Could Costco be a

Cost-Con?

By Levi, PJ and Noah

Everyone has been to shopping websites and stores, but are you buying more than you

really bargained for? Studies have shown that different

companies such as Costco and Sam’s Club try countless

different methods to try and get you to buy all of their

products. How do they do it? The answer lies inside the

stores…

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How We Decide

What Exactly Happens?We all make decisions about what we buy in stores, but how exactly does it happen? What parts of your brain are in motion while you are trying to decide whether to buy white socks, or pink ones instead?

Brain Parts in Motion

Nucleus Accumbens- is the part of your brain that wants an item. If you want an item, your nucleus accumbens immediately fills your brain with dopamine. This makes you feel rewarded.

Insula- is the part of your brain that says no. Your insula wants you to hold on to your money. The insula is the part of your brain that says WAIT, YOU HAVENT SEEN THE PRICE YET.

Although the insula and the nucleus accumbens may have conflicting “thoughts”, ultimately, they both work with the pre-frontal cortex to decide whether to get the item or not. The pre-frontal cortex seems

to get the most excited when there is a really good sale or deal.

Conflicting Brain Parts:

VS.

Tricks used to get us to buy items Advertisements

Class notes on consumer tricks

•Celebrities•Buy one get one•299.99 instead of 300•Original price crossed out•Coupons •Raise and lower •“only good for a limited time”•If you buy in the next 30 minutes•WAIT! We’ll DOUBLE our offer!!!!•Four payments…•75 dollar value

Our notes on advertising tricks

Vibrant Colors- always seem to draw the eye to whatever item is being displayed

Packaging- also plays a big part in what consumers buy, because of the pictures on the boxes and the colors. Bright colors ALWAYS attract the eye

Point of Purchase- where the item is placed in the isle is a big factor in what people buy. You’re not going to go down every isle in the store all the time. If a really cool item was at the end of an isle that you weren’t going to go down, you might find yourself interested.

Commercials, same techniques to target different generations

Honda Pilot Advertisement

NostalgiaThe song featured in this video is “Crazy Train,” by Ozzy Ozbourne. The song was first released in 1987. The ad targets a certain group of people, who remember when the song first came out.

Kia Advertisement, Popular and Present

This Advertisement shows the Kia hamsters dancing to a recently popular song, “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO. This Ad can be used to target a whole different group of people than the Honda Pilot ad.

More Advertising Techniques VW Bug Commercial,

The Force

This ad appeals to our “inner child” as the kid in the commercial, dressed in a Darth Vader suit tries to make things move with the force. VW not only presents their new car, but introduces the ability to start the car without being inside it.

Chevy Volt Gas Station Commercial

The Chevy Volt commercial tries to insert an element of humor into their commercial. It also has a very present note of repetition (i.e. “I thought these were electric!”) in it. This appeals to the environmentalist in all of us.

Class notes on used brain parts:

NACC- because Levi said so

Insula- asking a lot of questions

Mirror Neurons- reflecting

Visual Cortex- seeing the ad

Auditory Cortex- hearing the ad

Prefrontal Cortex- decision making

Hippocampus- is your center of memory. It associates whatever is in the ad, with what you remember. Like in the Crazy Train commercial, it associates the song with Ozzy Ozbourne, and hearing the song when it first came out.

New Brain Parts in Action

Visual Cortex- (left) Is definitely in action as it watches the ad, and sends what it’s seeing to the Hippocampus and the Prefrontal Cortex.Auditory Cortex- (right) Is where you actually hear the ad and send the signals to other brain parts ( the Wernicke's Area)

Wernicke's Area- (left) is the part of your brain that actually understands what you’re hearing. This may then connect to the Nucleus Accumbens, which says “hey, I want that!”

Prefrontal Cortex

Nucleus Accumben

sVTA

Process of Pleasure

The VTA, or Ventral Tegmental Area, is one of the places that dopamine first originates. The VTA neurons send their axons to the Nucleus Accumbens (flooded with dopamine when you first see an item) and then to the Prefrontal Cortex, so when you end up buying an item that you really want, you feel rewarded

The End!