Sometimes it seems like the more you learn when it comes to saving money at grocery shopping, the more the grocery stores play games and throw new tactics at you. We have to remind ourselves that they are in business for a reason–to make money; so we can’t necessarily blame them. Here are some of the new tactics I’ve noticed at my local grocery stores and in general that you may want to be aware of and keep in mind:
• When offering buy one get one free items the price has been jacked up so there is really less savings, even though you are getting two items.
• Running sales in their ads that are not really “sales” prices, this is why it is SO important to know what a true sale price is on any item. For example, 12 packs of soda go on sale often for $1.99, but sometimes they go on sale for only $1.77. They get away with calling it a sale price, when in fact it is not the lowest sale price that has been offered in the past few weeks.
• It seems to many coupon clippers that more coupons are being offered that are just above 50 cents (for example .55 cents or .65 cents), which is not good if you shop at a store that doubles coupons "50 cents and below,"–because that means less savings on items you purchase with coupons.
• Different foods placed strategically all over the store, while some other items are hard to find. Some stores seem to have sales items from their flyer placed at the front or near the front of the store, making them easy to find and enticing if you didn’t plan on purchasing them when going in to shop. Also, adversely, some sale items may be hard to seemingly impossible to find. Maybe they hope you’ll spend ten minutes browsing the store trying to try to find the sale item and finally cave in and buy something else.
• Some stores are no longer accepting internet printed coupons or will only accept certain internet printable coupons and manufacturer paper coupons like those you can get in the Sunday newspaper.
• Offering free samples: while this is great because you get freebies and get to try a new product, beware because this is a tactic to get you to buy something that is probably overpriced.
• Comparing the store brand to a national brand. Some stores place them directly next to each other to try to demonstrate one as cheaper than the other. However, you can get the name brand item cheaper sometimes, especially when using coupons. I am not going to say this is always true, but it is true often. You can even get name brand products for free occasionally when they is on sale and you have a coupon. Some products the store brand may always be cheaper on; again, you have to watch to see which products are cheaper that you frequently buy–that way you shop smart.
• Clearance items or marked-down items are not always way cheaper. Some stores put marked down stickers on everything, when in fact the sale or clearance price may only be pennies different than the regular price.
• End-caps have always been a tactic to try to entice you to buy the product. It’s at the front or the end of each aisle, within easy reach and the prices of the items are glaring at you in the face. However, this doesn’t make them necessarily a good deal.
• Compare sizes when shopping. Sometimes the smaller box will be a better deal and sometimes the larger box is a better deal. A lot of people consider the price per ounce or per serving when shopping, which isn’t a bad idea. Also, consider the packaging. Some packages are bright, colorful and screaming at you "buy me". But you might find a similar product with less colorful packaging much cheaper. It’s cheaper because they don’t spend the money to make the product jump out at you, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good product.
• Convenience items are not always the cheapest way to go. On certain products they are, but others they are definitely not. Think about how much you get when you purchase a convenience item. How much more would you get if you buy the product that needs to be chopped or soaked in water or prepared somehow else by hand? Take carrots for instance; you can sometimes get a one-pound bag of carrots for .79 to .99 cents a bag. If you purchase carrots in a can or frozen in a bag or baby carrots that are already peeled you are going to spend the same or probably even more on the item and get less product. It’s all about getting the most for your dollar. If you purchase the 1 lb bag you can cut the carrots up yourself and freeze them in baggies for later use and you will get more servings than you would with a can, frozen pre-packaged bag or a package of baby carrots.
• Offers that entice you to spend more, like if you purchase X (being the amount they require) amount of groceries you will get five or ten cents off per gallon of gas or if you purchase X amount of groceries in X amount of time you will get something free like milk or a turkey or ham. Many grocery stores do this when holidays are approaching. It is a good deal if you do intend to shop every week leading up to that week and you are able to spend that amount of money each week, but this is a tactic to try to entice people to spend and buy in order to obtain something free later on, which really isn’t free, is it?
• The $1 sales or Buy-1-Get-1-Free sales, while they do seem like good deals, don’t go overboard, unless you’re stocking up or you can afford to. Just because an ad says “10 for $10” doesn’t mean you have to purchase ten of the item, you can purchase only one if you like and still get the $1 price. Also, some stores are running ads now that state if you buy ten products from particular products they have listed you can get $5 off instantly. This could be a good deal and yet sometimes may not be. Getting $5 off instantly sure sounds good, but when you look at the price per item it may not be a true sale price at all. You may be able to get all those items cheaper another week when they are at their lowest prices, rather than getting the $5 off but yet still paying the premium price for the products.
Overall you have to really pay attention and keep up with sales flyers, prices and coupons to play what many call “the grocery game” and remember to shop smart. Also, you should read money saving blogs and grocery saving blogs, which offer great tips and can help keep you up to date on sales and coupons. Some money/grocery saving blogs that are really helpful are:
$30 Dollar Weekly Grocery Challenge
Look for an article soon about tips on how to save money at the grocery store.
