Shop Secret Tricks, or Why Shoppers Are Hopeless in Math

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

You entered a coffee shop, and there are two promotions at the same time: the first offers an additional 33% coffee, the second - a 33% discount on a standard cup of coffee. Which promotion is more profitable?

Most likely, you will say - they are equally beneficial. And so many will say the same. But let's take a closer look. Let's say coffee costs 100 rubles. for 200 ml (50 rubles per 100 ml). With the first promotion, you get 266 ml for 100 rubles, i.e. pay 37.5 rubles. for 100 ml. For the second promotion, you get 200 ml for 67 rubles, i.e. pay 33.5 rubles. for 100 ml. The second promotion is more profitable!

BUT! It is much more pleasant for the buyer to get something extra for the same price than to get a discount. The field for applying this feature is endless. Remember supermarkets: "10% more toothpaste for the same price!", "25% more flakes!"

Why do these tricks work? First, because customers often do not remember how much certain products should cost (try to remember exactly how much the milk you last bought costs). Secondly, although people are calculated with real money, they make decisions only on the basis of conjectures and guesses that appear due to ignorance of how to deal with numbers.

Below we will tell you about 7 more tricks that are successfully used in stores.

1. Our perception depends on the price we saw first

You walk into a store and see a $ 1000 designer bag. "Thing bucks for some bag ??" You will be incredibly outraged. Moving on, you see a great $ 300 watch. It is expensive! Watches can be cheaper! But it seems to you that this is a completely normal price, because you are comparing it with the first one you saw. That way, stores can arrange the right items to get your thoughts on track.

2. We are afraid of extremes

We don't like feeling "poor" when we buy the cheapest products, but we also don't like feeling cheated when we buy the most expensive product, and its quality turns out to be quite average. Stores use this thinking of ours against us to sell the right product.

The following study was conducted: 2 types of beer were put on the counter in the store. "Premium" for $ 2.5 and beer labeled "Bargain" for $ 1.8. About 80% of buyers chose more expensive beer. Then another type of beer with a price tag was put on: “Super Bargain” at the price of $ 1, 6. Now 80% of buyers chose beer for $ 1, 8, and the rest - for $ 2, 5. Nobody took the cheapest beer.

At the third stage, they removed beer for $ 1, 6 and put on "Super-premium" for $ 3, 4. Most of the buyers chose beer for $ 2, 5, a small number of buyers - for $ 1, 8, and only 10% chose the most expensive one.

3. We love stories

Place a $ 429 bread maker next to the $ 279 bread maker in the store. Their parameters should differ very slightly. Sales of cheaper bread makers will increase significantly, although hardly anyone will buy an expensive one (maybe a couple of people). This happens because we do not feel the real value of things, and it seems that we are buying very cheaply. And then you can say: “Imagine, I bought a bread maker for only $ 279! And there was almost the same, but for $ 429! And what a fool would buy it! Good story.

4. We do what we are told

An experiment was conducted at the school. Fruits and salads were displayed on a backlit counter like candy or other sweets, and this technique made the children eat more salad and fruits. It also applies to adults. Experienced restaurateurs will design menus in such a way that the dishes they want to sell more often will be highlighted in some way or provided with a large and bright picture to grab your attention. So, if you see an item on the menu that is too bright, immediately remember that it is with this dish that the restaurant wants to feed you in the first place.

5. We commit rash acts under the influence of alcohol, fatigue and other factors

When a person is drinking, tired or under stress, he greatly simplifies the internal issues that accompany the purchase. It can be compared to dating in a bar. You see a stranger (stranger), but you don't think, "I wonder if he is educated enough and possesses the necessary moral qualities to make me a worthy party?" That is why vending machines with water, coffee and snacks are installed at the exit of a huge supermarket. Customers are tired, they are thirsty and hungry, they grab everything without thinking that it is unreasonably expensive. So here's a tip: if you want to close a deal that involves some risk on the part of your partner, there should be alcohol at the business dinner. Well, or catch a partner after a very busy day.

6. The magic of number 9

We all know this trick: for only $ 1.99. It's the same as $ 2! We understand this, but the magic of the number 9 continues to work, and we take the not very necessary thing only because it beckons us with a discount. Be incorruptible! Don't tell yourself - this thing costs a little more than a dollar! Remember, she's worth all two!

7. We are subject to a keen sense of justice

We do not like to be deceived, we believe that we should be treated fairly. But we do not know the price of things and services. And we are looking for clues and signals from those who sell these things and services to us. Dan Ariely, professor of psychology and behavioral economics, conducted a simple but highly revealing experiment. He announced that he would host a poetry evening for students. He told one group of students that the evening was paid, and the other that they would be paid to come to listen. Before the start of the concert, it was announced that it was free, i.e. and the first group doesn't have to pay anything, and the second won't get paid anything. Students from the first group stayed with pleasure: they received something worthwhile and, moreover, for free. The students of the second group practically all left, as it seemed to them that they had been dragged here by force.

What is the normal price for a poetry concert given by a professor of psychology? The students did not know this. And nobody knows. How much should a men's shirt cost? How much should coffee cost? And what about car insurance? Who knows! People do not know the cost of things, and as a result, our brain uses what it understands: visual images, clues, emotions, comparisons, relationships … It's not that customers don't know math, it's just that it has nothing to do with it.