Oniomania, or more commonly known as “shopaholism”, is defined as “an abnormal impulse for buying things”.
Often time consumers do not realize that they have swiped their credit card to purchase items that were unnecessary, only until the day the bill comes in do they realize their monthly budget had been overspent.
Not only do the discounts and sales the stores put up intrigue customers, there is a science behind that magnets them for purchases. These experts put this science fully into use to juggle with their customers’ mind into purchasing more of their products. This science is called, marketing psychology.
One of the major contributors to attract customers is the general layout of the store. As a customer enters the market, he/she is most likely to encounter the fresh food section. A portion full of fresh fruits and vegetables makes the entire area a more relaxing and clean environment, which would in return create a sense of emotional involvement in the shopping experience. The vivid colors of the fresh food appeals to most consumers and induces them into a “shopping mode”, where they would unconsciously spend more than then would have if the fresh food section was located elsewhere. To enhance the effects of vegetables and fruits, most markets would spray water on these fresh foods consistently, to build an illusion such that the products are only recently delivered from the nearest farms. Imagine if the first sight upon entry to the market is a shelf of canned, pre-prepared, frozen, or boxed food, the desire of shopping in such a market would be greatly reduced, as it would not provide a sense of freshness as vegetables and fruits would.
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The location of products proved to be pivotal in drawing the customers’ shopping desire. Most consumers do not walk up and down the aisles to shop as it would be too time consuming. The major products (i.e. vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy products, etc.) are located around the market since these major products provide the largest profit margin to the market owners (Harrison, 2008). For other products, in order to gain maximum exposure to the customers, they are placed at the ends of the aisles, where people would pay attention to while shopping for the major products. As for the center of the aisles, the varieties of products are decreased as they are less frequently visited by the consumers. However, in order to intrigue customers to the center of the aisles, products at the end of the aisles are more familiar brands, or products on sale, which serves as a directional road sign to the shoppers.
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Now knowing what is tricking us into purchasing large amount of unnecessary goods, hopefully we, as customers, could be able to control ourselves. Next time we see our monthly bills, maybe it would not be as high as it used to be.
Further Reading:
Harrison, P. 2008. Supermarket Psychology. Supermarket psychology | tribalinsight [online]. Available from http://tribalinsight.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/supermarket-psychology/
Mandhachitara, R., Shannon, R. 2008. Casual path modeling of grocery shopping in hypermarkets. Journal of Product & Brand Management. 17 (5): 327-340.