How do you decide what you are going to buy in a supermarket? Do you make a list? Do you think about your dinner and then buy some food? Perhaps some of you do, but the supermarket makes some of the decisions for you.
They want you to buy more food in a supermarket. They do all kinds of things that you do not even notice. For example, daily food that everyone must buy, like bread, milk, coffee and so on, is spread all over the store. You have to walk by all the more interesting and more expensive things before you can find the daily food. The more expensive food is in boxes in bright colors. This food is set at eye level, so you see it and want to buy it. The things that you have to buy anyway are usually on a higher or lower place. One report said, "When a supermarket moved four kinds of things from floor to eye level, it sold 78 percent more."
Another report said, "When a person stays in a supermarket after the first half hour, she or he spends 50 cents every minute." If someone stays forty minutes, the supermarket has $5.00 more. So they keep the store cool in summer and warm in winter, and they play music there. It is a nice place for people to stay and spend money.
Supermarkets also sell a few things at a lower, or special, price every week. Some people think all the prices are lower. Some of these "specials" are not really cheaper. Something that is usually 50 cents, may be a "specia1" at 2/$1.00 (two for a dollar). Or something that is not selling very fast at 29 cents may be a "specia1" at 2/60 cents (two for sixty cents). People think it is cheaper and buy it.
So be careful in the supermarket. You may go home with a bag of food you were not going to buy. The supermarket, not you, decided you should buy it.