Three brain-hacks shops use to make you buy stuff you don’t need by Sarah Young

Author Richard Shotton reveals how you can become a savvier shopper

Shotton says that shoppers rely on a series of short-cuts to make decisions and it’s these short-cuts that are prone to biases which retailers can then use to encourage shoppers to spend more.
For example, when you eat out at a restaurant, he suggests that the menu design will undoubtedly influence how much you spend.

“Here are two examples. Menus often place an expensive item at the top, not with the aim of selling that item, but to make everything else seem better value,” Shotton explains.

“Other menus remove the pound signs as there is evidence that makes diners less price sensitive.”

But fear not, because the author has high hopes that by acquainting yourself with these biases that you will be able to concentrate on what you really want, rather than what retailers hope to flog you.
“If you familiarise yourself with these you will be forewarned and, as they say, to be forewarned is to be forearmed,” he concludes.