Couponing has naturally made me very aware of how store sales work. Before I started couponing, I fell for many of the grocery store marketing traps while shopping. Let’s hope this post will help any of you out there who are still falling victim of these misconceptions:
1.) Endcaps = Great Price
Endcaps can be a tricky part of the grocery store. Endcaps come across as ‘featured’ items, and they are some of the first things you see when walking into a store. Sometimes stores will put the overflow of a certain product onto the endcaps in hopes that you’ll buy. On the other hand, you will occasionally see a stock up price on the endcaps. What I normally see is a nice, confusing mix of the two. So if you know one of the endcaps holds a really good deal, you may assume they are all great prices. This is exactly why you want to be sure to start making a price list for yourself to avoid the confusion on if it’s a great deal, or just decorated overstock.
2.) If it’s in the Weekly ad, it’s a Deal
I always see people picking up a weekly flyer at the store and buying whatever is in the ad as if that’s their grocery list. Next time you get your weekly ads in the mail (on Wednesday or Sunday), don’t toss them! Sit down and take a look at them. No, not skimming – really take a look. Just because a store is promoting a product in the weekly ad doesn’t mean it’s a great deal. In fact, many times I see the regular shelf price of items in grocery store ads! We assume that if they are advertising the product in a 5 page ad, it must be because it’s a relatively good idea. I used to fall for this misconception every…week.
3.) Promotion Signs
You know the extravagant displays of products in the grocery store? The ones that are set up like a Christmas tree or a field goal? Yeah, those. Any stand-alone display with a big fancy sign can be a red flag. I recently watched a documentary on supermarkets which explained the large display phenomena quite well. They intentionally put up a display of canned soups which said “Stock Up Price: $1.95, Limit 4 per customer”. Now if you are a hardcore couponer, you know that price is NO good. The next week they put up a sign on the same display which stated, “Sale: 4 for $5”. Shoppers bought more of the soup in the first scenario. Crazy, right? Stating there is a limit on an item makes shoppers feel like they should jump on the deal without even thinking through it.
[…] This is the second part of the last week’s article. […]