Tricks of trade leave shoppers spent force

THEY are the retail tricks designed to tug at our purse strings and suck us into shopping longer or spending even more.

From soft music to slow us down, milk cabinets at the back of stores, an absence of clocks and even floor tile sizes, clever tactics abound.

Shopping centre visits by consumer group Choice uncovered layouts and misleading signs that disorient; paths leading people past dozens of stores to get between big retailers or to carparks; and escalator routes that parade customers by a multitude of shop fronts.

Choice spokesman Tom Godfrey said tricky architec- ture and subconscious marketing aimed to make us linger and buy on impulse.

‘‘It is usually quite subtle and most people wouldn’t realise,’’ Mr Godfrey said.

‘‘ They use every expert from psychologists to architects in a well-planned strategy to try to get you to part with your hard-earned cash.’’

In future, the anonymous Wi-Fi tracking of customers’ smartphones and other mobile devices to follow movements through centres is expected to take off.

This would allow managers to tweak floor plans and tenant mixes, as well as tweaking their marketing campaigns.