How Colors Can Influence Shopping

One of the most powerful methods to appeal to a potential buyer is the use of color theory. Different colors can be used to affect our emotional status making people feel safer with one color and more energetic with another one. Have you ever noticed that landing on some web page you feel like clicking some links and keep browsing the site? While on other when you try to navigate away you get annoying popup messages. It’s because of the developers choice of color.

Color is believed to be one of the most powerful elements of design for web sites, direct mail, ads, and other marketing materials. It carries meaning through associations or your body physical response. When it brands color is crucial. The majority of memorial brand use bright eye catching colors to grab the attention of possible buyers. The color red activates your pituitary gland and increases your heart rate making you feel more energetic while color like blue and green may make you feel calm and secure because their associated with nature and the sky.

Although online and physical stores may use different colors to affect your decision, the fact is it all boils down to a matter of personal preference and what memories err associated with the color. The color blue might make some people feel calm while others feel slightly anxious by it because they may have almost drowned as a young child. That doesn't change the fact that by showing the majority of people what they want to see corporations may some times be able to influence your shopping habits.

http://www.seosmarty.com/brand-color/

I Wanna Be Just Like You!

You're watching TV. You flip through the channels for something to settle on. Suddenly, something catches your eye. You stop and see Taylor Swift holding a chain saw on a Home Depot commercial. Seem a little out of the ordinary? That's because the advertising world is a whole deal smarter than that.

Companies purposely hire popular stars to market their products. The star is specifically chosen for a specific product. You wouldn't see Taylor Swift with a chain saw any soon than you would see Gene Simmons try to sell Edible Arrangements. What you do see, however, is what causes you to buy.

Xenadrine is a drug to help consumers lose more weight and gain more energy. Jersey Shore cast member Ronnie Magro has become a spokesman for this product. He's a big guy--very built with enough muscles for the entire Jersey Boardwalk. It makes sense that he appear on Xenadrine commercials. People see him in his form-fitting tank tops, and they want to be just like that. They want to be fit and strong, and they figure "if Ronnie takes this drug, then I should too." They don't take into account the hours upon hours Ronnie spends in the gym working on those muscles--all they see on their TV is Ronnie, muscles, and Xenadrine.

"Easy, breezy, beautiful Covergirl" has found a spokesperson for their product, "the look of Simply Ageless Serum Primer". Ellen DeGeneres was their choice, a fifty-two year old woman who looks as though she could pass for thirties in her Covergirl ads. Viewers are speechless when they see how well this make up worked for Ellen, and they want to try it out themselves. Ellen is a stand-up comedian, TV show host, actress, and was featured as a judge on American Idol for a short time. Knowing that her face has been seen by many people in many different scenarios, Covergirl knew exactly what they were doing when they hired her. The commercials have won again.

Sources: wikipedia.org

covergirl.com

xenadrine.com

A Little to the Left...One to the Right...Perfect!

The placement of products throughout a store has a direct relationship with how well those products sell. There are many ways to influence a consumer's purchase. Three of those strategies include the placement of inventory on shelves, the placement of catchy signs, and the placement of unnecessary products. These tactics are what make stores thousands and thousands of dollars every year.

Walk down the cereal aisle at your local grocery store. Notice how there seems to be a certain organization of the boxes on the shelves? The store brand ones are all the way up at the top out of sight, the sugar infested cereals are low where the children can easily grab them, and the healthy options are right at eye level. There's no accident here. Stores plan out their displays very carefully, even going to the specific detail of the average shopper's height. Stores use certain tricks to manipulate their shoppers, such as putting sale items right at eye level so that the deal seems quite reasonable, however just below or above that sale there has been the same product of the store brand for the same price all along. The good deal has always been there, but cleverly hidden out of sight.

Timing also influences a consumer's need to buy. Stores will place flashy, eye-catching signs around the walk ways advertising "hot spring fashions" or "new styles" that makes the buyer believe if they don't act now, the opportunity will be lost. This is not true, because as the weeks go by the inventory changes, which brings all new options for the consumer. The bright and catchy signs distract a shopper from drawing logical conclusions.

Impulse buying is one thing a store thrives on. There is no need for a Hershey bar at the checkout line, or a pointless tabloid magazine with the latest gossip. Yet somehow, these purchases still give stores thousands and thousands of dollars alone. The strategic placement of these candy bars and magazines at the checkout line is just what the idle brain of a consumer will fall to. They may pick up an interesting magazine, however not be able to finish it by the time they have to pay. So, they'll just buy it anyway. This is how the stores maximize their profits.

Eye-level shopping, timing, and spontaneous purchases are what mess with the consumer's mind. The strategic placement of products around a store reel in thousands of dollars. Next time you're walking through your grocery store, stop and think about it. Do you want the salsa just because you're buying the chips? Or perhaps is this one of the store's twisted mind games...

Source: thriftyfun.com

Scents Sell

A study by Gueguen and Petr (2006) studied the effects different smells have on how much time and money people spend in restaurants. Instead of observing the effect the smell of food had on people, they observed the effects the smell of lavender had. A small pizzeria in France, was where the experiment took place on three Saturdays during the month of May. Three different experimental conditions were tested, the first with no aroma was dispersed other than that coming from the food being served. The second, the smell of lemon was diffused into the atmosphere of the restaurant and the third lavender.

When lemon used the amount of money spent increased but not by a statistically significant amount, but when the scent of lavender was used not only did the spending per person increased from 17.5 Euros to 21.1 Euros on average, but so did the average amount of time spent in the restaurant from 91.3 minutes to 105.7 minutes. In busy restaurants, owners often want a high throughput of diners. More covers equals more cash and more lavender equals more cash intake but people drinking coffee with the sent of lavender in the air is not necessarily going to increase profits. For small restaurants and cafes that are mostly empty the sent of lavender might help increase their profits in the poor economy.

Gueguen, N., & Petr, C. (2006). Odors and consumer behavior in a restaurant. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 25, 335-339.