You need some bread and milk. But half an hour later, you leave the supermarket with a trolley (手推车) full of food.
What games do supermarkets play to make us spend so much money?
The tricks (把戏) usually start before you walk in. Outside the supermarket, anybody who walks past can smell warm, fresh bread. That makes us hungry and ready to buy lots of food, not just bread.
Now you're inside and, of course, a small basket (篮子) would be fine, but all they have are trolleys. And of course the problem with a trolley is that it looks sad and lonely with just one or two products (产品) inside. So we may put other things. In fact, supermarket trolleys are actually getting bigger so that we buy more.
Of course, many people shop in supermarkets because they think everything is cheaper than in other shops. So supermarkets offer very cheap prices on some things but then have higher prices for other products. One new trick is to put red stickers (贴纸) on products. Customers(顾客) usually think red stickers means lower prices so the red stickers is easy to be noticed, even the price is not off! Interestingly, this trick seems to work more with men than with women.
There is a story behind the position (位置) of everything in the supermarket. For example, customers often only go to buy milk. So they put it right at the back and you need to go past hundreds of shelves (架子) full of other products. The position of products on each shelf is also important. For example, the products that children might like are on lower shelves so that kids can see and even reach them.
Except (除了) what you see and smell in a supermarket, what about the music you listen to? In most supermarkets they have soft, slow music. It's so relaxing that you slow down and spend more time in the store.
So, next time you go into a supermarket, remember these tricks and see if you can come out with just the things you want.
