I have the advantage of actually working in a supermarket, in the grocery department. I am aware of all the tactics we use to get you to buy more and spend as much as possible during your visit. Here's an example. Ever wonder why we never keep sugar and coffee in the same aisle? Or why we never have the icing sugar next to the cake mixes? That's because we want you to have to wander to get what you need. And you know all those nice looking stand with specials on them, all around the store? Yeah, well we put them there so you have to walk past them, and yes, they are meant to be eye-catching. How many times have you gone into the supermarket for 2 things, which are similiar (eg. coffee and sugar), had to go to two different aisles and ended up walking out with 8 items instead of 2? I must say, I have done it many times before.

Another mistake made by so many people, is they shop before breakfast, lunch or dinner. You are hungry when you get in the store, therefore everything starts to look edible. Don't do that! Make sure you shop on a full stomach. Suddenly everything will look so much less attractive and you'll just wanna get what you came for and get outta there! Trust me, it works. I do it all the time. So there are some tips and secrets to what us shifty grocery workers get up to. Now I am going to share some supermarket secrets that include the competition.

Big mistake. I laugh when I have to go around the store on Sunday night and rip off all the 'Specials' tickets. I have noticed that our (I am not going to tell you the chain I work for) 'Special' tickets are colour-coded. The completely Yellow ones are the ones that give you the best savings - these last one week. We also have ones with blue bands, green bands, and yellow bands on them. The blue bands appear to be Specials that last 2 weeks, the green bands last 3 weeks, and the yellow bands can vary. It does depend on what store you are shopping at and what country you live in, of course. I live in Australia.

Don't be fooled by the green, blue and yellow banded Special tickets. The green tickets you will find, you usually save only about 10c or so. The blue tickets usually give you a whooping saving of between 1c and 9c. The yellow tickets vary, but you'd be lucky to save 20c. I always check the prices underneath the Special tickets, BUT some supermarket giants (such as Coles), remove the tickets that display the 'before sale' price so that you can't work out how much you are really saving. Another thing I see so many people do is, they live close to Woolworths, but Coles has something cheaper that they really want, but Coles is 10kms further away than Woolworths. Don't drive all that way just to get one thing that is on Special. Supermarket giants alternate with their Specials. One week Woolworths will have 2L Coke on Special, the following week, Coles will have the same Special. They do this to increase the competition and generally you will find that the supermarket that has the Special second, will be cheaper.

Another thing I have noticed while working at a Supermarket is, our Specials rotate. It seems to be a monthly cycle (no pun intended). Using Coke as an example again, we seem to have 2Ls on Special one week, 1.25Ls the next, and then other brands such as Pepsi etc, the other two weeks and then it all starts again. So don't fret if you miss out this time, there will always be a next time! But you know what they say, "an opportunity missed, is an opportunity lost - you'll never get that one back".

Now hopefully you have a better understanding of how Supermarkets market products. I could go on and on about how brand name products buy their way into certain shelving heights, placements etc, but that's not what this hub is all about. We all want to save money, and really, it isn't all that difficult - it just takes common sense, and we all possess that (believe it, or not).

I hope this hub has informed you of something you didn't already know and will help you in future to plan out how you spend your money in the Supermarket. Everyone is out to make a penny, even the Supermarket giants, but I like to be able to stick up for the 'little guy'.