How often have you walked out of a supermarket with dozens more items than you intended to buy?

Supermarkets conduct extensive research on consumers and shopping habits and they know exactly how to get us to fill our shopping trolleys and empty our wallets.

It’s all aimed at impulse spending. Little wonder they’ve been referred to as “cathedrals of consumerism”.

The moment we step inside those electronically controlled doors we are being psychologically manipulated by perfectly honed marketing tools and at the mercy of tricks - both subtle and overt.

Stands are designed to catch our eye and the store layout is structured to maximise profit and define what products and brands we buy.

So how to beat the system?

1) Be aware of the tricks – the smell of chicken roasting or bread baking makes us hungry; the most profitable goods are usually placed at eye level so remember to look higher and lower on shelves for less profitable products; bright red discount signs flag discounts of 10 cents or less on the company's most profitable items while the real bargains are much harder to find (remember supermarkets want us to spend after all); essentials items tend to be placed at the back of the shop forcing us to walk past other tempting items that we definitely don't need; the sweets and magazines are placed close to the registers; and of course items are priced at $4.99 instead of $5.00 making them appear cheaper.

2) Don’t let supermarket marketing steer your trolley – it’s all about adopting the right mindset. Replace "what's the cheapest way to get all the goodies I want?" with “what's the best value I can get on my $$ budget?”

3) Downgrade brands and buy the same for significantly less. Supermarkets have encouraged us to spend more by moving us up the brand chain. In many instances downshifting from the premium brand, through the manufacturer’s brand, the supermarket’s own brand to the no frills brand will reveal very little difference in quality. Variations in packaging and labelling allow supermarkets to justify huge price variations. Often it’s all just a myth.

Have you worked out a way to avoid succumbing to supermarket psychology? Have your say on FatCat's MoneyConfessions.