Marketing ploys retailers use to get you spending
Written and accurate as at: Sep 08, 2026 Current Stats & Facts
You’re probably familiar with some of the strategies supermarkets use to encourage you to spend more, like displays near the cash register and products positioned at children’s eye level. But supermarkets aren’t the only ones with a few tricks up their sleeves.
Online stores and department stores use a range of tactics to influence what you buy, how much you spend and how quickly you make a decision. While none of these are necessarily sinister, it helps being able to recognise them for what they are, particularly when you’re trying to keep your spending under control.
Price anchoring
A product marked down from $200 to $120 might seem like a bargain, but that older figure beside the sale price is doing a lot of the heavy lifting. This strategy is known as anchoring, and it primes shoppers to see a price as a bargain by serving up a less attractive price as a reference point.
In Australia, there are rules around advertising discounts using fake original prices. But even if the original price is real, it’s worth asking yourself if it would still seem like good value if the $200 figure had never appeared.
Countdown timers and low stock warnings
The pull of FOMO is hard to resist sometimes, and retailers can create that feeling by claiming supply of an item is limited or displaying countdown clocks ticking towards the end of a sale.
Don’t let that pressure get in the way of the ordinary process of comparing options. A little due diligence can help you work out whether you’re getting a genuinely good deal or simply being encouraged to set your better judgement aside and make a quick decision.
Offering discounts for mail list signups
Many retailers offer discounts on purchases in exchange for signing up to a mailing list. While there’s nothing wrong with accepting a discount if you were already going to buy an item, the trap is in allowing the discount to sway you into buying something you didn’t need, and then being seduced by all the offers that arrive in your inbox after that.
Affiliate marketing
A big part of the online retail ecosystem these days, affiliate links allow websites and content creators to earn a commission when someone buys through their link. That doesn’t make every recommendation suspect, but it’s still a good idea to read independent reviews and research competing products, rather than taking your favourite influencer at their word.
Targeted advertising
Ever wondered why an ad for something you were just looking at suddenly seems to follow you around the internet? Advertisers can use information about your browsing activity – such as the websites you visit and products you look at – to build a picture of your interests and then show you ads they think you’ll be interested in.
To avoid being tempted by these targeted ads, it might be worth installing an ad blocker on your browser, or toggling the privacy and advertising settings on your social media accounts.
Recommended products
Equipped with mountains of data on our collective shopping habits, online retailers have become quite adept at anticipating which items you might be interested in alongside the one you actually came for.
You might be shopping for a smartphone case and receive suggestions for a screen protector. Or you could be looking for your next book and be served up a catalogue of others that readers with similar taste enjoyed. These recommendations can be useful, but they might also encourage you to keep adding to your cart when you hadn’t planned to buy anything else.
Minimums for shipping
It’s common for online retailers to offer free shipping when you spend beyond a certain threshold. But if you’re only buying extra things to avoid a $10 delivery fee, you could end up spending more overall.
Before expanding your order, take a moment to do a little cost-benefit analysis. If, for example, you need to spend another $40 to qualify for free shipping, paying $10 for delivery will leave you with $30 more in your pocket than buying something you don’t really need. And if you do decide to buy another item, ask whether it’s something you genuinely want or something that will just collect dust.
Recognising these attempts to nudge you in a particular direction can help you be more deliberate with your shopping. The goal isn’t to avoid spending altogether, but to make sure your purchases reflect what you actually want and need, rather than what a retailer wants you to buy.