Woolworths shopper reveals savvy trick to save $120 on your groceries

We humans are creatures of habit. We drive the same route to work, we sit in the same seat at the office and, every week, we trundle our shopping trolleys around the supermarket, walking in the footsteps of the shopper ahead.

It’s something savvy marketers have not overlooked and, actually, they’re very keen for us to walk in a certain direction around their stores because it gives them the opportunity to use tricks to help us spend more.

“Familiarity and ease is key. Marketers want you to be on autopilot when you’re shopping so you’re not thinking about what you’re picking up,” Paul Harrison, Professor of Consumer Behaviour and Marketing at Deakin University, told Yahoo Lifestyle.

Well, not today.

I’m testing out a theory that if you start at the back of the store you miss some of these carefully laid traps and end up saving money.

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What is reverse shopping?

As I arrive at my local Woolworths everything is drawing me towards the fruit and veg section. It’s open, colourful and inviting, but I remember what Harrison has told me.

“It’s all about feeling welcome which reinforces that you’ve made the right decision to come in,” he said. “If you feel good it plays into your ego that you’re making good decisions.”

That feeling stays with you and so picking up a bit more shopping than you’d planned feels like a good decision too.

So, instead of heading for the mangoes, I take my empty trolley to the toilet roll section in the final aisle. There’s nothing inviting here, and turning into the cleaning products lane, it’s the same.

Everything seems jumbled and it smells like my old school hall. I grab my usual products and keep moving, fast.

“The sweet spot on the shelf is 10 degrees above eye level and 30-40 per cent below,” Harrison told me.

“It’s effortless to look here and you’re less likely to think about the process. It’s where marketers place all the products they’re getting the biggest margin on.”

I try and keep this in mind as I turn into the toiletries section picking up a hand soap from the bottom shelf saving me $1.40 on my usual (eye-level) brand.

How to save money on your supermarket shop

Next, it’s the frozen foods aisle and I realise what good time I’m making.

Starting at the front of the store, I’d still be hunting for ripe avocados, but instead, my trolley’s getting full. My sense of achievement is heightened when I spot the frozen berries.

Fresh blueberries are cheap at the moment and I’d bought 4 punnets the week before, only for half of them to go squishy before we’d eaten them. At $6.20 for 500g the frozen are better value and they’ll last.

The frozen salmon is good value, too, at $8.50 for 250g. I pop some in my trolley, knowing I’d never usually do this as I’d have already ticked fish off my list from the more expensive fresh fish section.

Heading down the canned food lane, I start looking for other items I’d usually ignore. I remember a friend telling me canned potatoes are great for using in fishcakes and I’m pleasantly surprised to find they’re only $2. Who knew?

What tricks do supermarkets use to make you spend more?

Despite beginning to relax and enjoy myself, I try to stay alert. Even shopping in reverse, I know there are tricks like the music and change in flooring that I won’t be able to avoid.

“Music can increase spending by 10 per cent on average. It makes you feel comfortable and safe so you feel ok to take risks buying new products,” Harrison has told me.

Flooring is something I’d never noticed before but he’d also explained marketers change the environment, with a tiled floor in some areas and wooden elsewhere. It stops you from feeling like you’ve been in the same space for a long time so boredom doesn’t set in. Sneaky.

As I pick up pasta and sauces one problem I’m starting to realise is the frozen items, I’d normally buy towards the end of my shop, are getting damp.

I don’t want them defrosting so I move faster. The kids aren’t going to be happy but I don’t bother browsing the biscuit and chips aisle, naturally saving me money.

How colours affect the way we shop

Whizzing through the bakery section I’m immune to the scent of the fresh sourdough. I’m on a mission and, hurling rolls and a few loaves into my trolley I realise they won’t get squashed by all the heavy stuff I’m usually yet to pick up. Bonus.

Meat and veg next and, while I’m normally feeling a bit drained by the end of the shop I’m surprisingly energetic. I see the bright yellow sign on the Halloween pumpkins but because of Harrison’s advise about colour I spend time to read it.

“We’re drawn to bright colours,” he said. “We give them more weight and take at face value that they are advertising a sale without reading the small print.”

And he’s right. The bright $2 sign is per kilo so definitely not the bargain it suggested. Sorry kids, no pumpkin carving this year!

How much money does reverse shopping save you?

Looking at my phone I’m done with my weekly shop in 35 minutes, about 10 minutes fast than usual and as I pile things on to the conveyer belt at the register I keep my fingers crossed that I’ve saved money, as well as time.

As the final tally flashes up I’m amazed to see it’s $173.60. My weekly shop is always over $200, so I’ve saved at least $30 by using this reverse shopping trick, that’s over $120 a month.

I honestly can’t believe it, especially because Harrison had been quite skeptical.

His advice for ways to save in the supermarket did make sense in my experiment though.

“You should be aware of the subtle psychological devices that play into our shopping decisions,” he’d told me.

“You need to recognise you’re not as in control as you think you are.”

Perhaps knowing all the tricks and thinking about them as I shopped made the difference. I was certainly less on autopilot than usual and actively chose new, cheaper products that I wouldn’t normally have spotted.

I also moved more quickly and 10 minutes less in-store meant 10 minutes less purchasing time.

What if reverse shopping isn’t for you?

While reverse shopping might not be for you, Harrison does have other ideas on ways to save money in the supermarket.

He suggests shopping with a basket, instead of a trolley, making sure you don’t shop when you’re tired and making a list that you stick to.

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“Making a list removes what you need from the emotional experience of being in the supermarket,” he said.

“You need to put psychological distance between the process of deciding what you want and the behaviour of getting it.”

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