Supermarket tricks you still fall for

Food experts, industry analysts and store employees share their insider strategies on how to save money on groceries, stay healthy and beat the supermarkets at their own game.

When you walk in the door, you smell bread baking or rotisserie chicken roasting in the deli area because we know those smells get your salivary glands working. When you’re salivating, you’re a much less disciplined shopper. —Paco Underhill, consumer expert and author of What Women Want: The Science of Female Shopping

We doubled their size as a test, and customers bought 19 percent more. —Martin Lindstrom, marketing consultant and author of Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy

Spend less at the supermarket with these smart tips savvy shoppers use. 

If you used to buy a six-pack of soft drinks and drink six cans a week but now buy a 12-pack because that’s the current standard size, you’re probably going to start drinking 12 cans a week. Be mindful when buying larger sizes to make sure your habits don’t change as a result. —Jeff Weidauer, former supermarket executive and vice president of marketing for Vestcom, a retail services company

Here are 12 things that happen to your body when you stop drinking fizzy drinks.

Milk, bread, bananas and eggs. Ninety-five percent of shoppers have no idea what all the other items cost and don’t know if they’re getting a good deal when they buy them. —Martin Lindstrom

…its bright colours put you in a good mood and inspire you to buy more. That’s why I recommend that you start shopping in the middle of the store, with its bland boxes and cans. —Phil Lempert, grocery industry expert and editor of supermarketguru.com

Here are 8 clear signs you’re not eating enough fruit and vegetables. 

So supermarkets started making checkout lanes narrower, with less shelf space, which means it’s harder to ditch goods at the last minute. —Martin Lindstrom

Here are 13 rude things you need to stop doing at the supermarket. 

Customers would tell me as they went through the checkout, “I just stopped in to get eggs,” and they would have $250 worth of stuff. —Jason Swett, former bagger and cashier at a grocery store in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Here are 5 tips to help you cut down on food waste. 

Many stores play music with a rhythm that’s much slower than the average heartbeat, which makes you spend more time in the store – and buy 29 percent more. —Martin Lindstrom

The average supermarket makes about 1.5 percent net profit a year. To give you some idea of how low that is, the profit margin for clothing stores can be several times that. —Phil Lempert

Stop buying these things and save a ton of money.