By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
Shopping carts in local hypermarkets were once barely big enough to hold a sack of rice, but nowadays, they're spacious enough to fit two kids. The change wasn't sudden, but a gradual transition with a well thought out formula to get you spending more.
``Our carts used to be too small, so it was pretty tricky for customers to pile items into the space they were given,'' said Kim Tae-woo, a manager at the household goods division at Lotte Mart, adding that some customers refrained from purchasing due to their trouble hauling goods. ``That wasn't a smart strategy on our part.''
The cubic meter pushcarts were widely used in most shopping outlets throughout the early 1990s, as they were first welcomed for their easy-to-use size that fit Asians' small body frame. However, the shortcomings pushed discount chain operators to up the size in the early 2000s.
``The change coincided with the timing when retailers started expanding their store space,'' said a spokesman at E-Mart, the country's No. 1 hypermarket chain. ``Bigger carts worked for bigger stores, which consequently led to better sales.''
However, the new carts still didn't seem big enough as another size upgrade came along in 2003.
``Our analysis of sales trend shows us that more customers are purchasing in bulk, which means they'll need more space to hold their groceries,'' said Kim, adding that the start of the five-day workweek helped trigger these changes.
Kim Byung-hee, an outlet manager of Homeplus, said carts here are now about the same size as those typically seen in shopping outlets overseas.
She said the user-friendly strategy was attempted at first, but marketers began to realize the magic of human psychology, explaining that ``people have a natural desire to fill empty space.''
``Don't tell me that when looking upon your big empty cart triggered you never started to think you had something else to buy,'' said Kim.
Aside from these strategies, managers of shopping outlets are often said to use subliminal techniques with shoppers using various schemes. Some of them include windowless and clock-less stores to keep customers focused on purchasing.