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Have you ever wondered why sweets are always by the till in supermarkets? Why you are made to walk down many aisles to reach the everyday essentials at the back of the shop?

Retailers are always coming up with new tactics to get us impulse buying.

The BBC's Denise Winterman reveals some of the ways in which they try to trick us into buying what we might not really need.

One of them is messing up the merchandise. Some shop assistants do it on purpose to give the impression that these are must-haves, which lots of people have been looking at.

Companies are also trying to gather and analyse data from an individual's financial transactions, social media posts and mobile phone signals. They're planning to personalise offers for individual customers by using GPS location data to target them when they are actually walking past one of their shops.

And eye-tracking technology is the latest weapon in the fight for customers. In some shops, digital screens behind luxury brand display stands are activated when a perfume bottle is picked up, flashing seductive images. Eye-tracking systems are fixed into screens to gather data so the images can be personalised. It's all done in seconds.

Paula Dowie from the retail design agency Ignite Design says: "Certain software programs can gather huge amounts of data on you almost instantly. Age, gender, what you're looking at... If you're a young women or a middle-aged man... Images are then flashed up that will appeal to you."

It's about entertainment and making a shop one that people want to enter. Brands like Apple and Top Shop are "genius" at doing this, says Joseph Staton, director of GfK Consumer Trends. During London Fashion Week, Top Shop screened its own fashion shows live in its flagship store in London's Oxford Street.

"It's about offering things like art and music as part of the shopping experience," says Staton.

Quiz 测验

1. According to the article, where in the shop do you find items you need regularly?

At the back of the shop.

2. Why do shop assistants mess up items in the shop?

They want to give the impression that lots of people were interested in buying these items.

3. According to the article, what kinds of data do companies analyse?

An individual's financial transactions, social media posts, mobile phone signals, customers' GPS location data and which luxury products customers look at using eyeball-tracking technology, as well as things like age and gender.

4. What expression means 'buying something you don't need'?

Impulse buying.

5.Which word means 'buyer'?

Customer.

Glossary 词汇表

till 收银台

an aisle 过道

everyday essentials (eg milk, bread) 日常必需品（如：牛奶、面包）

retailer 零售商

impulse buying 冲动购物

to trick (us) into (something) 用小花招把（我们）引导

merchandise 商品

a shop assistant 一位商店营业员

on purpose 故意的

a must-have 一个非买不可的东西

to gather 去收集

a financial transaction 一笔财务交易

to personalise 去个人化

a customer 一位顾客

GPS location data 卫星定位数据

eye-tracking technology 眼球跟踪技术

a luxury brand 一家奢侈品牌

a display stand 一个展示柜台

retail 统计数字零售

flagship store 旗舰店