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7 Ways Supermarkets Get You To Fill Your Cart

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Supermarkets have your shopping experience down to a science and they arrange and display their merchandise to artfully encourage you to buy more products.

High Shelf Or Low Shelf?

Ever hear something described as “top shelf”? That usually means the really good or the most expensive stuff. In supermarkets, where products are placed can send subtle signals that affect your purchase decision. The most expensive products generally are on the highest or top shelves. Lower shelves house “destination” products — the ones you need, look for, and will buy regardless of price. The bottom shelf has the least popular or generic products (where’s the flour and sugar in your market?).  Eye level shelves, known as “reach,” hold high impulse purchases, products that are competitive, or ones that are the most enticing.

What They Want You To Buy

If you’re used to seeing products in free-standing bins, on shelves, or on end caps (the shelves at the very end of aisles in the market you frequent), you’ll end up usually checking them out for specialties or bargains. The products on or in them are promoted products that probably have the highest profit margin for the store, are items with the lowest price, or they have a big manufacturer’s promotion like a coupon or reduced price. “Dump bins” or “offer bins” usually are a jumble of items being closed-out and seem to uniformly signal “cheap price.”  Can you honestly say that you can easily walk by big bins or specialty displays without at least looking?

A Crazy Quilt Of Fruit and Vegetables

In the produce departments, the displays of green vegetables are usually alternated with brightly colored produce.  The crazy quilt of beautifully colored fruits and vegetables is designed to draw your eye.

In Whole Foods, for instance, you’re instantly hit with what they want you to see/buy/eat.  Produce is right up front, arranged by shades of color, and displayed in black bins so the produce color really stands out and draws your attention.  According to a retail consultant, they’re priming you – giving you the impression that what you see is as fresh as possible – that way you’re prepared to spend more.

Why Are The Milk And Eggs In The Back Of The Store?

People go to the market to buy lots of things – but most frequently for destination purchases like milk, eggs and bread. In many markets those destination purchases are in the farthest corner of the store. Why? The more items you have to walk by to get to the destination purchase – the milk, bread, eggs — the more opportunity and the better the chance you’re going to buy other things that you walk by that suddenly you absolutely must buy. That’s the same reason impulse purchases like magazines, gum, and candy are near the cash register. Wile you wait to pay for the items in your cart the display or impulsive buys may entice you to toss one or two onto the checkout counter (the low level displays also entice kids to grab candy from them and more often than not, to avoid a scene, parents give in).

Is There A Café Up Front?

Some markets now have a cafe or place to sit and eat the food you have purchased.  In many Whole Foods the eating areas are very near the entrance.  A branding design expert says the intent is to get you in the mood for shopping. As soon as you walk in and you see other people enjoying the products that you can buy and then eat, it gives you incentive to purchase and eat them, too.

The Size Of Your Shopping Cart

Have you seen the size of some of the shopping carts – especially in the bigger or newer stores where there are nice wide aisles? Or, how about the stores with kid size carts, too?  You end up filling – and buying – an adult sized (perhaps oversized) cart’s worth of groceries and a kid-sized cart of groceries, too.  How many adults can tell a child that they aren’t going to buy what the child has put into his or her own cart?

A retail consultant’s firm calculated that increasing the size of shopping baskets can boost a store’s revenue by up to 40% — the reason that over the past three years Whole foods has increased the size of its shopping baskets.

Is There Music In The Air?

From a branding design expert:  hearing old favorite songs in a store helps you form a quick emotional bond with the store – the feeling that the store “gets you.”  In Whole Foods you very likely might hear hits from the ‘80s and ‘90s.  Don’t you have a tendency to buy more when you’re relaxed and in a comfortable atmosphere?

A Colorful Bonus Tip

What color are the sales stickers on your merchandise?  Mostly yellow and red? Here’s why: yellow and red signs and stickers elicit the biggest consumer response. So, heads up – especially when you see a nice red or yellow sale sticker stuck on something – it might end up in your cart!

Is Food The Main Focus Of Your Holiday?

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Is your holiday mindset:  lots of food = good time; not so much food = bad time? Can you possibly revel in holiday spirit without accompanying gluttony?  You bet you can – but often the celebrations themselves become intertwined with the need or obligation to cook and/or eat not just because we’re hungry, but because of other reasons that are important to you.

The point of the holidays – any holiday – is not exclusively food.  Nonetheless, we wrap our holiday thoughts around food – after all, Thanksgiving originally was a harvest celebration and many cultures and religions have special foods to signify a special holiday.

Food Has Meaning

Food does have meaning–which may have different interpretations by people of varying religions, ethnicities, and cultures. Food acts like a cloak of comfort – something many of us look for and welcome around the holidays.

Nowhere is it written that food has to be eaten in tremendous quantity – or that a meal has to include stuffing, two types of potatoes, five desserts, or six types of candy.  That idea is self-imposed.

So is the opposite self-imposed idea: trying to diet during the holidays.  Restriction and overeating are both difficult – and often equally counterproductive. Winter holiday eating  comes during the cold and dark seasons in many parts of the world.  Warm comfort food just seems all the more appealing — whether you’re dieting or not — when it’s somewhat inhospitable outside.

Is Overeating Part Of Your Holiday Meal Plan?

Unconsciously, or perhaps habitually, a lot of us actually plan to overeat during the holidays.  Be honest:  do you know that you’re going to overeat?  Do you think it wouldn’t be normal or non-celebratory to overindulge and eat three desserts at Christmas or raid your kid’s Trick or Treat bag?

It’s all too easy to do that.  Food is absolutely everywhere.  It’s there for the taking — and most of the time, holiday food is free (and in your face) at parties, on receptionist’s desks, as sample tastes while you shop.  How can you pass it up?

On top of it all, it’s sugary, fatty, and pretty.  How can you not try it?  Of course, sugary and fatty (salty, too) means you just crave more and more.   Do you really need it?  Do you even really want it?  If you eat it, will you feel awful later on?

Eating And Tradition

Are you eating because of tradition – because you’ve been eating the same food at Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa since you were a kid?  Maybe you don’t even like the food anymore.  Maybe it disagrees with you or gives you acid reflux.  So why are you eating it?  Who’s forcing you to?

Do you think you won’t have a good time or you’ll be labeled Scrooge, Grinch, a party pooper, or offend your mother-in-law if you don’t eat everything in sight?  Get over it.  Do you really think you’re Scrooge?

You can still love the holidays and you can still love the food.  No problem.  In the grand scheme of things overeating on one day isn’t such a big deal.  Overeating for multiple days that turn into weeks and then months, is.

Do You Really Want To Overeat?

The question is:  do you really want to overeat?  If you do, fine.  Enjoy every morsel and then take a nap.  Tomorrow is another day.  Just know that you don’t have to.  You control the purse strings – and the decisions about what goes into your mouth.  Make thoughtful choices, the best choices for you, and enjoy them along with everything else the holiday represents.

Do You Eat Something You Don’t Want Just To Be Polite?

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Do you think you need to eat to be polite – even if you don’t want the food or you’re totally stuffed – because you don’t want to be rude or hurt someone’s feelings?

You really don’t have to feel obliged to eat out of courtesy – especially if you don’t want the food or you’re full.  Ditch the guilt – the calories are going into your mouth, not your host’s, your Mom’s, or your friend’s.

Who Are Food Pushers?

Food pushers pile your plate high with food and act insulted if you ask them to stop. Food pushers, despite your protests, insist that you try every kind of food.  Food pushers look at your plate and loudly ask why you’re not eating, if you don’t like something, or if you’re on a diet.  Food pushers are thorns in your side and don’t necessarily have your best interest at heart. Food pushers can be your partner, friend, parent, or sister. They may or may not realize what they’re doing.  What’s important is that you do.

What’s Your Game Plan?

You need to have a game plan for how you’re going to deal with food pushers.  A plan sounds clinical but it doesn’t have to be. It could be your saving grace.  Think about how you want to handle yourself in the face of food, family, someone’s special stuffing, your family’s traditional sweet potato casserole (which you may hate but always feel obliged to eat), and the array of desserts staring at you from seemingly every table and counter.

One size – or one plan – does not fit all.  You need to choose the plan of action and strategy that works best for you and your circumstances.

What are you going to do or say to the food pushers?  Are you going to stand firm and say you don’t want to eat the stuffing because you’re watching your carbs – and then steel yourself for the snarky look?  Are you going to say that you really need to watch your weight – or that you can’t eat that much – or that you get sleepy when you overeat and, unfortunately, you really have some work that you have to finish and you need to be alert?

Are you going to say that you really don’t care for pie – pumpkin or otherwise – and that your favorite dessert is fruit? If someone really hounds you about trying certain foods you can always claim an allergy or that you’re eating heart healthy (claiming an upset stomach might buy you an early exit or other guests avoiding you like the plague).

You’re In Charge

It’s so easy to default to shoving food in your mouth when faced with food pushers and potentially annoying family members, some of whom seem spend the entire time carping at one another.

Nothing is engraved in stone but if you have an idea about what you want to accomplish and how to go about it you’ll be far less likely to nibble and nosh all day and night. You’re the one in charge of what and how much food goes into your mouth. Take charge and remain in charge of you.

When You Protect the Environment You Protect Your Food

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Hurricane Sandy:  cursed, hated, a destroyer, and a teacher.

I’m fortunate – I live in two places, one in New York City, the other 50 miles outside of NYC, in Connecticut.  Unfortunately, both lost power, courtesy of Hurricane Sandy.

All of the buildings on my block in NYC were flooded, and one remains evacuated.   My apartment is fine because it’s on the 7th floor, but the garage my car is in became one with the Hudson River when an enraged Sandy and high tide produced a monstrous surge.  My new car (less than 1000 miles) is now slimy, dirty, non-functional – totaled.

The sight of water just rushing across West Street (West Side Highway) and surging up the block was astonishing. We watched from our windows in complete amazement. Then the neighborhood went black.  The lit outline of the top of the Empire State building was visible in the distance, as was a curiously red blinking traffic signal – but everything else went black.

We, along with many others, had no power, water, gas, heat – and for those in apartments, no elevators — just pitch black stairwells. Then the candles, flashlights, and all kinds of battery operated lights started glowing in the apartment windows lining the block. The surreal nightscape was worthy of the famous Greenwich Village Halloween parade which was scheduled for two days later – and then canceled.  Sandy, again.

There was no mass transit and I had a river in my car.  It took a ride from a relative and a rental car to get back to Connecticut where I discovered that my house, although without power, is fine.  The towering trees around the house – along with a whole mess of dangling electrical wires and a power pole — took a major hit.  It’s sad to think of all of the history those beautiful trees have seen.  Soon they will be sawdust, or maybe mulch.

I’m very lucky.  There are thousands of people who were and remain hugely impacted having lost the roofs over their heads, their businesses, physical memories and mementos of events gone by, and who continue to ride an emotional roller coaster between gratitude for safety and despair for their living conditions and livelihood.

Some of the places that have been so important at various stages of my life: the shorelines of Long Island and Connecticut, Coney Island,   the Rockaways – along with the Jersey shore, Hoboken, Staten Island, and so many other neighborhoods and towns all suffered devastating losses.

Freakish Weather

What is remarkable – and frightening – is the unleashed power of the recent succession of storms.  Last year my house was without power for five days courtesy of Hurricane (technically tropical storm) Irene and for four days thanks to the Halloween snowstorm.  We were lucky. Some people in my town lost power for nine days.

What’s with the storms and the freakish weather?  As I write this there are power crews from Michigan and California working on the power lines outside of my house (finally).  I had a long conversation with two power linesman from Michigan – part of the crews from states all over the country.  When I said something about needing to be careful about the way we’re treating our environment because of the impact on weather, one of them, with a white beard (obviously not a youngster), shook his head and said – “you bet – but I’m worried it’s too late.”

These are guys who make their living fixing power lines.  They respond to emergencies around the country.  They see a lot, and they’re worried, too. I sort of expected them to snicker at my environmental concerns, but I was definitely wrong.

Weather And Food

There’s no question that modern life has impacted our environment in negative ways.  One negative effect are strange weather patterns.  Weather influences many things, among them how we live, communicate, and how we grow and ship our food. We cannot live without life sustaining, nurturing, and comforting food.

Take Action

One out of the huge number of lessons to be learned – and many have learned it already – is that we need to be acutely attentive to our world and what we do to it – the stuff we put into the ground, the water, and release into the air.  Everything we do counts – and every single person’s actions count.

So please think about your physical world and take some individual action – however large or small.  Be aware of your potential environmental impact and support or challenge those in a position to make decisions about your environment and your food.  It could be your local market and grower; it could be your elected officials; and it could be you, your family, and your neighbors and the way you recycle food and trash.

Think –take action – and teach your children to do the same.

And vote.

How Far Do You Have To Walk To Burn Off Halloween Candy?

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Here’s a different perspective on Halloween candy — how much walking will it take to work off the calories in each piece?

Here are some of the calculations from walking.com:

  •          1 Fun Size candy bar (Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfingers, etc. comes to 80 calories. You will need to walk 0.8 miles, 1.29 kilometers, or 1600 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
  •          2 Hershey’s Kisses comes to 50 calories. You will need to walk 0.5 miles, 0.80 kilometers, or 1000 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
  •          2 Brachs caramels comes to 80 calories. You will need to walk 0.8 miles, 1.29 kilometers, or 1600 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
  •          1 mini bite-size candy bar (Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfingers, etc.) comes to 55 calories. You will need to walk 0.55 miles, 0.88 kilometers, or 1100 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
  •          1 Fun Size M&M packet – Plain or Peanut, comes to 90 calories. You will need to walk 0.9 miles, 1.45 kilometers, or 1800 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
  •          1 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup comes to 33 calories. You will need to walk 0.33 miles, 0.53 kilometers, or 660 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
  •          1 full size chocolate candy bar (Snickers, Hershey, etc.) comes to 275 calories. You will need to walk 2.75 miles, 4.43 kilometers, or 5500 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
  •          1 King Size chocolate candy bar (Snickers, Hershey, etc.) comes to 500 calories. You will need to walk 5 miles, 8.06 kilometers, or 10000 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.
  •          1 small Tootsie Roll comes to 25 calories. You will need to walk 0.25 miles, 0.40 kilometers, or 500 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.

If You Eat Them All . . .

  • 2 Brachs caramels
  • 2 Hershey’s Kisses
  • 1 small Tootsie Roll
  • 1 Fun Size candy bar (Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfingers, etc.)
  • 1 mini bite-size candy bar (Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfingers, etc.)
  • 1 Fun Size M&M packet – Plain or Peanut
  • 1 mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup
  • 1 full size chocolate candy bar (Snickers, Hershey, etc.)
  • 1 King Size chocolate candy bar (Snickers, Hershey, etc.)

Grand Total:  1188 calories

You’ll need to walk 11.88 miles, 19.16 kilometers, or 23760 steps, assuming you cover one mile in 2,000 steps.

For more holiday eating tips, strategies, and information check out my book,  The Sensible Holiday Eating Guide:  How To Enjoy Your Favorite Foods Without Gaining Weight, available from Amazon for your kindle or kindle reader.