I caught this segment on the CBS Early show and thought it was pretty interesting.

I’ve done stories before about how products are placed in grocery stores so that you are more likely to buy them and how manufacturers even use certain colors in packaging that are more likely to grab your attention for a particular product.

The fact is, MOST if not ALL stores have strategies to get you to SPEND!

CBS interviewed John Long, whom they referred to as an expert in the science of retail. Did you even know there was such a thing? He says -- when you walk into a store, nothing is by accident. He says there truly is science behind it all.

Long says Secret number 1 is to appeal to the senses. Think WILLIAMS SONOMA! I am proof it works! Many times I’ve walked in there and the employees were making something that smelled really good! One treat I remember well is pumpkin squares made with their scrumptious pumpkin butter. I now keep my pantry stocked with it! Sometimes a strategy like that works so well that you buy the ingredients, the spoon to stir it with and the pan to bake it in!

Secret number 2 according to Long: One to show and one to go. That's when a retailer pre-wraps gifts so that you can get in and out of the store quickly and conveniently! You don’t have to do anything else! Sales can increase sales up to 50% with that strategy.

Secret number 3, one that also jumps sales by as much as 50%, END CAPS! When we see merchandise at the end of an aisle, we automatically think it’s special! Got to have it! Not to mention, many stores such as TARGET, put sale items on end caps. My husband ALWAYS checks the end caps – and more often than not buys stuff we don’t need because it was an “end cap deal.” It works!

Secret number 4: Long calls it stack 'em high and watch 'em fly. When stores display products from floor to ceiling, it catches our eyes! Again, we think it’s special! The sales increase for stores as much as 100%.

And secret number 5: The solution sale. Long says when stores put a variety of items together – think Crate and Barrel where they have those beautiful tables with the place settings, placemats, napkins, glasses and candles, you just want it all! Long says “solution sales” can also increase sales more than 100%.

I’d add secret number 6 to getting ME to SPEND anyway. Whatever it is, tell me it will make me look thinner and younger and I’ll buy it!!!