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How UX tricks in the grocery store contribute to overspending

From store layout to scent marketing, grocery stores have carefully designed a user experience that maximizes profit.

Camryn Manker
UX Collective
8 min readAug 11, 2023
Someone with a semi-full handheld cart at a grocery store, reaching for some vegetables.
Photo by Tara Clark on Unsplash

Walking into a grocery store seems like a straightforward task: grab the items you need, pay for them, and head home. However, beneath the seemingly mundane shopping process lies intricate marketing strategies and psychological tricks designed to encourage consumers to spend more than they intended.

Sometimes I’ll find myself heading to the store looking to get maybe three or four items. That’s it.

One cart full of items later…

How did this happen? It was supposed to be a short visit!

While not always as drastic as a cart full of items, impulsive purchases are a common part of many shoppers’ experience. Impulsive purchasing actually “accounts for up to 62% of supermarket sales and can drive up to 80% of sales in specific product categories,” (Cheng et al., 2013).

From store layout to scent marketing, grocery stores have carefully designed a user experience that maximizes profit.

Everything from the mist on the vegetables to the location of the milk section was perfectly crafted to create a longer…

Published in UX Collective

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Written by Camryn Manker

I'm a UX designer who is always looking to learn more and eat too much chocolate.

Responses (5)

What are your thoughts?

I appreciate the knowledge you share in this article. And I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on how to make these types of maps accessible for people who cannot see or have trouble distinguishing colors? Perhaps a topic for another article?

Enjoyed the discussion.