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Shopping at the Supermarket

Hi, everyone! I’m Georgiana, your online English teacher. My mission is to help you to speak English fluently.

• Are you a spender? Today I’m gonna talk about the tricks that supermarkets use to make you to buy more than necessary.

• You’ll also improve your speaking with a funny mini-story.

Ok! Let’s start!

When you leave the supermarket, have you ever wondered why you spent more money than you originally planned?

I do :) If it happens to you, you may think that you don’t know how to manage money, that you are a spender or simply that you don’t have enough discipline, but don’t worry, because supermarkets follow a whole series of very powerful marketing strategies that induce the buyer to buy, so don’t feel too guilty :)

By the way, a spender is someone who spends money unnecessarily.

And another interesting expression: “overspending,” which means spending more than planned or necessary.

These supermarket strategies can simply be called tricks. The truth is that supermarkets have more tricks than a magician.

Let’s take a look at a few of them, and learn some vocabulary on the subject.

The size of the cart matters.

The shopping cart is the element we push to add the products we want to buy. These trolleys, with time, have been increasing in size.

The logic is simple. Psychologically we feel more satisfied if we can fill the cart and, therefore, with a slightly larger cart, we tend to put more products inside.

The products they want to sell the most, are placed right at eye level.

We are lazy by nature, and therefore, all products that are visually easier to see, but overall easier to access, are also easier to sell.

Prices with decimals.

This is another classic seller’s trick. For some reason, $9.99 seems a lot, much cheaper than 10 dollars. We save 1 cent! Wow! If we do this 100 million times, we’ll save a million dollars :) The products we need the most, are always located at the back of the store.

It’s a very logical trick, and even those who don’t think about it too much will find it obvious. The supermarkets place the most necessary products at the back so that you can see as many products as possible while you walk through the supermarket.

Change of location of products.

From time to time, supermarkets move certain products around. I hate when they do that. The reason is the same as the previous point. They want to prevent you from knowing too well where everything is. So, once again, you have to walk more and therefore the temptation to buy an extra item is greater.

Once you have filled the shopping cart, you have to wait in the queue of the cash register.

When you wait, right next to you, you have several products that are cheap, and that you may need. For example, chewing gum or batteries.

The temptation to add one more product to the cart is big.

Many times supermarkets only have a few open cash registers for two reasons. The first one is to save money on personnel. This was very obvious. But the second reason is to make customers wait a little longer to buy the products displayed next to the cash desk. This trick is dangerous, because if the customer has to wait too long, he may not return to the supermarket. Therefore, the aim is to make you wait only for a short time.

Music also influences.

There are a variety of strategies here. Some supermarkets use fast-paced music to stimulate a more impulsive purchase and encourage faster shopping.

On the other hand, other supermarkets use a more relaxed, quieter music that makes the customer stay longer, and therefore has a better chance of ending up buying.

As you can see, supermarkets implement many tricks, but we can also have ours. For example:

Have a list prepared of what you really need.

Go to the supermarket after lunch. If you’re hungry, you’ll probably buy more than necessary.

Pay with cash. This you’ll have more control over your expenses.

Consider buying on the internet. This way we will buy more wisely.

Mini-Story �

(improve your speaking)

Now, you can practice with a mini-story. You’ll be able to go over the vocabulary we saw in the first section.

A mini-story is very simple. I give you information using phrases and, then I ask you questions.

I recommend that you listen several times until it’s easy to answer. Just relax and enjoy!

Let’s start!

Tom went to the supermarket to buy a bottle of water because he was thirsty.

Did Georgiana go to the supermarket?

No. Georgiana didn’t go to the supermarket. It was Tom who went.

Who went to the supermarket to buy a bottle of water?

Tom. Tom went to the supermarket to buy a bottle of water.

Did Tom go to the supermarket because he was hungry?

No. He didn’t go there because he was hungry but thirsty.

Was Tom thirsty?

Yes, he was thirsty. He was thirsty.

What did Tom buy?

A bottle of water. He bought a bottle of water at the supermarket.

Tom went through the supermarket to the right, and then back to the left.

Did Tom go through the supermarket first on the right?

Yes, Tom went through the supermarket first on the right.

Did he go through it first on the left?

No. Not on the left. First, he went through it on the right and back on the left.

While he was there, he took the opportunity to buy things he needed.

Who took the opportunity to buy things he needed?

Tom. Tom took the opportunity to buy things he needed.

What did Tom take advantage of?

He took advantage of it to buy things he needed.

Did he take advantage of buying unnecessary things?

No. Only the necessary things.

Tom ended up filling the entire shopping cart with irresistible offers.

Did Tom end up filling the shopping cart?

Yes, Tom ended up filling the shopping cart.

What did Tom fill the shopping cart with? With irresistible offers or normal prices?

With irresistible offers. He ended up filling it with irresistible offers.

Could Tom resist?

No, he couldn’t resist, because the offers were irresistible.

In the queue, Tom filled another cart with more products at a very reasonable price.

Did Tom fill the second cart?

Yes, Tom filled another cart. A second cart.

What did Tom fill?

Another cart. He filled another cart with more reasonably priced products.

Were the prices good or bad?

Good. The prices of the products were good.

How many carts did Tom end up filling? One, two or three?

Two: Tom ended up filling two carts with groceries.

Tom spent a month’s salary on all that shopping.

Did Tom spend a year’s salary?

No. Not a year’s salary. Tom spent a month’s salary.

What was Tom’s salary spent on?

On all that purchase. On all the grocery shopping.

When he got home, Tom saw that he had bought everything but water.

Had Tom bought everything?

Yes, everything. He had bought everything…except water.

Had Tom bought chocolate?

Yes, I had bought chocolate.

And meat?

Also. Also meat.

Did Tom notice that he had bought water too?

No. Tom didn’t notice that. He noticed that he hadn’t bought any water.

Well, this is the end of this little mini-history. Poor Tom. He went to the supermarket to buy water, and he bought everything but that. This is the danger of the supermarkets. You go there and get distracted by all the offers, good prices, and novelties :)

Due to time limitations, I don’t develop this story even further, but you can see how effective it is.

use this technique and other similar ones in my courses. Here you have only listened a few minutes, but in my programs, you can listen to stories that last for hours. One of the most popular courses is the Enchanted Course, which you can find at:

EnchantedCourse.com

All right, this episode ends right here.

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See you soon!