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Page 14 â€" Waterloo Chronicle, Wednesday, October 10, 1979 Business By Howard Elliott ‘ Chronicle staff writer If someone offered to help you save 15 to 30 per cent on your weekly grocery bills, what would your reacâ€" tion be? : Bill Oldfield, an employee at the University of Waâ€" terloo, has come up with a product that he says will do exactly that. It‘s called the Market Master Shopping Package, and Mr. Oldfield says the product is deâ€" signed to beat supermarket marketing and merchanâ€" dising techniques. The Market Master project began when Mr. Oldâ€" field and a friend "tried to figure a way to stretch our food dollar." The team began extensive research which eventualâ€" ly led to discoveries about supermarket marketing techniques. â€" _ oo ‘"Market Master system takes advantage of this knowledge,"‘ Mr. Oldfield said. The basic premise inâ€" volved is that supermarkets are set up for self serâ€" vice, and they profit most when we (the shopper) serve ourselves badly. AlH supermarkets rely heavily on impulse buying, according to the Market Master system. Research done by the inventors showed that over 50 per cent of all purchases made in grocery stores are made on imâ€" pulse. Supermarkets, according to Mr. Oldfield, ‘"spare no effort on expense to exploit this fact.‘" Everything from store layout to the location of products on shelâ€" ves has been scientifically designed to promote unâ€" planned purchases. Hand written daily feature sale signs and displays are no exception, he said. Markets rely heavily on imâ€" pulse buying because it often allows the store the highest profit margin possible. According to the Market Master research package, a shopper is exposed to 317 products per minute, althâ€" ough the products needed to run a household are scatâ€" Wharren) /£ 1 NIVL * TOKE ITEMS AND WIDE ASSORTMENT OF SMOKING SUPPLIES % PRICE SALE TO BE HELD AT 60 GOLDBECK LANE JUNCTION OF UN'T 101 aftnronsairsom,"" WATERLOO 886â€"4176 Market Master â€" (ANY SIZE OR BRAND) 2 PKG‘S FOR $1.00 e CIGARETTES * CIGARS * ADULT MAGAZINES (ASSORTED) SMOKE SALE SAT. ONLY. OCT. 13TH 1 PM â€" 6 PM OF GOODS FROM ART‘S VARIETY WATERLOO / PRICE / PRICE 5 PRICE tered thrioughout the store. In other words, there are hundreds of products you don‘t need on the shelves beâ€" tween the few products you do need. S That‘s because the goal of the supermarket is to exâ€" pose the shopper to as many products as possible in a short time. Products that always sell well, Market Master says, such as some popular brands of soup, are never shelved at eye level, because the market operators know that product will sell no matter what its locaâ€" tion. Products shelved at eye level almost always sell better than others, Mr. Oldfield‘s study shows, so the markets place highâ€"profit level products in that straâ€" tegic position. Edward Brand, author of a book called Modern Suâ€" permarket Operations, backs up this theory. ‘"As has been noted ‘traffic items and profit items‘ should be displayed near one another. It is customary to give preferred or eyeâ€"level position to the ‘profit items‘ in the theory that the customer will search out the ‘traffic items‘,"" the book states. ‘Traffic items‘ are those that sell by themselves, and profit items are those that need promotion and reâ€" turn a higher percentage profit. _ _ _ _ & Mr. Oldfield‘s research also says that ‘"every minuâ€" te over 30 in a store costs the shopper $1 per minute." The competition between big supermarkets that we constantly hear about through radio, television and printed advertising, does not apply to prices, Mr. Oldâ€" field says. ‘‘Most stores, in fact, make great efforts to conâ€" tinuously match their shelf/regular prices with those of the competition," Market Master research said. In a study by one chain store of four others â€" coverâ€" ing over 200 items â€" the largest difference in price was 9% cents and the smallest was two cents. A total of 151 items studied were identical in price, which Mr. Oldfield claims shows that the stores practice baâ€" You can, with our professivnal help safely remove 20 pounds a month, individual supervision keeps it off! Let us tell you how â€" no charge or obligation. attacking grocery prices WEIGHT LOSS 20 LBS. 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday Master Charge/Visa Also in Toronto No Contracts, fasting or special exercises 30 Duke St. W., Suite 603 Corp. Sq. 7455603 lanced selling. & ‘‘While we were researching shelf prices in stores, the store personnel regularly asked us what chain we were from, they regularly sent shoppers to compare the prices of their competition to stay even.‘"‘ The biggest problem with most shoppers, Mr. Oldâ€" field says, is organization â€" or a lack of it. His reâ€" search shows over 60 per cent of shoppers don‘t use a shopping list, and those that do rarely stick to the list. That makes most shoppers vulnerable to merchandisâ€" ing techniques. And surprisingly, the supermarket‘s most effective ‘"*comeâ€"on * to get shoppers into that particular store, are the weekly advertised specials. c While rummaging through old newspapers doing reâ€" search, Mr. Oldfield and his associate discovered this bit of information, which is verified by similar reâ€" search in Victoria, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, North Bay, Ottawa and Kitchener. If that research is accurate, almost all products any family needs are available at ‘"best buy‘‘ prices over a period of three to four weeks. So if you can‘t find what you want on sale this week, it should be on sale someâ€" time in the three to four weeks. The uneducated shopper isn‘t aware of the techâ€" niques used by modern supermarkets to increase sales and profit. Mr. Oldfield says the Market Master package uses those same techniques, but to the shopâ€" pers advantage The system is ‘‘designed for everyone‘s shopping,"‘ he says, and users should experience ‘"enormous savâ€" ings right off the bat." ‘"If you filled your gas tank and you knew that 20 per cent would leak to the ground, you‘d probably do soâ€" mething about it. It‘s the same thing for food â€" 20 per cent of what you‘re paying you don‘t have to pay." The Market Master package includes a hand sized binder, color coded shopping sheets and a best price purchasing table. The purchasing table is one of the most important components, as it shows what price is reasonable for any given product. Thanks to P.W.C.C., I‘ve lost 20 Ibs. in 5 weeks. I‘ve tried so many different diets without success. With the help of P.W.C.C., | feel and look like a new person. | wish to thank the staft (the director, nurses and nutritionist for all the heilp and support they gave me . . . You‘re all terrific! Cindy Warden, Bramailea, 1 Just Can‘t Believe It!