Today, as in the year 2012, supermarkets have to almost literally do back flips in order to attract customers. Some stores bring in entertainment, some put new spins on old tricks, and others have to continuously reinvent everything they do. Many places are taking full advantage of utilizing technology. Between coupon distribution, e-flyers, and even hand held shopping devices, supermarkets can target who they want, how they want, and when they want. Technology is one of the best tools for stores to seek opportunities in influencing purchases. With the software that many supermarkets have available to them, supermarkets are able to find out what the customers really want. Technology can help track what customers visit the most online or look up the most online product wise to help create coupons for that product. Supermarkets can target certain types of customers (i.e. parents of newborns, large families, single person households, etc.) based off of what they learn about them online, a lot of which comes from surveys on websites or even through the supermarket’s rewards program. If there is a computer used, there is opportunity for the supermarket to better itself.
Supermarkets use more psychological tricks than we are aware of most of the time. The size of shopping carts have increased over the years. If a customer is using a shopping cart, they are more likely to purchase more since it can hold more. This is one of the many tricks that stores are using. Another is through price. By pricing products ending with odd numbers, customers believe they are getting a discount. If there are two different brands for a similar product and the prices are $3.99 and $4, the customer is more likely to think that $3.99 is a bigger deal and therefore buy that brand even though there is only a penny difference. Stores use this for a lot of their pricing techniques, not just in competitive brand pricing. This is also the case for any type of “deal” such as buy two get one free, ten for ten, etc. These techniques are ethical, as they are not harming their customers or pulling a bait and switch, it is just the nature of the job.
Supermarkets are much better at influencing consumers to buy products today than in the past. So much research has been done to help stores gain knowledge about hot to make more sales. Every study done can help teach supermarkets what to do and what not to do. Now, there are a lot more options for supermarkets in a small area and more of an ability to get further distances, so stores have to remain competitive and try to be the best. This will continue to only better the service that stores give to customers and the knowledge that they will continue to gain.
I totally agree with all the aspects of marketing and all the tricks todays supermarkets use. It seems to me as the modern day shopping is becoming more and more infiltrated by all these huge supermarket executives. I certainly is not what it used to be anymore back in the old days, when you went in, got what you needed to get from the shelves, and left. Now a days, they spend so much money on "studying" each customer, and by reading all the things they do, listed in your post, i feel like there is no privacy in shoppin anymore, no more freedom.
ReplyDeleteI got to say i really like how you listed all the tricks and aspects and how you described them. it gives your post a lot of value, and shows us that you "did your homework" and know what you're talking about. Overall, it seems that the competition is so great that, it's all about the survivor of the fittest, and the small time stores with sometime higher prices, and less products to choose from cannot make survive anymore like they did in the old Hopefully, that won't be us if we decide to set up our own businesses one day.
Your blog title was very catching which caught my eye to comment on yours. Supermarket sweep used to be such a great show. It is pretty amazing what supermarkets due now to attract customers into the stores and to buy more products then they were originally planning on buying. It is pretty amazing all the psychological tricks and new technology they are using. More and more supermarkets are adding entertainment, cooking demonstrations, small cafes and smells of food all round the supermarket. There is also the new technology that is adding to the competition of the supermarket business. The new technology helps to add to the shopping experience to make it better. I work at a supermarket and never really notice all these different techniques. The one thing that the supermarket I work at does to get more customers is the rewards card. The rewards card makes it seem like the customer is saving more money than they actually are because anything that is not on sale is more expensive. When the customer sees how much money they saved, it makes them get this overwhelming feeling of excitement that they chose a cheaper grocery store.
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