Customer Manipulation in a Retail Outlet and the Customer’s Purchasing Decisions

The customer is one of the most significant participants of economic processes. However, not all purchasing decisions that consumers make can be deemed as rational ones. The irrationality that accompanies consumers when shopping arises from the human psyche and personality, where conscious acts of making choices merge with external stimuli (e.g. manipulations employed by retail outlets). The basic aim of this study has been to determine the awareness of manipulative techniques used in shops among consumers, and then to try and evaluate their effectiveness. The study is an example of survey research and it used an online survey as a research tool. The study was participated by 194 respondents. The research results show that according to the respondents the manipulations most often used are: psychological pricing (‘odd prices’), promoting a product by offering some tangible benefits (enhancing the appeal of a product) and placing products near checkouts in order to induce impulse buying. As for the effectiveness of the analysed techniques, it coincides with their intensity. Apart from the ones mentioned above (manipulating prices, promoting sales and checkout zone), a proper and interesting arrangement of the shop’s layout is worth attention. The respondents declared that fragrance marketing was demonstrably less effective. Most respondents do not consider manipulations targeting the behaviour of clients as unethical actions. There were no distinctly negative attitudes to the applied manipulative techniques. Based on the survey results, it can be concluded that manipulations of customer behaviour in retail outlets are very common, if not standard actions. Customers understand how such manipulations work, are at least to some extent vulnerable to them and, most importantly, are satisfied with them. The respondents see manipulations in the context of benefits that can be gained rather than the costs they can incur.