3
Table of Contents
Introduction…………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………….p.4
Chapter 1: How do stores use product presentation to influence consumers' irrational buying behaviour?
1.1 What is marketing and what is manipulation?.................................................................................................p.5
1.2.1 The Anchoring Effect……………………………..…………………………………………………………………..p.5
1.2.2 The Decoy Effect………………………………………..…………………………………………………p.6
1.2.3 The Serial Position Effect……………………………………………………………………….…………p.7
1.2.3.1 Test………………………………………………………………………………………………...……...p.8
1.3 The location of products………………………………………………………………………………………………..p.9
1.3.1 The shop layout…………………………………………………………………………………………….p.9
1.3.2 The shelf layout……………………………………………………………………………………..…….p.11
1.4 How do the weekly discounts determine the presentation of a product in the store?.....................................p.12
1.5 Colour, scent and background music………………………………………………………………...……………..p.13
1.5.1 Colour………………………………………………………………………………………………………p.13
1.5.2 Fragrance………………………………………………………………………………………………….p.14
1.5.3 Background music………………………………………………………………………………………..p.15
Chapter 2: Why is it that people make such irrational choices in their purchasing behaviour?
2.1 Irrational choices by the pleasure centre in the brain………………………………………………………..……p.16
2.2 Different kinds of irrational choices………………………………………………………………………………….p.17
2.2.1 Uncertain choices…………………………………………………………………………………………p.18
2.3 Choices due to scarcity…………………………………………………………………………………………...…..p.19
Chapter 3: Our own research by means of an interview and survey.
3.1 Interview with Albert Heijn manager R. Becking……………………………………………………………...……p.20
3.2 Survey…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..p.22
3.2.1 What do we investigate with the survey?.......................................................................................p.22
3.2.2 The questions from the survey…………………………………………………………………………..p.23
3.2.3 Results of the survey……………………………………………………………………………………..p.24
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……p.26
Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………p.28
Appendix…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….p.30
Source list………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…p.31
Logbook……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..p.33
Introduction
, 4
Many people assume that choices that are made, are dependent on their own thinking and
making the most logical choice for them. Just like in traditional economics, the starting point
here is the ability to think rationally and to make choices that are made dependent on
rationality. It was assumed this was a fact, until the rise of behavioural economics in the
1970s. In the 1970s, there was a turning point. More and more attention was paid to why
consumers make the choice they make. Do these choices depend solely on the quality of the
product and on the consumer's actual need for the product?
It was discovered that the consumer does not only think in a rational way but makes his
choice dependent on many, often irrational, variables. Economists such as Daniel
Kahneman, Dan Ariely, and Amos Tversky have learned a lot about how consumer choices
are influenced. Daniel Kahneman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002, which
recognizes psychological effects in economic choices.1
This profile paper will answer the main question ‘How do marketing strategies in grocery
stores influence the purchasing behaviour of the consumer?’. In order to answer this
question, we will discuss several aspects. In the first place, we will shortly explain what
marketing and manipulation are(1st sub-question). After that, we will discuss what different
marketing strategies grocery stores use to influence their consumers(2nd sub-questions). Then, we
will discuss the order in which the products are presented. This mainly concerns the layout of
the store. We will also look at how the placement of the product influences the purchasing
behaviour of consumers(3rd sub-questions). By this we mean the place of the product on the shelf,
think of questions such as 'which products are best placed at eye level?'. We then look at
how the weekly discounts affect the place of a product in the store. The last aspect of our
third sub-question is the colour, smell, and background music in the store. How do these
things affect consumer buying behaviour?
In the next sub-question, we answer how it is possible that people make such irrational
choices within purchasing behaviour(4th sub-question). Within this sub-question, we examine the
difference between uncertain choices, emotional choices, and choices due to scarcity. These
choices all have a different cause.
Our hypothesis is that a combination of several marketing strategies can have a major
influence on the purchasing behaviour of the consumer and the irrational choices they make
as a result. So we think that the different ways of marketing and manipulation, which we will
explain later, are not used without reason and that the working of the strategies can be
substantiated through research on the Internet, and also by investigating ourselves through a
survey and a by conducting an interview. For desk research, we use scientific sources from
websites such as scholar.google.com. Articles on these types of websites guarantee the
reliability and representativeness of the research they have conducted and the information
we have collected from the relevant sources. During the field research, we will conduct a
survey, with the results of this survey we want to test the operation of the marketing
strategies on the basis of the information gathered earlier from the desk research.
We hope that after reading our profile paper, you have gained clarity about the (unconscious) thoughts
of the consumer, how much they can be influenced and where the irrational thinking comes from. No
matter how rational you are, every person can and will be affected by their unconsciousness.
Chapter 1
1
https://www.toolshero.nl/bekende-auteurs/daniel-kahneman/
, 5
How do stores use product presentation to influence consumers' irrational buying
behaviour?
1.1 What is marketing and what is manipulation?
The word manipulating often has a negative buzz to it, even though we manipulate every
day. We even unconsciously like it when others manipulate us. people like to be informed by
external sources; this is something that is buried deep into the subconscious mind of us
humans. Manipulating also makes our world a better place. It doesn’t mean it always has to
be used in the wrong way. You spend all day manipulating your children, your wife or your
husband, your friends, your parents, etc. Nothing to worry about. However, companies also
know how manipulation works. For example with several marketing techniques, which we will
discuss later.2
Marketing is the field concerned with conveying the value of a brand, product or service to
the market, with the aim of selling as many of those products or services as possible.
Marketing activities can be aimed at increasing brand awareness and a good image as well
as encouraging concrete action and generating revenue. Marketing can be aimed at
acquiring new customers as well as building and maintaining customer relationships aimed at
repeat purchases. Strengthening the brand and brand awareness among a large audience is
also referred to as above-the-line marketing. Targeting consumers to generate revenue is
called below-the-line marketing.3
1.2.1 The Anchoring Effect
Various studies have shown that the order in which products are shown has an effect on the
buying behaviour of consumers. There are several techniques for this. For each technique,
we first give a tip that can be applied to influence the buying behaviour of consumers, then
we explain this with the various 'effects' it has on the consumer. For each effect, we will also
give examples of how it can be applied in practice, and how stores take advantage of this
and trick you into buying more products.
Tip 1: when you sell tents or beds, for example, it is smart to put an expensive product that
you do not necessarily want to sell at the front of the store, immediately where your potential
consumers enter your store.
Unconsciously, when making decisions to buy something whether or not, we focus on the
first information we receive. This is the Anchoring effect, also called the Reference Effect.
People are guided by an irrelevant frame of reference, which the entrepreneur determines for
you. The first information becomes the starting point for the rest of the information you
receive. For example, if you first see a tent for €1600, you will compare the rest of the tents
in this case with this price, especially if you have little knowledge of the price of tents. For
example, a tent for €1200 seems advantageous, while you might have found it much too
expensive if they had used a tent for €800 as a frame of reference. It is therefore smart to put
an expensive product at the entrance. Not to sell this product, but to stimulate the sale of as
many other products as possible through this product. Now you may be wondering whether
an expensive tent will not scare off the potential customer. That is indeed something that the
entrepreneur must think about. That is why it is smart to only use the Anchoring effect when
the customer is already in the store. As a customer, you will not be so easily put off by one
2
https://www.go1.com/blog/post-can-use-manipulation-good
3
https://books.google.nl/books?
hl=nl&lr=&id=8TjiBAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=what+is+marketing&ots=jfbxiRw6d4&sig=ftxCT47NrnXc4HHPILVLkbkB6mU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=what%20is
%20marketing&f=false
