The seduction of buying

We have always known that retailers, for better or for worse, are the masters of seduction and priming--brainwashing us to believe in perception rather than reality. That has been true of most products but it is difficult to think of this approach being applied to shopping for food. In this fascinating article, the author, Martin Lindstorm takes us through the tricks of perception used by one prominent market chain, Whole Foods, to entice its customers to its produce. But most chains use the same tricks with different degrees of success.

At the entrance of most stores you enter the realm of a freshly cut flowers. These are what advertisers call "symbolics"--unconscious suggestions. In this case, letting us know that what's before us is bursting with freshness. Fruit, vegetables and fresh flowers are all always near the entrance because  'It's supposed to make women feel healthy and wholesome — so if they buy enough of this stuff, then they won’t feel guilty about buying mountains of crisps and biscuits later, which of course is what their kids will actually eat.'

Flowers, as everyone knows, are among the freshest, most perishable objects on earth. Which is why fresh flowers are placed right up front--to "prime" us to think of freshness the moment we enter the store. Consider the opposite--what if we entered the store and were greeted with stacks of canned tuna and plastic flowers? Having been primed at the outset, we continue to carry that association, albeit subconsciously, with us as we shop.

The prices for the flowers, as for all the fresh fruits and vegetables, are scrawled in chalk on fragments of black slate--a tradition of outdoor European marketplaces. It's as if the farmer pulled up in front of Whole Foods just this morning, unloaded his produce, then hopped back in his flatbed truck to drive back upstate to his country farm. The dashed-off scrawl also suggests the price changes daily, just as it might at a roadside farm stand or local market. But in fact, most of the produce was flown in days ago, its price set at the Whole Foods corporate headquarters in Texas. Not only do the prices stay fixed, but what might look like chalk on the board is actually indelible; the signs have been mass-produced in a factory.

Ever notice that there's ice everywhere in this store? Why? Does hummus really need to be kept so cold? What about cucumber-and-yogurt dip? No and no. This ice is another symbolic. Similarly, for years now supermarkets have been sprinkling select vegetables with regular drops of water--a trend that began in Denmark. Why? Like ice displays, those sprinkled drops serve as a symbolic, albeit a bogus one, of freshness and purity. Ironically, that same dewy mist makes the vegetables rot more quickly than they would otherwise.

Speaking of fruit, you may think a banana is just a banana, but it's not. Dole and other banana growers have turned the creation of a banana into a science, in part to manipulate perceptions of freshness. In fact, they've issued a banana guide to greengrocers, illustrating the various color stages a banana can attain during its life cycle. Each color represents the sales potential for the banana in question. For example, sales records show that bananas with Pantone color 13-0858 (otherwise known as Vibrant Yellow) are less likely to sell than bananas with Pantone color 12-0752 (also called Buttercup), which is one grade warmer, visually, and seems to imply a riper, fresher fruit. Companies like Dole have analyzed the sales effects of all varieties of color and, as a result, plant their crops under conditions most ideal to creating the right 'color.'

And as for apples? Believe it or not, my research found that while it may look fresh, the average apple you see in the supermarket is actually 14 months old.

Supermarkets are awash with tricks to get us to spend more — giant trollies that beg to be filled. Three-for-two offers that lumber us with dozens of loo rolls. 'Destination goods' such as milk and eggs are always hidden right at the back.  It turns out that the gorgeous fresh-looking blood-red meat in the meat counter isn’t nearly as red and bloody as it looks. It’s just lit with red-tinted lights. Even the lettuce isn’t always as fresh and green as it looks — but appears so thanks to clever lighting. You need to notice even little things like putting their main door to the right, because people that walk counterclockwise through a store spend more---weird! Even the fact that people like music playing is a result of marketing research which shows that people buy  more in a soothing atmosphere thus created. Researchers at Leicester University even discovered that when supermarkets play French music, sales of French wines rise. When they pipe German folk music, shoppers opted for German wines.

And nothing is random. Big-name brands are all positioned in the middle of aisles, drawing shoppers past everything else on their way.  The most expensive of any range is invariably at eye level while generics, a fraction of the price, are tucked safely  down by your feet. Even the most expensive washing powder is cunningly placed in the eye line. The tricks are endless. Mirrors in shop windows slow shoppers down. Posher goods are displayed on the right (according to American research, most customers will subconsciously veer right at any opportunity, though no one seems to know why). Light purple coloring in a store is associated with luxury and encourages people to spend.  Blue has a calming effect and is often associated with trust.

Then there are those cardboard boxes with anywhere from eight to ten fresh cantaloupes packed inside each one. These boxes could have been unpacked easily by any one of Whole Foods' employees, but they're left that way on purpose. Why? For that rustic, aw-shucks touch. In other words, it's a symbolic to reinforce the idea of old-time simplicity. It's ingenious in its ability to evoke the image of Grapes of Wrath-era laborers piling box after box of fresh fruit into the store.

While Whole Foods may entice customers to buy more than they need or intend from a utility standpoint, they are engaging customers emotionally, creating desire and delivering a compelling customer experience. As so aptly described, they think about the shopping experience from the customers' perspective. After all customers buy with one of two primary mindsets. One is the pursuit of utility where the agenda is the best trade-off between convenience and price, a rather indifferent human experience. The other is emotional engagement where the reward is the experience itself. Companies like Whole Foods offer the latter to customers who voluntarily shop there. Too be sure, there is a seduction going on, but just as in love, it is pleasurable and enriching for many, and they like it. So much for perception versus reality !