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Tricks of the food trade
Golden arches
Take a look at any fast food logo and you'll see that they're nearly always red, yellow or orange. McDonald's golden arches, Burger King's bun halves, KFC's red Colonel Sanders; they're all these colours for a reason. According to colour theory experts, shades of red, yellow and orange subconsciously trigger hunger and encourage us to spend more money.
Research has also shown that people eat more in a room with warm color surroundings like red, orange and yellow, as opposed to in a room painted in cold colours such as blue, black, or purple.
Alamy
Tricks of the food trade
Golden arches
Take a look at any fast food logo and you'll see that they're nearly always red, yellow or orange. McDonald's golden arches, Burger King's bun halves, KFC's red Colonel Sanders; they're all these colours for a reason. According to colour theory experts, shades of red, yellow and orange subconsciously trigger hunger and encourage us to spend more money.
Research has also shown that people eat more in a room with warm color surroundings like red, orange and yellow, as opposed to in a room painted in cold colours such as blue, black, or purple.
Tricks of the food trade
Pump up the bread
We all know never to go shopping when you're hungry because you end up buying more. Well, the supermarkets know this and have come up with a devious plan to make you feel hungry whilst shopping: wafting the smell of freshly baked bread from the in-store bakery around the store.
While most supermarkets bake their bread early in the morning so it lingers throughout the day, some have even resorted to pumping out the smell of fresh bread throughout the day to keep you feeling hungry.
Tricks of the food trade
Out of sight
Have you ever wondered how supermarkets decide what goes where on the shelves?
Well, it should come as no surprise to learn that high-priced premium goods are placed at eye level, because it has been scientifically proven that's where we focus our gaze when looking for goods. The lower-priced economy ranges are mostly kept at floor level or put almost out of reach on the higher shelves so we find it harder to get to them, or even notice them.
Tricks of the food trade
Fruits facing front
Almost every supermarket in the land has its fruit and vegetable aisles at the front of the store. And this is for very good reason.
Food experts and psychologists say the sight of fresh, colourful produce piled high at the front of the store installs in your mind an instant image of health, convincing the shopper that everything within the store is fresh and wholesome. Seems they these people really do think we're stupid...
Tricks of the food trade
McDonalds French fries laced with beef fat
In 2002, McDonalds settled a costly lawsuit after it failed to tell customers that its French fries weren't vegetarian, and were in fact cooked in beef fat. It was this beef fat that added to the flavour of the chips and made them more overtly moreish, ensuring we all went back for more.
Tricks of the food trade
Bulk doesn't = best
How many times have you bought a bumper pack of 24 toilet rolls when all you need is 4, thinking that it's better value? Well, it turns out that bulk buys aren't always better for your purse.
A recent investigation by a Sunday newspaper revealed that consumers are actually worse off opting for big-value bulk pack items such as crisps and washing powder. In fact, in most cases, by checking the labels and working out the price per single item, you'd save more money buying the items separately or in smaller pack sizes.
Tricks of the food trade
Supermarket sweet
Notice how it's always sweets and magazines at the supermarket checkouts. The former are there because your friendly supermarket manager knows that after a boring trip around his shop, your little one will scream blue murder when he sees a pack of sugary sweets at the end of his journey.
The same goes for magazines – after a boring trek through the aisles looking at nothing but tin cans, the sight of a celebrity on the cover of a magazine is enough to make you chuck it in your trolley.
Tricks of the food trade
Product placement
Another clever trick of the supermarkets is to place products that go together next to each other in the aisle to encourage you to bulk buy. For instance, notice how when you buy some tea bags more than likely there will be some biscuits nearby. Likewise, you'll also find strips of nuts and crisps next to the beer on the booze aisle.
Tricks of the food trade
Route planner
As we know, fruit and veg are always at the front of the store, but they're the only part of your essential shop you'll find on your way in.
Supermarkets hit upon the idea of placing the essentials, such as bread and milk, at the back of the shop. This is in order to make people walk past the rest of the produce, i.e. things you don't actually need, and heighten the possibility of impulse buys.
For the same reason, notice how changing rooms in clothes shops are always situated at the rear of the shop.
Tricks of the food trade
The 'unloyalty' card
When you're next at the checkout, don't think the request for your loyalty card is because the supermarket is being kind by adding on your points.
What they're actually up to is getting a glimpse into your spending habits. With every swipe of a customer's loyalty card, the supermarket can computer analyse your shopping behaviour, spot what you're buying and not buying, and gather enough information to target direct marketing to customers who buy particular brands or types of product. Cue you receiving stacks of junk mail in the post.
Tricks of the food trade
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Wednesday 23 June
By andy
the "fact" about supermarkets regularly moving products around isn't true - the cost in hours plus the 24/7 nature of supermarkets today means stores keep the same layout for years, and products will only really move location within the aisle/bays maybe twice a year as the stores change their stocked items to keep with the seasons.
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Wednesday 23 June
By Brian
You don't go to our trescos! You don't evern find the Home Baking products in the aisle marked Home Baking. Regularly the product that was in one corner moves to the farthest corner without its neighbours!
Thursday 24 June
By Anabel
You must be living in the past Andy I can assure you that our local Tesco's is always moving its goods around, It is extremely annoying and frustrating to have to search for what you want and however much you complain no notice is taken.
Wednesday 23 June
By scott anderson
you must be joking the tesco in aberdeen moves stock all the time so you have to look around to find it and you will always pick somthing up that you did not go in for thats why thay move things abought.But it upsets the older costermers and thay cant allways go else whare .Thats why thare is at least one complante a day
Friday 23 July
By bj
ANDY
you must be of the "high ups" in the trade, or you are so STUPID that you dont even notice. They do move products around, not only to confuse the customers, to get you to look at WHAT YOU DONT WANT.
Wednesday 23 June
By Mike Heatlie MSc CSCS
I write an article on some of things they don't tell you or hide very well for food consumers. It's very deceiving. People are buying foods they think are healthy and are doing them more harm than good.
For example low-fat basically means high sugar and high salt. Processed foods are anything but healthy!
Check out the article at:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Four-Food-Industry-Secrets-You-Must-Know-When-Shopping!&id=4428772
Mike Heatlie MSc CSCS
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Wednesday 23 June
By andi y
i have found they are conning people with the downsizing of products, one to mention recently was in t....s and i saw they have started to sell milk in litres not per pint so if you bought 6 pints you would grab the large poly but now they know this they have changed it to litres which gives you less milk, very clever marketing..
also meat content has dropped when the price seems like a bargin in a processed meal the meat is a lot less. but consumers just see the packaging not the content.
Wednesday 23 June
By Ian
Another "trick of the trade" is the practice of rewrapping fresh meat. As a former fresh foods supervisor with safeways and morrisons i was actively encouraged by management to rewrap packs of meat thus extending the shelf life on these products rather than reduce the product to clear though the system which is the "supposed company policy" Also other fresh products liike milk, yogurts etc that are supposed to be refridgrated within 20 mins of delivery are often left in the warehouse or delivery bay for hours due to insufficant backup refridgeration or lack of staff who are unable to serve customers and put away their delivery . unless of course there was a visit from the health inspector who "suprise suprise" would let the store manager know that he is coming, what a joke !!!
As you can imaging my career prospects took something of a nosedive when i would highlight these practices at are weekly meeting and was branded a trouble maker for trying to obey the law
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Wednesday 23 June
By CJD
I'm afraid I can confirm that Ian. We were told to re-wrap meat until it started to green & then it was turned into mince!!
Wednesday 23 June
By an
Thnx for that info. Please tell me in which supermarket you work(ed) so I can avoid it? Ughh.. fancy buying the 'off' mince and not knowing..!