They put the milk and bread a mile apart and one of them is in the back of the store. No accident. They know you will see something you weren't thinking about and didn't intend to buy, but earlier branding you were exposed to will trigger an impulse sale or two. You won't become an ____ ______ wiener, but you sure might buy some when you see them on the way to the milk. You might even buy a pair of shoes. Ooops! Did I say that out loud.
This is supposed to take years for you to figure out, if you ever did. You lucky dog. You are way ahead of the curve. Now do you know why a newbie is seen as fresh meat when you show up somewhere? There is good news. Before I give it to you, go get the duct tape and tape your mouth shut right now. I'm not kidding, keep your mouth shut. Here goes:
While this psychological advantage is known to some in marketing/sales, it's virtually unknown in most all other areas of life. Just think of all those niche markets. Almost nobody knows this except the successful marketers selling products and services to all those consumers.
Yes,there are exceptions like motivational speakers, shrinks, psychics and the sort. That is a very small percentage of the overall population and they keep quite for the same reasons we do. Now here is the rub. It's easy to cross the line with the psychology thing. It can be more than powerful, it can be dangerous. Hitler was a master of psychology, first he persuaded, then he controlled....minds. It's awesome power was used for pure evil.