Supermarket Secrets Revealed: How They Make Money

Do you frequent a particular supermarket? Or are you one of those types that go where the sales are even if it means going to four different stores to get the best deals? But are you really saving any REAL money? Are coupons worth the hassle? If you know the supermarket sale secrets, coupons may not be necessary.

So you set out on your shopping venture with coupons in hand, mental road map of the various stores needed to get the deals, and spend half the day fighting traffic as well as the public, thriving on 2 for 1 deals and the 3 day sale events promising extreme savings. But is it worth all the hassle? Maybe to some, although for me not so much. I like to commit to one main store for the bulk of my needs, getting to know the staff, and more importantly the prices. I have a weird rainman like quality when it comes to memorizing numbers, which has come in handy with my profession. I can tell you off the top of my head that the average price for 16% fat ground beef is 3.45 a lb., 20 oz bottle of soda is 1.79, western family 18 pack of eggs is 3.19 while a dozen is 2.49. I know that my supermarket has one of the best selection of produce and prices to match, while seafood is a big NO NO, other protein is okay and they offer a great selection of cuts and sizes. I don't pay to much attention to coupons sales because being that I am frequent shopper all the clerks know me and scan them for me. The only negative aspect that does bother me about my supermarket is the ill navigation around the store, if a fire broke out chances are it would be next to impossible to run toward the exit because they have an excess of displays.

One trick supermarkets play on us is the sale tags. For example when you don't know the general price on an item and then you see it with a sale tag you automatically think you are getting a deal and probably buy it when it is actually the same price. They do this with the name brand products that sit right beside the generic. For example, lets say you buy a single unit of yogurt for .45 cents, then you see a more popular name brand on sale for .10 cents off the regular price which costs .55 cents, so you grab a couple of those thinking you have just scored a deal, though you haven't, the store just got the same amount of money out of you and that's the bottom line when it comes to supermarkets really, not what products you buy, but how much money you spend.

Let's take a look on the 2 for 1 concept. You see an item, whether it be for daily use or a specialty buy, and the store has a sale tag stating 10 units for 4 dollars. This subliminally suggests to the consumer not only to buy this great deal but to buy a quantity of it when you normally buy a couple at a time. Now referring back to the yogurt comparison take a closer look. The generic brand is on sale at 10 for 4 dollars, while the popular brand offers 10 units at 6 dollars. So being the smart consumer, you grab 10 of the generic, only you had budgeted for just the two you normally buy. So when you planned on spending less than a dollar for some yogurt you ended up spending three times as much. How much was the unit on sale for again? If you had stuck to your regular needs of only two you would have saved .10 cents versus spending 4 dollars.

Now for those who don't mind bulking up on deals, just make sure it is something you need and won't parish quickly. Which brings me to the quick sale scam. Okay its not really a scam per say but you need to "look" for the expiration dates on sale items, especially when they are marked down 70% or more. My supermarket entertained me with a supernatural deal like 1.77 for an 18 pack of eggs, which is a great deal since I know they are regularly 3.19, see how knowing your pricing can help? Anyway when I went to go buy my super steal I noticed a few things. One, it was a "only with coupon" deal, two, there was a limit of two, three, you had to purchase a minimum of 5 dollars not including the item to get the sale price, and four, the biggy the expiration date was less than three days away. Now knowing my grocer's clerks I did not fret about a silly coupon, nor the limit because due to the red flag of an expiration date I knew if they did not relieve their stock it would be marked down ever further. You may wonder why I am not phased about the expiration date, reason one is I know that eggs last three weeks past their expire date and reason two, since I have great repertoire with my grocer I know they will give me store credit. Now this is an exception when it comes to grocer's but since I live in a small urban town we try to play nice with one another.

This is a big deal when it comes to consumers final purchase amount. Have you ever noticed how the necessities are in the way back of the store, like milk, eggs, and cheese? Or the bread is at one end while the produce on the other and it requires you to mosey around numerous displays to get to the damn fruit? It wasn't an accident you almost bull dozed the tower of soda on a bulk sale, oh no, because it made you stop, look, and survey the deal, then with good reasoning of such a great deal you grab a unit or two and attempt to make it to the fruit. Bam! You just added an extra 5 to 10 bucks to your final purchase amount, when originally soda was not even on your list. Now think of this by the millions, 10 million shoppers a day tack on an extra 10 bucks on their final purchase, what do you get, a billion dollar a day industry that's what.

Another thing that dings our wallet is the sizing manufactures have put in place. They have shrunk the goods, not by to much, just enough to stay below the radar but the prices are the same. This just for a better word, sucks. There is really nothing to be said or done, it just is. That's why I stress to know your products and pricing, like the 30% more label. It is not 30% more, they just went to the original size, keeping the price the same. So you bought the old size thinking you got a deal when you spent the same amount.

Fellow hubber, Unnamedharald, said it best:

"Well, I think they think we're stupid. Unfortunately, many shoppers do not think about things like unit pricing-- this 14 oz thingy is x, that 26 oz thingy is y, so which is the better deal? Sale price tags-- this is where they really show their opinion of their shoppers: when the sale price tag A) covers the regular price and B) the sale price is the same. How many simply move the tag aside to see what the price "difference" is?"

That is what it really comes down too. Not the coupons or the bulk item deals, it is just about becoming aware of your supermarket surroundings. Retail stores operate in the same manner, smaller sizes, expensive items in the front, and the more space to maneuver in the store means the more expensive the items will be. So with that being said, I will stick to my over crowded store that knows me by name, and when I get a craving for some seafood, I will venture far into the city and pay for it.