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Counter culture: subtle psychology is gearing soft sell to big profits.

ENTERING a supermarket is like taking a seat in the psychiatrist's chair - the food shopper's deepest desires will be laid open and explored. In-store cameras backed up by dis­creet human surveillance measure when and where we are predisposed to pause and drop that unnecessary little luxury into the trolley. The laser beam at the check-out records what precipitates higher sales of mozzarella cheese – moving it to an eye-catching display or featuring it in the supermarket's latest TV advertisement. Nothing is fortuitous, or left to chance. Everything is thought out in minute detail and geared to increased sales and prof­its, which means getting consumers to buy things they don't really need, but cannot resist.

It’s only evident that supermarkets prefer to equivocate any questions about tactics. They are reticent about their shams aimed at circumventing the most critically-minded shopper, and making him part with his critical faculties. They wish to appear the friendly grocer who helps wash our salads, not our brains.

Both shopping precinct design and goods layout should look inadvertent.

However, it is hard to disguise that virtually every new superstore has its primary doors on the left so the shopping is done clockwise, to the right. "Nine out of ten people are right handed and they prefer turning to the right," said Wendy Godfrey, a spokeswoman for Salisbury's, one major supermarket chain.

Profits from the store's own label products are normally higher than those from the big manu­facturers. So own label baked beans are usually placed to the left of the Heinz display because the eye reads left to right and will spot the store's brand first. The big manufacturers can rectify this by paying a premium for better display. How much they pay - especially when they may well be making the own brand version for the super­market - is a closely guarded secret and remains clandestine.

Of the 16,000 items of food which a superstore displays, only about 200 are KVIs - known value items - essentials such as tea, butter and coffee, the price of which will be known by most customers.

Three rules apply here.

Firstly, keep the cost competitive, which means halving gross profit margins to 15 per cent.

Second, dot the KVIs around the store, disseminating bakery and dairy products in different corners. Customers will have to follow the route known among specialists as golden triangle hunting essentials out and walking past the frozen black forest gateau, or mangetout peas - items they do not really need.

Moreover change the location of the KVIs from time to time shifting them from familiar surroundings to compel customers to search for trivial goods prolonging even the most routine shopping.

Can a store be too big, threatening and confus­ing for the customer? Current thinking is that abundance sells. A well-stocked 20-foot display of tomato ketchup sells more sauce than a depleted shelf 15 feet long. "I don't think there is a maxi­mum size unless it is how fast the average cus­tomer can get round without the frozen food defrosting," said John Davidson, a lecturer in retail marketing at the University of Surrey.

"Lighting influences the customer," he said. "It is kept soft in the wine section to encourage browsing, but it is sharp and bright at the cosmet­ics counter to suggest cleanliness."

Width of aisles is also a factor. "If they move too fast they are missing buying opportunities," said Andy Mitchell, research officer with the Institute of Grocery Distribution. "They also try to bounce you back and forth across the aisle by putting the best-selling digestive biscuit on one side and the most popular chocolate one on the other."

Convenience and cost are also behind Sunday trading. Round-the-clock running of freezer and chill cabinets means supermarkets cost a lot to operate after closing. Many perishables depreciated and thrown away on Saturday afternoon could be sold on Sunday. Just as important, however, is the psychology of leisure shopping. International studies show that people buy more expensive, discretionary items when they are relaxed and browsing.

It is not only how much one buys, but what one buys. A supermarket makes more profit from its own brand, microwave cooked-chill chicken Kiev than it does from the ingredients needed to make it at home. Many consumers appear willing to pay almost any price to avoid preparing food. Grated carrots wrapped in a nice plastic bag sell briskly for £1.18 a pound at Sainsbury's. Whole carrots, a few feet away, cost just 19p a pound.