You may not realise, but when you enter a shop, or browse an eCommerce website, everything has been tailored with shopper’s psychology in mind.

Nothing is accidental.

Colors, shapes, music, placement – all aspects of your shopping experience in most cases will have been carefully crafted in order to enhance your in-store or browsing interactions. Businesses make use of certain traits and behaviour the human brain exhibits to invoke feelings and emotions, and create a pleasant and favourable environment for their customers to shop in. This in turn increases the likelihood of a sale, and paints their business in a positive light.

Similar techniques are used for online shops. A smartly designed e-store would leave a pleasant feeling with smooth navigation, embracing colors and streamlined product browsing and purchase. The average end user would say that the shop is intuitive and easy to use, but the reality is that a lot of premeditated effort is put into making intuitive interfaces and seamless experience.

Tj Maxx is a prime example of this: everything seems so inviting and welcoming, yet functional and without any clutter. Such polished site can be made only by experienced designers and programmers, who know where and how to place every single page element.

Examples of shopper’s psychology include sights, sounds, colors, smells and visual displays but don’t stop there. The smell of lavender for example when used in a store relaxes customers whereas leather and cedar creates the impression of expensive goods. Moreover, the color black is associated with power and luxury, whilst yellow is often associated with optimism and youth. Businesses can use these psychological traits to customize their stores and guide their customers.

Aside from smells and colors, businesses can also tap into statistical psychology. For example, data shows that 87% of consumers are primarily concerned with price, as opposed to 53% who are concerned with a tailored selection of products. Businesses can use stats such as these to highlight product features that customers value the most. As you can see, shopper’s psychology is a potent tool to tap into. The infographic below showcases some further details about this subject and shows you just how powerful shopper’s psychology can be: