Milking the weekly shop: 5 tricks in the supermarket playbook
A trip that grows bigger
A shopper may enter a supermarket intending to buy only milk, then leave with unplanned items such as chips, chocolates or sugary cereal. The experience is presented as familiar to many people. The researchers compare supermarkets’ attention-grabbing design to casinos, saying these settings can exploit cognitive vulnerabilities and encourage extra spending without shoppers noticing at the time.
Data shapes shopping tactics
The research team says it has spent years documenting how the supermarket industry gathers and analyses data about consumers. The team says companies use that information to develop strategies aimed at getting people to buy more and eat more. Phillip Baker, an ARC Future Fellow and Sydney Horizon Fellow at the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health, is among the researchers associated with the work.
Baker’s research affiliations
He has also received funding from UNICEF, including as a co-author of its report Ultra-processed Foods and Children. Baker co-led the 2025 Lancet Series on Ultra-processed Foods, funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Key points
- A trip for milk can lead to purchases shoppers had not intended to make.
- Researchers say supermarkets use design and consumer data to encourage extra buying.
- The team says the tactics can affect both how much people buy and eat.