評論
打印
Grocery shopping
超市大采購
Aisle be damned
該死的通道
For the best bargains, avoid shopping around for your groceries
欲求物美價廉貨，貨比三家要不得
THRIFTY shoppers do not have to look far to find a bargain. Offers abound in the cut-throat world of British supermarkets. Received wisdom suggests that people trying to save money on their groceries should shop around to get the best prices. But research presented on April 9th at the Royal Economic Society suggests that those who do so end up paying more.
節儉的消費者們不需要尋覓很遠就能買到便宜貨。英國殘酷的超市世界中其實充斥著很多這樣的便宜貨。一種廣泛被接受的觀點認為，想要在購物上省錢的人們就應該貨比三家，這樣才能找到最理想的價格。但是4月9日由皇家經濟協會展出的研究指出，那些貨比三家的人通常到最后反而花的更多。
Kun Tian, a researcher at Cardiff Business School, and Ji Yan of Durham University, the paper's authors, argue that people who buy all their groceries at just one of the big supermarkets (Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons) pay less than those who purchase equivalent goods at a mixture of the four of them. Data from Kantar Worldpanel, a market-research firm, show similar trends. Unlike Mr Tian's study, these cover total purchases rather than comparing equivalent baskets of goods. They show that people who bought groceries in just one store during the 12 weeks to September 2013 spent 631. Those who went to ten different places, by contrast, forked out 1,249.
研究論文的作者是來自卡迪夫商學院的研究員田坤，以及來自杜倫大學的延吉，他們認為僅在四家大型超市其中某一家購物的人（分別是特易購、森寶利、阿斯達以及莫里森超市）會比在四家分別消費等值商品的人花費的要少。我們也能從市場研究公司凱度消費者指數研究處提供的數據中看到同樣的趨勢。不過該數據與田坤的研究不一樣的地方在于其數據涵蓋了所有的消費品，而不僅僅是對比等值的商品。數據指出，只在一家超市購物的消費者在2013年9月之前的12周內只花費了631英鎊，而相比之下，那些在十家不同超市分別購物的人最終卻支出了1249英鎊。
Many of those high-spending shoppers probably had money to burn. But bargain-hunters who visit lots of shops are exposed to more products, and thus more likely to buy things they had not planned to, argues Phil Dorsett, an analyst at Kantar. Mr Tian reckons that promiscuous shoppers suffer from missing out on savings offered to more loyal customers, especially those earned after spending a lot in a particular store. Shoppers who frequent an abundance of different outlets also tend to be older, says Mr Tian. They are less likely than people with young families to take advantage of deals that require them to buy goods in bulk.
很多高消費的購物者們大多數可能都錢多的燒得慌。但是凱度研究所的分析師菲爾·多賽特指出，那些會逛很多家超市愛撿便宜的消費者往往會暴露在更多的商品中，因而更有可能會購買計劃之外的商品。而田坤認為逛多家超市的消費者也會錯失享受折扣的機會，這些折扣一般是提供給更為忠誠的顧客們，特別是那些在某一家特定的超市大量消費就能獲得的折扣。田坤還指出，常去多家不同便利店的購物者也趨向于更為年長，因為和有著年輕家庭的青壯年相比，他們享受需要大量購買商品才能打折的優惠的可能性要低得多。
Those who buy their groceries in fewer emporia—and so spend less—are also more likely to do their shopping online. And on the internet they are more likely to buy products from supermarkets' cheaper own-label ranges, says Edward Garner, also of Kantar. Supermarkets do not always stock such ranges in their small convenience outlets; people shopping in a hurry may as well be encouraged to buy more expensive varieties. In big stores, low-cost lines may be stashed well above or below a harried shopper's line of sight. Search a supermarket's online store, however, and they pop up just as appetisingly as more expensive brands. That provides much less scope for shelf deception.
選擇在較少商業中心里購物的人們（同樣也花的更少）也更可能選擇上網購物。并且在網上消費者買到超市中更為廉價的自有品牌產品的可能性更高，凱度研究所的另一位員工愛德華·加納這樣說道。超市也不總是在它們的小型便利連鎖店里囤自有品牌產品；匆忙的消費者倒不如說是被鼓勵去購買更為昂貴種類的商品了。在大型商店中，琳瑯滿目的商品總是會令購買者眼花繚亂，而低價產品往往會被堆放至高于或低于購買者視線所及之處的地方。然而在網上超市搜索低價產品的話，它們就會突然出現在你面前，和那些更為昂貴的品牌產品一樣令人蠢蠢欲動。這就大大縮小了貨架騙術施展的范圍。譯者：朱大素 校對：曾擎禹
譯文屬譯生譯世
