Why is supermarket shopping so confusing?

"Hey! Hey mister! You've got my trolley!"

A woman's voice rang across the frozen vegetable aisle.

She was trying – and failing – to get my attention.

I didn't hear her. I was too flummoxed, frazzled and fried.

After more than an hour navigating the shelves of Pak'nSave Mangere, I just wanted to get out of there.

Normally, when I do the grocery shopping, I grab what I can and leave as fast as possible.

A supermarket is not my favourite place to be.

That’s especially true since inflation has seen New Zealand’s grocery prices rise 24% since 2021. That’s for a basic diet for a family of four, according to a recent study by the Department of Human Nutrition at the University of Otago.

This time, I was trying to change the vibe.

This time, I had listened to the advice.

I wanted to save money, to not give in to temptation.

I attempted to look at the pricing, to understand the specials, to make sure no psychological games were being played on me, either through product placement, advertising or giant signs promoting deals.

This time, I tried to be an enlightened (or “conscious”) shopper.

How it felt doing a conscious shop

To understand all those signs and work out whether advertised deals really are deals, takes time, and energy.

Every item you put in your trolley needs to be researched, compared to prices at competing supermarkets, and fact-checked.

Several times during my conscious shop, I was forced to pull out my phone and check Pak'nSave's website, trying to make sure the price attached to the in-store item was the same as the one being advertised.

I found items for sale that didn't have any price stickers.

I found products that had spilled out of their section and into others.

I found three different levels of pricing – white stickers, black stickers, and red stickers – making it difficult to work out what was on special, and what was a normal, everyday price.

And so, after nearly 90 minutes of doing this, I left my trolley (in the frozen vege aisle) to assess the final section of the supermarket – the wine and beer corner.

One wine shelf was blazed with bright-red "extra low" tape.

But when I checked the prices of the bottles on that shelf, some weren't on special at all.

It's no wonder that when I finally returned to my trolley, I took the wrong one.

My fellow shopper shook her head at me as I apologised profusely.

Is this what supermarket shopping feels like now?

What we found on our first visit to Pak’nSave Mangere

Out of Auckland's 18 Pak'nSave supermarkets, we chose Mangere because it has previously been caught out misleading customers.

In 2020, the Commerce Commission fined the supermarket $78,000 for discrepancies between the advertised price of smoked salmon, mushrooms and avocados and what was being charged at the till.

"Consumers should be able to trust that the price displayed on the shelf is the price they will be charged," Commerce Commission chair Anna Rawlings said in her decision.

Consumer considered the fine handed out inadequate and not large enough to deter dodgy pricing.

Even so, we thought the supermarket would now be on its best behaviour.

So, I paid it a visit.

I visited twice, in fact, on consecutive weeks – on the mornings of 25 January and 1 February 2024.

On my first visit, I was greeted at the entrance by a rack of bread with no price above it.

In the butchery, two different kinds of Hellers pre-cooked sausages were being advertised for $5, but the packs also had an "extra low" sign above them displaying a different price: $11.89.

It wasn't clear which sign was for which type of sausage, but an online search showed both kinds were $5 a bag. The $11.89 was the per-kilo charge for sliced pork in the adjacent chiller.

Including the product’s name on the price sign would easily clear up this confusion.

Around the corner, more "extra low" signage surrounded one end of the chilled goods section, yet some of the products in the display were not on special.

Fresh’ n Fruity Greek yoghurt was discounted to $6.59 (down from the normal price of $7.29), and Lisa's tomato, capsicum and almond dip was discounted to $3.99 (down from $4.60).

Yet, despite being displayed in the same "extra low" section, Lisa's jalapeno and lime dip was not on special, with customers charged the everyday price of $3.99. At $11.99, Heller's manuka smoked rasher bacon was also not part of an “extra low” special.

Later on, the same thing happened in the wine and beer section. Both ends of the shelf displayed “extra low” signage. Five bottles were on sale. Yet four were not.

What we found on our second visit

So, I went back a week later.

Once again, I found products without prices.

Packs of golden crumpets had no prices on them . Neither did the Ecostore dishwashing liquid nor the cans of Pringles chips piled near a checkout.

While the chilled display with its “extra low” pricing had been changed, and now included only items that were on special , the wine shelf had not and still included several bottles whose prices had not been discounted at all.

And although there were no discrepancies at the checkout between the advertised prices of the items I chose and what I was actually charged, I again left the supermarket feeling frazzled.

What is being done?

Consumer has been issuing warnings about misleading supermarket advertising for some time.

“Retailers know shoppers are more likely to buy a product if it’s on special – this leaves consumers vulnerable if specials are not genuine,” says Consumer chief executive Jon Duffy.

Last year, we received 300 examples of dodgy supermarket specials after asking readers to send us their evidence.

That lead to a complaint being laid with the Commerce Commission, which is now investigating Woolworths, Foodstuffs North Island and Foodstuffs South Island for false and misleading shelf pricing.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment also introduced a new regulation last August requiring grocery retailers to consistently and clearly display prices by weight, volume or number.

However, these new rules are not mandatory until August 2024.

Why is it like this?

Ekant Veer isn't surprised I felt confused during my two shopping experiences.

Veer is a professor of marketing at the University of Canterbury, researching (among other topics) consumer behaviour.

"What it sounds like you're trying to do is what a lot of spending advisors say and that's to be mindful with your shopping, to think about your purchases, to be cognitively aware, to be emotionally attuned to what's happening," says Veer.

"That takes a lot of energy ... so much energy that it wears you down. That cognitive load, that amount of information, just wears you down so much that you end up confused."

Veer says overwhelm can lead to impulse purchases – and that’s what supermarket owners are hoping for.

“Your body goes back to, “Just buy the green milk and stop overthinking this. Just grab what you've always bought ... the kids like chocolate, just get the flippin' chocolate and move on”.

"That's what supermarkets play on. They try to do that in order to make sure that you not only get what you need ... it gets you to buy those things that they know are going to make them high gross profits."

Veer says supermarkets have tools and techniques to draw shoppers’ attention towards certain items they want them to buy.

"Putting on a little red sticker, which is actually only maybe a 10% discount, grabs your eyes, and now they've sold that product," he says.

"It could be because they've got a promotion with the wholesaler, it could be because they've got too much stock and want to move it. It's meeting other goals that they have.

"So there's different ways in which they use colour, sound, and visuals in order to try and encourage you to buy the things they want you to buy."

Foodstuff responds: ‘We’ve taken prompt action’

After our concerns were raised with Foodstuffs, a spokesperson responded, saying each product in the “extra low” promotional displays included the correct individual price for each item.

But the “extra low” signage was removed after being contacted by Consumer in an effort to “make things clearer”.

The spokesperson queried some of the evidence of goods missing price tickets, but said there were a variety of ways a pricing ticket could be removed from an in-store item.

“We take price integrity extremely seriously; supermarkets are very dynamic environments and it’s each store’s practice when a product is put on the shelf that there is a price on the product,” they said.

“In the day-to-day hustle and bustle of the store, sometimes tickets do come off and to minimise customer impact, Pak’nSave Mangere has a team member responsible for frequently checking the tickets are where they should be.

“We’ve taken Consumer NZ’s concerns seriously, investigating each photograph provided promptly, and where we think we could make things clearer in the store, we’ve taken prompt action to do this.”

The spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for an explanation about the differences between the black, white and red price stickers.

How can you shop consciously?

Preparation is the key to visiting a supermarket without giving in to external pressures like bulk-buy specials and discounts, says Veer.

His advice includes making a list at home, taking it with you, using a calculator if you need to, and eating something before you go.

“It means your mind is focused on getting the best deal on bread, getting the best deal on milk, not going, “Oh my God, there's so much in front of me and I’ve got to think about what I need as well.”

“If you are casually going through, chucking things in without thinking about it, that's bad. Someone who’s unprepared, just chucking things in … that's the really profitable consumer for the supermarket.”

Being aware and vigilant of the tricks supermarkets play on you is a good thing, he says. For example, often the most expensive products are at eye level, with cheaper options closer to the floor.

But you can take it too far, and Veer believes that’s what I did with my experiment.

“If you were spending an hour labouring [over your decisions] and you are mindful about every item going in, I think that's exhausting.”

It can also leave you prone to impulse purchases.

His best hack is to shop online and to ask your local supermarket to pack your goods for you. If you pick the groceries up, the service is often free, and you can stay in control of your budget and avoid being influenced by external pressures.

Veer and his family have been taking this approach since Covid and he says it has worked out well.

“We've saved a lot of money in the end because we're not being distracted by these special prices,” he says.

“When you're there and you're stressed or you're emotional, you can see the comfort food, see a special [and buy it by accident].

“That effect is dulled down quite a bit online.”