[ 203. shopping psychology ]

wanted to blog this for a long time but prelims so didnt haf time. It was about a show i watched in discovery channel. it explored into shopping psychology . first part of the show was about supermarkets. hey before u say i dun buy groceries and get turned off, hear me out.

U know campbell soup right? In the US, one supermarket decided to do a survey on whether what you add inside an 'offer' notice has any effect on the customers' decisions. They had the first notice which stated '71 cents per can' and hardly any 1 paid attention to it. After an hour, only two people picked up about four cans.

However when they added 'limit 12 cans per person' with '71 cents per can'. The videocam showed more people stopping to read the notice and people getting 12 cans. After an hour, the shelves were almost empty.

Then the surveyer went ard asking why they took so much, a few of them said they saw the 'limit 12 cans per person' and they wanted to stock up. mmm... the show didnt offer much explanation but they let us think about it. but quite obvious wats the effect. That kept me to watch more...

Second part they explored the human state of mind when they go shopping. surprisingly, when we are shopping, our minds turn to beta-mode. The state that we are engrossed in searching for wat we want. We can capture about 7-8 objects within our range of vision. What attract us are most probably the colour and shape of the product. when we spot wat we want, our minds turn to alpha-mode, the alert mode. when we will either look at the price or make a quick scan around to see other items.

To prove that our minds in beta-mode are ignorant of our surroundings, they carried out an experiment. They placed quite a number of drink cans at the shelf with cereal boxes. The drink cans were stacked exactly like wat they were at the drink shelf.

Next they also placed quite a number of chocolates at the cat food section.

After an hour, no one realised or even stopped by to look at the drinks or even the chocolates when they were scanning for cereals and cat food. Not even the stock keeper (one of the staff) even though he wasnt shopping but he was looking for a product in the cat food section to get the barcode, but he passed the chocolates without realising.

When they interviwed those who bought cat food whether they saw the chocolates on display, none of them said yes. same for the drinks in the cereal section. I was pretty amazed :]

Then they moved on to talking about shopping list. They also did a survey on those with shopping list and those without. amazingly, those with shopping list ended up spending more time buying and buying more things. Quite obvious can see that, when they had a list of items in mind, and when they saw stuff on sale. they tend to compare and when they cant miss a certain offer that is not in their list, they will still buy. 'stock up' was the most common answer why they bought things that they do not need. They interviewed a few families and see what foodstuff they have stored. one bottle of marshmallow syrup was found and it was bought a few years ago. it never got used as the lady said she wanted to make sweets but haven had time. lol. another family kept a frozen beef portion for a year cos they overestimated the number of guests for their party. 0_0 why they never used it, i was also bewildered.

Then one psychologist stayed with a family to find out more about the shopping habits of a housewife. The housewife when in the supermarket, knew 'her' territory well. moved swiftly to where and what she wanted. this was because she knew what brand she wanted. however when she encountered that the particular brand she wanted was out of stock, she had problems. The reason why she chose particular brand(s) was that since young she was accustomed to wat brand her family used and she felt 'safe' to continue using the brand(s). When faced with a situation when her usual brand was out of stock, a lot of time was spent choosing the next alternative. She wanted to settle for a cheap brand but in the end took one brand which was more popular and well known. When asked why, she felt comfortable using a brand she knew. mmm... muz agree brands do give us a sense of assurance and reliability. lol.

then when that mum went home, she took off all the packaging, removing all the brands and stuff. so when her children wanted certain food, they do not know the brand, but they will be used to calling that 'mummy's food'. aint that mother smart? lol.

Next, they explored how men shop. they had this man to shop for a white collar tee and a toy for his son. They put on various equipment on him, testing his vision and blood pressure and a stress detector.

The conclusion they had was pretty amusing, i laughed too... Men shop as though they are in a SWAT team rescuing a victim. Boom, they go in, take wat they need and go. Blood pressure certainly went up together with the stress level. the results show that shopping can actually be more stressful than taking an exam. So who says shopping is not harmful? It can give you a heart attack. lol.

Then they moved on to talk about brands. they define brands as 'a quick label for yourself'. i talking about what you wear and carry. not food. lol. Brands can sometimes tell people who you are. But that is if you use branded stuff la.

Those who go clubbing, they interviewed and found that clothes are also a tool to know people. People who think like you would wear the same brand. (i dunno about that but some people may juz go for 'hot' brand but they may not personally like it?) Some willing to buy a LV wallet for US325 bucks. and its so small like a purse :(

Fashion is also like a religion. People believe in it and its a way to express themselves. Some follow up with their favourite designers... true to a certain extent. maybe if you are into brands, then u may understand better.

didnt continue to watch as they showed compulsive buying and other stuff... cos in front of me was my bio notes but i was glued to the tv for like an hour, so i switched off the tv instinctively. HAHA.