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
, 6
product when you have seen the bargains in the shop window. However, it is smart to put the
relatively expensive bargains in the shop window. For example, a tent for €2000 to €1600.
This is a big discount, but the frame of reference remains at a relatively high price. 4
The first to investigate this were Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman. In one of their first
studies, they asked participants to multiply the numbers 1 through 8 within five seconds. One
group was shown the sum as 1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8, while the second group was shown
8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1. Of course, the participants could never calculate this within five seconds,
so they had to estimate the outcome. In the first group, the mean of the answers was 512,
while in the second group it was 2250. The true answer was 40320. You can clearly see that
the first group rated the answer a lot lower than the second group. This is because in the
second sum the 8 is the first digit and it goes from high to low. The first numbers you see are
the higher numbers, so your estimate will also be higher. This proves the Anchoring Effect:
what you see first becomes your target, your reference.5
The Anchoring Effect is mainly used in shops such as bed or tent shops: in shops with
homogeneous products. This is the reason that it cannot just be used in, for example, a
supermarket, which is a store with heterogeneous products. The price of a carton of sugar
does not become your frame of reference for the vegetables you want to buy.
However, there is a way to use the anchor effect in the supermarket. In the Albert Heijn, for
example, it is used with wine. Expensive wines are displayed visibly. Not to sell them, but to
ensure that medium-priced wines are sold more than the cheaper wines. The expensive wine
becomes the frame of reference.
1.2.2 The decoy effect
Tip 2: Are there two comparable products of which you want to simulate the sale of one of
these two? Add a third product that is less good in every way than the product in question,
and better than the other product in one way.
How smart we as consumers think we are, we are so easily fooled. The Distraction Effect or
Assymetrische Dominantie effect, as it is called in Dutch, works very simply. There are two
products, however, a third product is added which is asymmetrically dominant. This product
is in some aspects better than product A, as we call the first product, and in no way better
than the other product: product B. This creates a greater consumer preference for product B.
By adding such products, producers can send the sales of product A to B.6
This still sounds a bit vague, so for clarification, we will give the classic example of the MP3
players. For many consumers, MP3 players are concerned with price and storage space.
4
https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/negotiation-skills-daily/the-drawbacks-of-goals/
5
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/anchoring-principle/
6
https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/18725/MA-thesis-Roks-T.-360676-.pdf
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
, 6
product when you have seen the bargains in the shop window. However, it is smart to put the
relatively expensive bargains in the shop window. For example, a tent for €2000 to €1600.
This is a big discount, but the frame of reference remains at a relatively high price. 4
The first to investigate this were Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman. In one of their first
studies, they asked participants to multiply the numbers 1 through 8 within five seconds. One
group was shown the sum as 1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8, while the second group was shown
8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1. Of course, the participants could never calculate this within five seconds,
so they had to estimate the outcome. In the first group, the mean of the answers was 512,
while in the second group it was 2250. The true answer was 40320. You can clearly see that
the first group rated the answer a lot lower than the second group. This is because in the
second sum the 8 is the first digit and it goes from high to low. The first numbers you see are
the higher numbers, so your estimate will also be higher. This proves the Anchoring Effect:
what you see first becomes your target, your reference.5
The Anchoring Effect is mainly used in shops such as bed or tent shops: in shops with
homogeneous products. This is the reason that it cannot just be used in, for example, a
supermarket, which is a store with heterogeneous products. The price of a carton of sugar
does not become your frame of reference for the vegetables you want to buy.
However, there is a way to use the anchor effect in the supermarket. In the Albert Heijn, for
example, it is used with wine. Expensive wines are displayed visibly. Not to sell them, but to
ensure that medium-priced wines are sold more than the cheaper wines. The expensive wine
becomes the frame of reference.
1.2.2 The decoy effect
Tip 2: Are there two comparable products of which you want to simulate the sale of one of
these two? Add a third product that is less good in every way than the product in question,
and better than the other product in one way.
How smart we as consumers think we are, we are so easily fooled. The Distraction Effect or
Assymetrische Dominantie effect, as it is called in Dutch, works very simply. There are two
products, however, a third product is added which is asymmetrically dominant. This product
is in some aspects better than product A, as we call the first product, and in no way better
than the other product: product B. This creates a greater consumer preference for product B.
By adding such products, producers can send the sales of product A to B.6
This still sounds a bit vague, so for clarification, we will give the classic example of the MP3
players. For many consumers, MP3 players are concerned with price and storage space.
4
https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/negotiation-skills-daily/the-drawbacks-of-goals/
5
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/anchoring-principle/
6
https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/18725/MA-thesis-Roks-T.-360676-.pdf
