Europe is in the midst of inflation. In order for companies to stay afloat, many prices have skyrocketed, which makes consumers unhappy and can quickly lead to financial hardship. How you can counter inflation with 5 simple savings tricks, you can read in this contribution. In addition, companies and especially supermarkets, but also independent of inflation, have some tricks up their sleeves on how to seduce us into buying.
What sales tricks are there and how can I protect myself from them?
Shrinkflation
"Shrinkflation" describes the scam of selling products with less content but for the same money. It's a trick that's very trendy right now, although it's not new. However, due to inflation and price increases in many areas of our lives, customers are becoming more attentive and look twice at what they spend their money on. So now consumers are noticing swindles like shrinkflation.
It is not only smaller brands that practice shrinkflation; large and well-known candy and food manufacturers are also well versed in this field. Haribo, for example, is no exception. For the 100th anniversary, which the company celebrated last year, the content of the 200 gram pack of Gold Bears was shrunk to 175 grams - that's the equivalent of about 16 fewer Gold Bears per bag, and the price remained the same.
The internet and the news even circulated votes for the cheat pack of the year 2022. And the winner was "Rama". Since last year, the company has been selling "Rama" with 400 instead of 500 grams of content at the same price and with the same packaging size. The product thus became 25 per cent more expensive.
Tip: If a product changes its appearance or gets a new indication such as "improved recipe", you should be alert and take a closer look. It is quite possible that this is "shrinkflation".
Bending zone
In the so-called "stoop zone", supermarkets usually place goods that are cheap, do not have high brand recognition or a high margin. The placement of these products below our field of vision is meant to make us not buy them and not even bother to bend down for them. In the grab and view zone, on the other hand, are the expensive branded goods and superfluous impulse buy products.
Tip: It's worth taking a look at the bottom shelves! Not only in the usual supermarket chains, but also in organic shops. Even there, the cheaper products are often in the bottom row.
Illuminated signs and colourful notices
Price signs on the shelves are mostly white and don't exactly draw our attention. Red signs hanging from the ceiling or colourful signs on the shelves are more likely to catch our eye. This seems to be an offer! But beware: not all that glitters is gold.
Tip: Check if this really is a bargain or if the market just wants you to buy this product right now to make room on the shelves. Maybe there is even a better and cheaper organic product right next to it. Speaking of organic goods: Have a look at www.bleibwacker.com by. There are always great and delicious offers there. Here you are guaranteed to get what you pay for. 🙂
Bulk packaging
When we see large packs, we often think that they are cheaper compared to the contents and price of the smaller packs. But this is not always true. So that this trick is not noticed, large packs are usually not directly next to the "normal sizes". This makes it more difficult for us to compare prices in the small print.
Tip: Check the small print on the price tags and see if the bulk pack is really cheaper when converted to the base unit.
Bargains and artificial scarcity
This is not only true for supermarket offers, but also for furniture stores, retail chains for consumer electronics, etc.
I recently moved and am now very familiar with the prices and offers of all furniture stores. For comparison, I have always looked around online and there the bargain trap is now quite obvious. Products are offered for half the price. The old price is crossed out in red and the tempting price offer is placed below or next to it. At the same time, the sentence "Only 3 left in stock" is placed below the price.
This is often a psychological trick: people are actually afraid that they might miss out on a bargain, even if they don't actually need it.
Tip: Make a shopping list before you go to the supermarket or, as in my case, compare local offers with online offers. Think about whether you really need the goods on offer, even if the price seems incredibly attractive at the moment.
Conclusion
On the one hand, it is understandable that due to inflation, companies try to find ways and means to continue to make their products attractive to consumers and to encourage them to buy. But the "how" is crucial here. There are still too few rules and requirements for manufacturers and retailers that would protect customers from such supermarket traps. But there is another way: in Brazil, for example, manufacturers have to make it visible for at least six months when a package shrinks. Both on the front and on the back of the product, the old and new contents as well as the absolute and percentage change of the product are made clearly legible and recognisable.
Would you like to know which products are still cheat packs? The consumer advice centre in Hamburg runs a Listwhich lists all the cheating packages.
Image Shrinkflation yoghurt cup: Adobe Stock, tanaonte, #519174468
Image Cheat: Adobe Stock, photoopus, #566716841
Picture Rama: © Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg
Image Almost Gone: Adobe Stock, Yury Zap, #91181723
Sources: NDR, Statista, MDR, Tagesschau, Utopia, VZHH