A shopping experience that a lot of us have had is - You head out to the mall to buy a shirt for work, and on the way you notice there are a bunch of sales, you think you’ll just pop in for a quick look and you end up buying a few things you didn’t intend to - a jacket, 2 books, and a necklace. A few weeks later you realize that you still need that extra shirt for work, and except for the jacket you haven’t used the other things you bought. Well, this irrational impulsive purchase is not your fault, and this post is going to help you avoid these situations in future.

In this post I’ll walk you through the tricks of the shopping trade and help you avoid buying things you don’t really want and will probably never use. Lets imagine there is this random stranger Max, and Max’s only purpose in life is to keep selling you things you don’t really want, and to make things worse he’s trying to sell them to you for more than they are worth. We’ll figure out how to outthink Max and avoid his tricks in three parts -

1. Max’s understanding of your nature and inclinations
2. The Specific Tricks Max uses
3. The Golden Rules of shopping that’ll help you thwart Max and his like most of the time.

What do Max and every other marketer and salesman know about you?

An understanding of your attitudes towards shopping underlie all marketing and sales tactics - so its good to understand exactly some of these -

1. Evolutionary Habits and Behaviours - As we’ve evolved there are certain behaviours that have gotten deeply ingrained into us - Robert Cialdini has an excellent book where he covers these 6 main factors of influence. A good example is reciprocity i.e. when someone does something for us, we feel obliged to reciprocate and do something for them. How do marketers use this to manipulate us - they simply give us something - a token that makes us feel obligated to buy something from them. The best example i can think of is when a charity in new york sent me a letter with an enclosed little necklace asking for a donation - it took all my effort to NOT send them the money they had asked for. The ironic thing is if they hadn’t enclosed the necklace and pushed so hard with their emotional tugging of the heartstrings I probably would’ve sent them something.
2. Getting you Emotional - Whenever we’re emotional we tend to make bad decisions (by bad here i mean decisions that don’t get us good value for money). Making you feel emotions in general and in particular getting you emotional and incapable of making good decisions is one of the major tricks certain dishonest companies use.
3. Making you unhappy because you’ll probably buy things to get ‘happiness’ - A great example of this is fashion magazines that are always showcasing and promoting beauty ideals. If people were happy then would not spend all their hard earned money on clothes and cosmetics. However, promoting beauty ideals that promote an irrational beauty ideal (something that arguably people with certain body types and metabolic rates cannot realistically achieve) leads to making a lot of people unhappy. Which in turn leads to more buying.
4. Emotional Blackmail - A great example of this is charity organizations talking about the good they could do in a third world country with your money. These are intrinsically good things - however, only within your means and within a predefined budget. Do not rob yourself and your family of something to help out someone else - charity begins at home. College for your kids is going to cost tens of thousands of dollars/pounds a year. This is before factoring in your own college loans and your mortgage and other costs. So stay away from emotional pleas that make you feel guilty.
5. Use your senses against you - An example of this is Subliminal Messaging. Cinemas in the US used to show a picture of a cola and popcorn every 20 reels. Although this was not enough for you to consciously pick it up, your subconscious would, and you would start craving soda. Fortunately, this got outlawed in the US in, i think, the 1960s. Another example is sensory overload i.e. hitting you with so many stimuli - so much information, lights, colours, new things that you experience cognitive dissonance (a fancy way of saying you’re overwhelmed) and make stupid decisions.
6. Using the Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy against you - This really is a topic in itself and Wikipedia has a good description. The short version is that we have some basic core needs like eating, sleeping, etc. After these needs are satisfied we have another level of needs including security and protection. There is basically a whole hierarchy of needs which we look to satisfy. Highlighting a particular need makes you instinctively focus on it. The US Terror Alert Scale is a really good example - when the Threat Level goes to Red you just want to ensure that you don’t get killed by terrorists and no longer feel as strongly about the ‘political issues’ and the current government’s performance.
7. The 7 deadly sins - This is basically using your greed, lust, sloth, wrath, pride, gluttony, and envy against you. Interesting examples are ‘You Deserve the Best.’ and ‘ Get one before your Neighbour does’. Another good example is ‘Get Rich Quick’ schemes that seem valid when we let our greed do the thinking for us.

These are some of the major principles/behaviours that are used to trick you and me into buying things we don’t need or want.

What are the tricks Max and other dishonest marketers and sales people use to get our money?

As you take a look at these you’ll see many tricks that you’ve experienced yourself. If you have any examples of your own that would help people avoid mistakes leave a comment

1. Compliance Chains AKA ‘Yes Chains’ - When we repeatedly agree with someone and do things for them then we are likelier to say ‘yes’ to Big requests. A great example is a shoe salesmen in the US who asked my friend 3-4 rapid fire questions. These questions all had obvious yes answers i.e. Isn’t it a beautiful day? (it was) You’re looking for shoes? (we were in a shoe store - so yes). The salesman then immediately tried to sell my friend a pair of very expensive shoes.
2. Authority - Using hidden commands to get you to buy something - “These shoes are beautiful and they’re good value for money - you should BUY THEM” (the last two words said in a different, more commanding tone of voice). Alternately using knowledge, experience etc. to make a really strong, unsolicited recommendation - “As an expert my advice to you is to buy this now - its the best deal you can get”.
3. Pressurizing you into Buying - The modus operandi here is to use the situation, the setup, time constraints, fear of looking bad and other methods to put a lot of pressure on you to buy now. This works particularly well for people who are shy and/or hate saying no. If you are easily affected by pressure, its good to remember that shops are there to help you gather information about your purchase. Walking into a shop and having someone help you does not mean you must buy something. In particular, if you are being pressurized to make a purchase its a warning signal. Any product that is high quality and good value for money does not need high pressure sale tactics. Further, any company or store with the right attitude towards customers would not pressure you or put you into an uncomfortable situation just to make a sale.
4. Using your sense of smell to influence you - Grocery stores and supermarkets use the smell of freshly baked bread and to make you hungry and thus buy more food. There are lots of other smells that influence us and hotels and casinos have been known to use this to encourage certain behaviours.
5. Distorting your sense of Time - A good example here is Vegas Casinos where the bright lights and lack of clocks in casinos makes people literally ‘forget the time’. One of my most disconcerting experiences ever was walking through the casinos and across the skywalks at 4 am in Las Vegas and seeing the casinos packed full of people whose ‘day’ was still going on at 4 am.
6. The illusion of ‘not really spending money’ - Using credit cards and store credit cards detaches the experience of buying from actually losing your hard earned money. There is a very big psychological difference between handing over 100 pounds you’ve earned and just putting a charge for 100 quid on your credit card. Another good way to think of it is that you’re probably exchanging a few hours of hard work for whatever you’re buying - are you sure it is worth it.
7. Sales, Discounts, Cash Back - Its ironic that I’m writing this on a deals and discount codes site. The truth is that the product itself and not the sale price should determine your shopping. Only buy an item on sale if it is something you would buy even at full price. If something is on sale but you know you don’t really want it then walk away. Buying something just so you can say i got it for half price and then storing it in the back of your closet for 2 years without wearing it is not smart.
8. Cross Marketing - Cross Marketing is putting products next to more popular items and putting related items together. Walmart was one of many supermarkets that started this and it resulted in insane sales increases. Putting salted nuts next to beer and soda aisles resulted in sales of the nuts increasing 400-500%. When buying an item you want don’t add on 5 other items strategically placed next to it. Examples of this include ties placed next to shirts and shoe shops selling socks and shoe accessories at the checkout counter.
9. Loyalty Programs and Membership Cards - These are all ‘loyalty’ based traps. Owning a store’s card engenders a feeling of loyalty to the store. Combine that with our human inclination to choose the convenient, known option and we end up as regular customers. If its one of your favourite stores, then it’s great. However, if you’re taking a store card from a low quality store just to save 5% or 10% you are going to be paying much more than that in bad purchases.
10. The Path of Least Resistance - As human beings we tend to do the simple straightforward thing - its a combination of not having to figure out a solution every single time and having more important things to focus on. What this means is that we tend to choose the simplest option. This is perfectly ok when buying something small like a pizza. For big, important purchases like a car its important to look at what you really need, doing your research and getting good value for money.
11. How Malls are Laid out - Malls are setup so that the most visited stores such as supermarkets and department stores are at the ends of the mall and walking to and between them takes you by the luxury stores and speciality stores. In addition food courts, escalators and stairs are laid out so that we walk by a lot of stores. This gives stores that we did not intend to visit the chance to tempt us into impulse purchases.
12. How Shops are Laid out - There are three examples of strategic placement (apart from cross marketing). The utility items and necessity items are usually laid out at the very end of the store. To get to these you have to walk by shelves stocking products that you did not intend to buy but might catch your eye. As far as individual shelves the most profitable items are kept at eye level since we are most inclined to buy items at eye level. And then at the checkout counters there are displays of magazines, chocolates, candy etc. - classic ‘impulse buys’ that become even more tempting given the boredom of standing in line.
13. RRP as a Reference Point for Prices - This is one of the biggest scams and its sad that even with the internet there hasn’t been more information given to consumers on what this really means. A ‘Recommended Retail Price’ is exactly that - recommended. Its set so that there will be profits even for a somewhat inefficiently run store. It factors in what the store is paying for retail space, employee salaries, poor business practices, and tons of other things like marketing people to convince us the price is worth it. The Truth is, most stores can sell things for much cheaper. If we as customers become more intelligent then we’ll know that a digital camera that costs 150$ in the USA has no business costing 150 quid in the UK. We’ll realize that if a physical store like Argos can sell something for 100 quid, then an online store that doesn’t have to pay for retail space, power, sales employees, etc. should be able to sell that same item for much less. This is where the true power of the internet comes in - not in ease of use, but in cutting out all the middle men and delivering solid value for money.
14. Lack of Clarity on why items cost what they do - Do you know where your money goes when you buy a product - How much of it is actually profit? What are the other costs? How much did marketing cost? How many employee’s salary and retirement plans am I supporting? On the web there are 5 people companies selling the same products as 100 people companies. What exactly is the quality difference? What is the price difference? I really think that stores and websites should be demonstrating to customers that their money is well spent. As the amount of information available on the internet increases, and more people realize the scale of opportunities, the only way left to succeed will be to offer great customer service, a great experience, and solid value for money.
15. ‘Manufactured’ Festivals - Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Giving Gifts at Christmas are all manufactured festivals. If you do some research you’ll see that these are all marketing inventions, as is the whole ‘diamonds are forever, diamonds for engagement’ idea. The thought behind these festivals is undoubtedly good - However, commercializing them to this extent is madness. The Christmas shopping season can account for as much as forty per cent of a retail store’s annual revenue and as much as three-quarters of its annual profit. Imagine that - 75% of a store’s annual profits - all wrapped up as a Christmas Gift you’re giving them. The question is whether you really want to hand over your hard earned money so that they can earn 75% of their yearly profits in the space of a few weeks?
16. Scarcity - Just 5 items left. Only 2 days. These are all tricks - manufacturing scarcity so that things seem more valuable and you and me run right now to go buy things. Of course there are perhaps genuine exceptions where manufacturers really didn’t gauge demand accurately - gta4, the amazon kindle, the nintendo wii, the xbox 360 are all good examples. When the most anticipated video game of the year (i.e. GTA4) sells 686,000 copies in its first day then it makes sense. In most other cases its just a sales gimmick.
17. Keeping up with the Neighbours - This is playing off our envy and desire to look better than others. Suggesting that an item will ‘impress’ other people or ‘make you look better than my neighbours’ is a very common sales tactic. Why would you buy a product for a reason other than it giving you happiness. If you must buy something to impress people, at the least make sure you get the most for your money so you can impress even more.
18. Linking a product to sex - Sex really does sell as would be obvious if you look at the sheer number of ads using sex as their selling point. Sex is a basic human need according to Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy. Paradoxically religious and social conventions make sex into a big deal and put in place all sorts of restrictions and rules. The combination of sex being a basic need and a huge driving force and at the same time being surrounded by so many social rules and miscommunication makes it a supremely powerful channel for influencing us.
19. Linking a product to being ‘cool’ or ‘new’ - the Mac Vs PC ads are a classic example of this. In the 1980s the Big Brother Ad had a similar ‘breaking from convention’ and being cool theme to it. Its not a random occurrence that both are Apple Ads. When we add on the hugely influential IPod dancing commercials, it becomes clear that Steve Jobs or someone on Apple’s marketing team is a true expert of influence and psychology. Of course, their products usually match up to the hype so perhaps in this case such powerful advertising is justified?
20. Linking a product to good feelings. A car commercial that shows a free drive in the hills and the speed and thrill of it. A commercial for a bank company that shows a happy family and hints at stability and financial prosperity. All these ads that link an idea or a feeling to a product are truly difficult to understand and avoid since they are truly powerful messages - rather than trying to sell a product, they are selling an association to a product. the only way to avoid being influenced by ads like these is to understand why you’re really buying a product and if you’re buying it just to feel a particular way or to be cool, perhaps there’s a simpler, cheaper way.

I’ll stress that this whole series of posts revolves around three aims

1. You getting the best value for your money.
2. You finding companies that are honest and treat their customers well. There are still a lot of honest companies with good solid prices.
3. Narrowing the gap even further between what you know and what you need to know.

So the question is …

How can you shop smart and sidestep all the tricksters and manipulators in the retail world?

The secrets to sidestepping the dishonest companies and people and choosing the right ones revolve around what your aims and needs are. There are some golden rules of shopping, that along with understanding your shopping psychology and figuring out what you really want, will help you a ton -

1. Understand your shopping habits and your needs.
2. Take the time to figure out what you really want and why you want it - what are you really buying?
3. Get a friend’s opinion + Do your research.
4. After figuring out product, brand and store, look for sales and discount codes - don’t overdo it since your time is worth money too.
5. As you shop narrow down to stores and brands that deliver quality and value. Add on the information on this site and help other people.
6. Only buy things that are absolutely necessary. You can make an exception if the product will give you happiness and satisfaction that will be worth the money spent (to be sure of this sleep on the idea for a night or more).
7. At a sale, only buy something if you’d pay full price for it.
8. Provided you’ve done your research - you always get what you pay for. So if you must buy, buy the best quality you can afford.
9. If a purchase is an investment in yourself, your career, or your love life, then don’t cut corners.

All the best with your shopping …

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