’t want to be conned, get a caffeine buzz before you go shopping.

4. YOUR COMPETITIVE SPIRIT IS OUR GAIN

Shops have found that there is a dynamic not just between the shopkeeper and the shopper, but also between shoppers themselves. Whenever there is a deal on offer, every shopper wants to “get there first”. Shopkeepers purposely offer “limited period” schemes or sales, to take advantage of this sentiment.

The ultimate example? When Big Bazaar had a January 26 one-day sale. “We were counting on getting half a million visitors, but after two million, we stopped counting,” says Mall. Even when the sale was extended for two more days, shoppers allegedly didn’t want to leave. They were willing to stand in lines in the sun for four hours, just so that they could get in. The consumer mentality is that any thing good in life is always in short supply, and I have to be smarter than my neighbour to get it.

5. WE MAKE IT YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Has your supermarket gotten so comfortable that you feel like you could spend the whole day there? Bingo! Shops make sure you feel at home because if you’re in there longer, you'll spend more money. The way they do it? By putting in coffee shops, children’s play areas, tasting corners where you can go and sip a new aromatic tea blend and feel as important as a wine-taster.

The supermarket is hoping that the person who does the household shopping is not pressed for time—he or she is either a home-maker or a senior citizen. Above all, these are still new to Indians and every one needs a bit of retail therapy.