I’m doing a final proofing and editing of my Suddenly Frugal book, and yesterday I focused on my chapter about grocery shopping. Some of my advice included not going shopping hungry or with you kids in tow. Because if you do either of these things, I’ll bet that you’ll end up buying much more than what’s on your shopping list–either because something smelled good to your hungry self and you made an impulse decision, or your kids are good negotiators and they got you to make an impulse purchase on their behalf.
Now it seems that there’s another impulse-inspiring situation that you have to watch out for in the supermarket: Checkout TV Network, you know those TVs that have popped up in grocery store checkout lanes. (The ShopRite I used to shop at had them right above the cash register.)
I just read about a study–the 2008 CheckoutTV Recall Study–in Mediaweek magazine–and it cited a scary statistic: of those surveyed “70 percent of consumers who viewed ads reported it influenced their intent to buy the product in the future.”
Yikes. Now I have no idea if the products that these folks ended up buying were already on their shopping list, were on sale that week, and the consumer had a coupon–and, oh by the way, they saw it on Checkout TV, too. But now I’m thinking that when you go food shopping and you want to stay on budget, you make sure you have your shopping list, a full stomach, no kids around, and you avert your eyes in the checkout line!
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Hi Leah! Have you ever written about forming a buying club? A bunch of us in Portland, ME buy all of our food direct from a natural foods distributor and a local Maine farmer’s cooperative–I never have to go to the grocery and be tempted! I know that there are thousands of buying clubs across the country.
But be sure to watch what prices things are ringing up for! I’ve caught a number of things on sale that are still ringing up for full price. My grocery store (Acme) is supposed to give you any item that rings up incorrectly for free, but the store rarely honors that (in my experience, anyway).
Michelle:
I’ve never even heard of a buying club! Sounds like fodder for a future blog post–and maybe a change in how I shop. I’m off to research the idea. Thanks!
Leah
Stephanie:
Have you taken your receipt with you to customer service after you’re done at checkout? Because I’ve found that the checkout people either don’t have the inclination or the authority to fix something like this. When I believe I’ve been overcharged, I bring my register receipt to customer service, point our the error, and they usually just hand me the difference in cash. Try that next time and let me know if that helps. I’ve done this at Giant, by the way. I would hope Acme (or any other supermarket) who respond similarly.
Leah
Oh good! Let me know if I can help! Have a wonderful weekend.
CheckoutTV hasn’t made it to the pacific northwest (yet). Is the point of the influence to shoppers to get out of line and go back for the items being featured on screen? I usually end up doing my weekly shopping with my youngest child. It would have to be an amazing deal to get me out of the check out line to add something to my cart.
Karen:
From what I can tell, Checkout TV is service-oriented, in that it’s offering tips and recipes and stuff like that (http://www.checkouttv.com/what_is_yc.php) but it also promotes advertising opportunities to a captive audience in the checkout line. I don’t know if they expect you to step out of line to buy a product or just to make a mental note to get something the next time you shop, much like regular commercials on TV do.
Good question.
Leah