If you’re anything like me, then you’ve run into a grocery store for just one item, but then walked out with a cartful of stuff. Grocery stores have tons of clever ways of tricking shoppers into spending more money. For example, it’s not a coincidence that more expensive items tend to be on shelves right at eye level. There’s also good reason why so many prices end in 99: Because we’re used to reading from left to right, most human brains tend to ignore the 99 & just round the price down by nearly a dollar. So, instead of seeing a $4.99 bag of chips as costing $5, most folks tend to be more likely to process that it costs $4. So, why is the produce section always near the front of almost every grocery store?
Grocery store layouts are strategic. The psychological reason the produce section is so often situated in the front is because, when you enter a store, it’s hard to pass up the opportunity to fill your basket with a vibrant array of fruits and vegetables, glistening with water that makes them look especially fresh. (The frequent spray showers also help make them weigh more, and therefore cost more.) The produce section tends to be lit theatrically, so that everything looks better in the store than it ever will when you get it home. Almost every supermarket knows that if they can get your saliva glands working, you will tend to buy more. That’s why the bakery is also usually close to the door, too.
Grocery stores also have their ways of making you cover as much ground as possible, too, so that you’ll have a better chance to pick up more items than you might’ve gone in for. One way is their placement of the dairy section in the back of the store; with the milk, eggs, butter, or other dairy staples back there, you have to walk past lots of less necessary (but hard to resist) items along your way.
Got a Mundane Mystery you’d like solved? Send me a message via Twitter (@AndyWebbRadioVoice), or shoot me an email at andy@wfre.com.
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