Secrets of the Sales

Everyone loves a bargain.

And with most of us feeling the pinch, as a nation,

we've become obsessed with finding the best deal possible.

And where better to go bargain hunting than the sales?

For generations, sales were just a summer and winter treat.

But now, price promotions happen all year round.

I'm Cherry Healey, and I want to know how the sales work,

and how the shops keep us shopping.

To find out, I've got exclusive backstage access

to some of Britain's largest high street chains.

I'm going behind the scenes inside stores where we spend billions,

to reveal exactly how shops decide what goes on sale...

79 going to 59.

..the surprising ways bargain hunting can affect our bodies

and minds... You've really lit up. Look, 104 beats per minute!

..and hidden sales offering huge price cuts.

Those are ?30!

How much were these originally? Oh! ?175!

And I'll be discovering the tricks shops use to keep us shopping,

from the way stores are designed...

One of their objectives

is to keep your attention on the go all the time.

..to the way they deliberately use scent to help us

sniff out a bargain.

So that gives us scent for the store.

That floral scent just gives a bit more of an edge.

I'm finding out how the shops run their sales

so we can all become savvier sale shoppers.

For nearly 150 years, the John Lewis department store

has been enticing us to part with our cash.

And today - despite the tough economic climate -

the chain continues to expand.

Last year, over ?3 billion was rung up at their tills.

Their winter and summer sales are a key part of that success.

In two days' time, the doors will open for the John Lewis summer sale,

and I get to go backstage and help out.

Right across the high street,

shops create excitement about unwanted, left over stock -

items that haven't sold in that season, at least at full price.

It's one of the biggest retail tricks of all.

And it's been going on since the 1890s.

I'm starting here because this chain specialises in the twice-a-year,

end-of-season clearance sale.

Hi, I'm Cherry, I'm here to help out with the sales team.

Hi. If I could get you to sign in here, please? Thank you.

I believe we've got a badge here for you.

Who are you to here to see? The visual merchandising team.

OK. Hello, everyone. Hi. Sorry, I know you're really busy.

'It's the job of this 44-strong team to make this sale a success.

'So how exactly do they lure us in, make us feel like it's a big event,

'and get us spending even on the most domestic of products?'

Loo brush?

'Yes, there are toilet brushes in this summer sale.'

Always start with the bulkiest at the bottom, smallest at the top.

Right. God, it's very, very... specific, isn't it?

Yes, it is indeed. 'They take their window displays seriously here.

'Chrissie's job is to get hers just right.'

Do you like what I've done with the loo brushes? I do, yeah.

I do, the only thing is, if you look at it,

it's probably looking quite bare right now.

But what we're going to do is, we've got some products...

Chrissie, that is not how we do the towels.

I just put that there to show you another product!

Chrissie, that is a larger towel, that goes at the bottom.

How about you do it for me?

Tag in front or behind? Behind. The tag will be taken off, probably.

Will customers be able to buy them?

Yeah, yeah. If that's the last loo brush in that colour.

We have a number. They say, "Chrissie, window four,

"you have a loo brush, can you please go down and collect it?"

I can have that actual one. You can have that actual loo brush.

So, it's not just the size of the discounts that draw

customers in, but also the store's look and how the stuff is arranged.

How do the loo brushes look?

If you move the front one just slightly to the right. Excellent.

I want my window to look its best.

I'm pregnant, you know. Shall we get Chrissie to help you?

I need to sit down.

SHE GROANS

Outside the store,

the team is heavily promoting the clearance sale.

But there's something else going on, too.

Customers who have come inside looking for clearance bargains

will also find a huge amount of stock that has been specially

bought in...

From high-end TV sets to fridge freezers,

these products, known as "special buys",

account for a significant portion of the items in the sale.

To get the lowdown on special buys,

I'm meeting the branch managing director, Simon Fowler.

So, special buy is different to sale? It is, absolutely.

Special buy items are items where we've negotiated

with our supplier at a particularly good price

because of the volume we buy in one go,

and those will continue right through the clearance period.

I've actually seen a special buy here already.

So, you've bought this sofa in especially for the sale period.

Because you've got a captured audience, I suppose, who are excited

and ready to spend.

Yeah, and I think for a retailer like John Lewis, there are lots of

reasons why, at a moment when customers are looking for sale items,

we can collaborate with our suppliers

and make sure we can bring some extra value, because of the buying power

that we put into the clearance period we have twice a year.

Special buys work for the customer because they're bought in bulk

and the price is discounted.

And they work for John Lewis

because they buy huge volumes of them,

making them as important to profits and turnover

as the traditional clearance part of the sale.

More and more retailers are doing the same thing.

Back on the seventh floor with the visual merchandising team,

there are still hundreds of banners to be made.

Who's the boss? I'm just bossing.

Just cos you've got a tape measure!

Over 600 banners will be placed around the store.

Each one has to be perfect.

To the bottom, so about 10 centimetres. Can we just guess?

Well, they have to be the same, the presentation has to be spot on.

You kind of think, with sales, "Oh,

"just shove everything on a rail and people will rummage around."

We've got a lot of expensive product,

so, if you want them to sell, you have to display them

in the right way, make sure they're displayed in a way that makes

people want to actually purchase them in the first place.

OK, so this has to be specific and neat.

Yes, so you go up 10 centimetres. Put a little mark there.

I can't believe that you are up here in the store making your own

posters by hand.

This is the moment of truth now, you peel it off.

Don't you do it, don't you do it!

Get off my poster!

This is so satisfying. Get off, it's mine.

'A few finishing touches, and mine is complete.'

My special buy poster. Thank you very much, thank you.

So that will actually go up?

Well, I'll check the measurements on that one. It looks OK.

I just hadn't realised how much thought

goes into preparing for a sale.

It's almost military.

The store wants to do two things.

It wants to do the classic clearance sale,

getting rid of excess stock,

but now it also buys stock in so it can cater for

the large number of shoppers coming through its doors

who are hungry for a bargain.

Later on, I'll be back, as hundreds of staff work late into the night

to ready the store for the opening day of the sale next morning.

But how do our high street stores -

whether they're retailing cameras or computers, suits or shoes -

choose which of their products they're going to put into the sale?

And how do they decide how big a price cut to make?

These decisions are very sensitive,

with the power to make or break a business.

So they're taken in closed meetings at the companies' headquarters.

Oh, I just love those.

But I'm about to be allowed behind the scenes

at one of the UK's leading shoe shops.

Footwear retailers have responded to the tough economic climate

with sales - lots of them.

It's the shopping dilemma. You see something that's great,

you want to buy it, but there's always that question -

is it about to go on sale?

And when? And how much? And who decides?

Today, I'm in Eastbourne, visiting the head office of Jones Bootmakers.

Next we have Kingston at half price, at 49.

'They've never before allowed an outsider

'into one of their mark-down meetings.

'Managing director Andrew White and the company's top people

'deliberate over not only what to put in the sale,

'but at what stage during the sale it should be marked down.'

59? Let's go for that.

'Millions of pounds are at stake,

'and the entire senior management team lock themselves away

'for two days to examine every single shoe in the range.'

'The company makes more profit per shoe from their men's range,

'but today, they are focusing on women's footwear.

'I want to find out the mechanics of how a sale is put together,

'to pinpoint the best time to bag a bargain.'

Obviously, with the weather, we had a terrible March.

We lost most of our increase then.

The first two weeks of April were pretty poor as well.

We've got six weeks left till the half-year,

and we have to try to recoup as many of the lost sales as possible.

Gemma. 49 going to 35. OK, is that enough off those ones?

Could be one we reduce right down to 70%,

just to drive a bit of volume.

They haven't sold, so... They're really nice shoes.

So they haven't sold as you expected them to?

You sort of have a finite time in which to sell them.

Cos we've missed half the season with the weather, and seasonality,

you want to speed them up.

How important are sales to your company?

40% of our full-year sales are taken in the winter and summer sales.

Obviously, that isn't 40% of the profit,

because when we're selling full price, we're selling them

with a better margin.

Yeah, I think, particularly when the economy's been quite slow,

the sale, particularly this summer and coming winter, will be very,

very important to us.

Do these sell well in the sale? At the right price! At the right price.

So at full price... Jasmine was 79.

It's a lovely shoe, I feel like I'm selling it.

What do you think you're going to reduce this to? We've got it to 59.

That's the discussion.

In reality, it will probably sell at around 45 to 49.

You mark them down in various phases

and you'll get to a certain price point where suddenly

they start to clear, and that's when every article has its right price.

The customers decide that when they start buying it, obviously.

So why not just put this on the shelves at half price?

Because the aim is obviously to try to sell some more of them

at a higher margin.

Next, we have Hope. That hasn't lived up to its name.

LAUGHTER

Half price again? Yes. Yes. OK.

Ooh, can you just check what percentage we're up to

for the number of styles in the sale at half price?

We're currently running on 9.5%. OK, good. What's that?

Legally, we have to have...

If we've got a promotion on the window saying,

"Sale, up to 50% off",

legally, 10% of your initial stock has to have 50% off.

To justify the message. To be fair.

OK. I'm surprised it's so little, actually.

I thought it would have to be more.

We do have phases of the sale where we say, all sale stock at half price.

Obviously, that's when we'll do that, but, again, to start off with,

it only has to be 10%.

OK, so different phases start fairly gently, reducing prices and then...

As the season goes on, gets shorter,

you're more aggressive with your mark-downs to clear it. OK.

So, from the customer's point of view,

the longer you wait in the sale, the better the deal you'll get.

Yeah, but the trade-off is, if you wait too long,

the style that you might want to buy will already be sold.

That is exactly why sales cause such manic craziness, because you're

waiting for the one you really want to be as low as possible.

It's a betting game.

'Today's been eye opening.

'For a start, I've learnt that when a shop advertises

'"up to 50% off" on its windows, as a general guide,

'only 10% of stock has to be reduced by that amount.

'And, as I've always suspected, it really is the case

'that if you can hold your nerve, then right across the high street,

'the biggest price cuts are to be had in the final days of any sale.

'But what happens to items that don't even sell

'at a mark-down during the sale?

'All retailers need a way to sell on that hard-to-shift stock,

'and that's when you can find some incredible bargains.

'For Jones Bootmaker, as well as many of the high street chains,

'the favoured method is a warehouse clearance sale.

'And they're holding one right next door to their head office.'

Is this shoe heaven? No, this is a shoe graveyard.

Oh, no! Is this where they come at the end of their life?

We've pulled all the old stock back from the stores

and we're selling it off at very keen prices.

I smell a bargain! Plenty down here. I can't wait.

'Warehouse clearances can be hard to find.

'This one was only advertised on local radio

'and on a mobile billboard in Eastbourne.'

I think we've sold 16,000 pairs in this sale now.

It's been on for about nine weeks.

These are really nice boots.

How much are they?

Those ones are now ?30.

I mean, they're real leather. Yep.

They were ?175 originally. Original price.

And then after this, the shoes...

We will generally sell them on to traders,

who will generally sell abroad.

They will be de-branded, so the brand names will be taken out. Really?

It's a simple principle -

big high street retailers will continue to quietly cut their prices

well away from the high street,

until all their unsold stock is gone.

Warehouse clearances, sample sales and factory outlets selling seconds

and last season stock are all good places to snap up a bargain.

These events happen all year round,

so try contacting individual retailers and scouring the internet.

'Coming up, I discover why sofa shops

'always seem to be holding sales...'

So it's a psychological trick? Yes. Absolutely.

'..and I see how an angled mirror can get you in the buying mood.'

I thought it would look quite big on me,

but, for some reason, when I look in the mirror, I look very thin.

But first, I want to find out if bargain hunting can be addictive.

When it comes to the sales,

more than a third of women admit to buying in bulk.

And the average woman has 22 items in her wardrobe that are never worn.

Placed on a clothes rail, those unworn items would

stretch from Edinburgh to New York and back again - twice.

Hello.

'To see if bargain hunting can trigger physical changes

'in the body, I'm meeting up with a Harley Street consultant

'who's a specialist in health and human performance.

'Dr Jack Kreindler is wiring me up to the latest biometric technology.

'This device measures my heart rate, respiration levels

'and physiological changes, and by analyzing the fluctuations

'in my heart rate, it can tell how much stress my body is feeling.

'100%, I'm very stressed, 0% and I'm totally relaxed.'

That's you, your heart rate.

Ready to shop.

Are you ready? I do need your help.

'I've also invited friend

'and fashion blogger Fleur de Force along to give me a hand.

'Unlike many retailers

'who split the year up into sale and non-sale periods,

'TK Maxx have a completely different business model.

'They offer discounts all year round.

'And the company targets repeat custom from shoppers

'obsessed with bargain hunting.

'The store reminds me of a massive sample sale,

'with different styles and one-off pieces packed onto every rail.'

I can feel I've got my shopping face on. Really focused, furrowed brow.

You know, I'm absolutely in the zone.

It's actually quite hard work, hunting for that bargain,

trying to find the thing that you really love.

'Whilst we shop, Dr Jack keeps a close eye on the variations

'in my heart rate - the more the rate drops,

'the more my stress indicator goes up.

'But what my body experiences as stress, I experience as excitement.

'I've looked at over 30 dresses,

'when suddenly, my stress levels spike.'

Ooh, that's nice. Green is good.

It's a good one. How much is it? Oh! That's an amazing bargain.

Cherry, if you were at rest on a hospital bed in

accident and emergency, we would currently be wondering

why on earth your heart rate was 100 or more.

This is really quite interesting, actually.

The colour in your face, you've really lit up!

Look, 104 beats per minute.

'When I spot a bargain I really like,

'my heart rate leaps from roughly 60 beats per minute

'to around 100 beats per minute.

'And my stress levels rocket, from 20% to 80%.'

That's cool. That is an incredible bargain.

The stress-excitement score has jumped up into the 80s,

almost immediately after you started saying, "I want that thing."

'I've now looked at over 100 garments, and my heart is racing.

'As I'm six months pregnant, the doctor advises a rest.'

So, how are you feeling now?

I feel much calmer, but I'm anxious to try things on

and then re-edit my selection.

Your excitement level still is quite high.

We probably may have to wait some time for you to drop back down.

Very often, the hormones that get released during excitement

will persist in your body for a good long while.

'Taking a break inside the shop is not enough to calm me down.

'Rather than leave, I decide to carry on with the experiment.'

You have to stay here, I'm afraid. I understand.

But you've got your computer to keep you company.

'The next phase of the test

'is for Dr Jack to monitor my physical response

'to the items as I try them on.'

It is 720 reduced to 139.

I don't know what's going on,

but your percentage excitement score was 88, 90%.

That is, again, the highest it was.

We only saw that before, when you were...

You know when you put on that jacket? Yeah. Oh!

It's the jacket! Again. Do you know, computers never lie.

'By analyzing the data, it seems there's a clear pattern.'

You went from being very excited to almost calm, and then up again,

it spiked and went down into a lull quite a few times.

What it says to me is the same sort of thing we see with addictions -

you get something, you've got it,

you calm down, then you want to get it again.

It's such a definite excitement - it's such a buzz.

Who knows whether it's addiction or just love?

'Oniomania - the technical term for shopaholism -

'is thought to affect roughly one in 10 people in the UK.

'Until today, I'd never linked my love for a bargain

'with a compulsion, however mild.

'But retailers have been studying our compulsive habits for years.

'And one person who's advised a range of stores

'is retail psychologist Dr David Lewis.'

Are we addicted to that buzz we get when we get a bargain?

Absolutely. Absolutely.

You're actually giving yourself almost a fix,

you're almost getting a high, a perfectly legal high.

If we look at brain chemistry, you're going a get a whole flood of reward

chemicals in the brain, stuff that's called dopamine.

Many people can get hooked on shopping, on buying particular items.

For example, in my research,

I came across a lady who is completely addicted to buying shoes.

She probably has got 500 pairs...

She's standing there. It wasn't me! Handbags, maybe.

Particularly if she found a pair of shoes or boots in a shop like this

where there is a huge discount, then it would add cream to the cake.

Standing here, looking out onto the shop floor,

can you point to me some definite things that are designed

to increase our impulse buying?

Just presenting the goods almost, in a way, like you're at a jumble sale.

This particular model is, I think, unique in retailing -

you have to work for your bargain.

But because you feel, "I've invested so much of my time

"and energy in this, my emotions in this,

"what I'm buying has to be worth a lot of money."

So you add to that excitement - "I have done this almost on my own,

"it's my accomplishment, my achievement,

"and therefore I am a smart shopper."

It is a real moment. You absolutely feel that euphoria, you feel clever.

It makes you want to come back, as well, I think.

It makes you want to come back. That's the thing that's addictive.

Absolutely, it's a fix. Bargains are addictive.

Indeed they are, yes!

Today has been such a surprise.

I'm much less in control of what I'm feeling - and what I'm spending -

than I'd thought.

My body physically reacted to the sales.

It's a real adrenaline rush,

it's addictive, and I think that's what I crave.

But the shops already know this,

and it's something they want to maximize on.

But it's not just clothes and shoe shops.

Even costly items like sofas can get us going.

Furniture is big business. We spend ?12 billion on it a year.

But it's not something we have to buy,

and when times are tough, it's a purchase that is easy to delay.

For furniture shops, the answer's been sales - lots of them.

After all, if you feel you can get a real bargain right now, why wait?

But are all these sofas, with their big reductions,

the bargain they seem?

It's hard to believe, given that most sofas are built

specially to order - even the ones you buy in a sale.

Sofa sales like these began back in the 1960s.

And, for most people, it's changed forever the way we buy them.

Would you ever pay full price for a sofa?

No. Why not? Because there are so many deals going on everywhere.

I generally hate sales, but with furniture, I demand a discount.

How much? 50%.

A quarter, a third, I guess?

Generally, based on what you see on TV, online.

So quite a big chunk? Probably a healthy chunk.

Well, I don't think anything is a bargain

unless it's at least 50% off!

It seems the tactic of offering discounted prices to attract us

in store has created - and fuelled -

an expectation that furniture should always be bought on sale.

What I want to know is,

what's stopping shops responding by first cynically

inflating their prices, and then immediately cutting them

to make it look like it's an amazing deal?

Are we being tricked?

Today, I'm in Thetford, Norfolk, to get some answers.

I'm visiting Multiyork's head office and factory.

They produce about 40,000 sofas a year - all made to order.

We buy a new sofa every seven years,

and the average amount we spend is just over ?900.

It's a big decision for any household.

I want to find out the inside story behind all these sofa sales.

But before I get to interrogate him,

Oliver Spark, the joint managing director, wants to show me

how much work goes into making a bespoke sofa.

Hello, are you the sofa king? I'm a kind of sofa king.

Come and see the world of sofas.

All our sofas, everything is handmade here in Norfolk.

Actually properly handmade? Properly handmade.

I suppose when I read "handmade" on a website, I think, really?

You're more cynical than I expected. Really cynical.

But I'm seeing people making them with their own hands.

Can I help with anything? No. No.

No? Because you'll hurt your hand, basically.

These hands were built for working.

..All right, maybe mine not so much.

How many sofas do you make in one day?

Between nine and 13, depending on what size sofa you've got.

It's not just the frames that are handmade to order.

The sofa covers are, too.

Valerie, how long have you worked here? 27 years.

Did you make your own sofa cover? No. You didn't? Valerie!

I've got leather.

These ladies are making three entire sofa covers every day.

'And Sue is foolhardy enough to let me have a go.'

Yay! OK, a bit fast. Wa-hey!

I mean, how long would it take you to do this? 30 seconds.

Something like that.

Not 30 minutes?

'I may not have messed up, but the clock is ticking.'

I want to do it right. You've done really well for the first time. OK.

I'll let you take over.

I find it interesting that each sofa built here is made to order,

even if it's been bought in a sale.

It's not as though they are last season's stock.

So why do they always seem to be sold at a discount?

How real are these sales?

How many do you think you sell at full price?

We probably sell 75% of our sofas at discount.

75% are sold at discount. Yes.

That's huge. What is the most you will cut a sofa by?

We would very rarely go as deep as 50%,

but we'll quite often be at 30%.

If mostly you're doing a 30% offer on your sofas,

why not just price them cheaper?

It's a good question,

and the real issue is whether you will keep walking into the shop

if we're not telling you there is a 30% discount.

So it's a kind of psychological trick

that I need to feel like I'm getting a bargain?

Yes. Absolutely.

Why we have to keep running a discount shout, as it's called,

we're a relatively small company, even though we've got 50-odd shops.

If you looked and watched TV,

constantly, you're getting that message drummed in that

that is how the market works.

So if we don't offer a discount, and there is somebody else

shouting about a great discount, then, unfortunately, we miss out.

'So that's it from the horse's mouth.'

Sofa retailers feel they have to offer a discount,

because all their rivals do.

They've become a must-have marketing ploy.

'So what's legal and what's illegal in these kinds of sales?'

What are the rules for putting on a sale?

Well, they're all governed by the trading standards rules

and the real thing about them is you have to have your product established

at the list price, as it's called -

so the "was" price, before it gets discounted.

How long do you have to keep it at its "was" price

before you do the "now" price?

The actual definition is it has to be shown

for a meaningful length of time,

but it's probably at least 28 days,

and what really happens is there should be notices

explaining when that product was last at full price.

But not all shops have to do it for 28 days,

they just decide what a meaningful length of time is?

I can't speak for other shops.

Certainly, it feels like, when you look at the market,

that sometimes products come in and then are discounted very quickly.

So it clearly does make sense

to look for a discount when buying a sofa.

So far, I've been looking at pricing on the high street,

but what about some of the other techniques high-street chains use to persuade us to buy?

Perhaps the most powerful tool that a high-street store has

to try and influence us to buy is its sales team.

Salesmanship has been around for ever,

but the most recent development is the rise of the personal shopper.

When it comes to clothes,

households spend, on average, ?244 a year on menswear.

Just short of half what they spend on women's clothes.

Hardly surprising, then, that the big stores are keen to offer men

that little bit of encouragement.

Top Man employs a team of five personal shoppers

and three assistants in its Oxford Street branch.

'To see if the personal touch works, I'm paying a visit to James

'and his assistant, Rebecca.'

This is a really gorgeous. Look at it. It's all right, isn't it?

Not bad. It's amazing!

I feel like I've stepped into a kind of secret world. That's the idea.

It's a bit more off the shop floor, somewhere a bit more private,

away from the hustle and bustle.

We'll go on the shop floor, find guys who probably don't

necessarily know what they're here for,

or they are after something, but panic and just leave.

So we're here to grab them,

bring them in, show them what they need

and show them what else is out there for them.

So it's completely free? You're not on commission. No.

But they're going to buy a bit more than they might have?

I like to think so. Do you ever offer sale items,

or is it generally a certain type of clothing?

Personally, I don't pull from the sales items, because they tend to be

out of season and I always like to show the client what's new.

So anybody can use the service. Anybody. Yeah.

Hi there, Dave. Hi there. James, nice to meet you.

James's next appointment is software analyst Dave Radley,

who normally goes shopping with his girlfriend.

This time, it's James and Rebecca's turn to style him.

I'll take your bag for you. Rebecca, can you...? Thank you.

And let's take a look in the room and see what I've got for you. OK. Cool.

That little bit more smarter, with the jacket.

That's a really nice fit on you. How do you feel about this outfit? Yeah, it's quite nice. Cool.

I feel like I'm going on holiday. It's cool, it's a good summer look. It's a strong look.

I quite like that jacket. It's cool. It's nice.

How are you finding the whole process?

Yeah, it's very friendly, isn't it?

You get to try on all sorts of things.

It's a very bold print. It's not for everyone.

What do you think? I think it's great.

I think you pull it off so well. Those, as well. Do you just want to take a seat?

(It's quite interesting. No-one has talked about price yet.)

(When I go shopping, I definitely check the prices of all the garments,

(but it's like, in here, money doesn't exist.)

Quite soft, quite light, nothing too garish, not too contrasted.

Becca, how would you feel if your boyfriend stepped out in this?

Really good. Yeah? THEY LAUGH

Yes. It looks really cool.

James and Rebecca's clever salesmanship seems to be

making quite an impact.

Dave's now been here for over an hour. What will he buy?

OK, so we did pretty good, didn't we? We've done OK. Yeah, a few good pieces there.

OK, that's a cost of ?688. Ooh.

HE CHUCKLES Slightly over budget. You've got some great items there.

You're not going to have to go shopping for, like, another six months.

Like I said, you've got some great items that will last you for quite a long time,

through to winter. I think there's some really good bits.

OK, fair enough. Well, my budget was originally ?100. OK.

So I think I'm just going to have to pick out a couple of the items. Of course, yeah, yeah.

Dave cuts back, but he still spends almost twice his original budget.

Cool. Very good.

Altogether that's ?191. OK. That's a little bit over budget, but...

'The personal shopping experience has encouraged Dave to spend more

'than he meant to, but does he mind?'

Do you think you would do that again?

I think I might do, because I got a couple of items that I wouldn't have had the confidence to get by myself.

So you feel happy? I do, definitely.

It is a bit of a fantasy land when money isn't really talked about.

Even the payment. He didn't have to queue. It doesn't even feel real.

I would definitely use the service,

but what I would watch out for is being strict with your budget

and also not being afraid to ask for sale items.

We've got a little camera facing forwards

and that's recording everything that you are seeing.

Still to come, I discover how exactly stores direct our attention.

'And it's sales time at John Lewis.'

Someone's just bought that, already?

Yeah. The guy just there. You haven't even been open five minutes.

Big sales events and promotions grab our attention,

but with money tight and online shopping growing fast,

what else are the stores doing to lure us in?

From electronics to jeans, to bookshops and banks,

there's a massive makeover underway as interiors are rethought

and the whole shopping environment is redesigned.

One of the big high-street chains, Oasis, spent ?7 million

redesigning their shops, including this flagship store in London.

The idea is that by enhancing our sensory experience,

we'll spend a whole lot more.

Briony Garbett is the head of customer experience.

Downstairs is quite fresh, quite bright, kind of day feel.

Then, upstairs, you can sense it. We've got a change of pace.

A little bit more moody, a little bit more theatrical.

We were really keen to have a quite natural flow in terms of the customer flow,

the customer walking into the changing room, it being very inviting.

Even down to the kind of railings.

"Come this way, come try on your dream dress."

This is where the decisions are made

and it's where we make our customer feel good about herself,

which is really important in this kind of customer experience and shopping experience.

And your staff are wearing headsets. Really cool!

It's almost like I'm coming into a venue, like a club. Yeah.

An exclusive venue.

'To put the fitting rooms to the test,

'I've picked out a wardrobe essential - a little black dress.'

My legs look really thin. I know they're not that thin.

And the lighting is really nice,

it makes my skin look a bit darker, whereas, actually, I'm quite pasty.

There's definitely... It definitely makes me look healthier.

There seems to be...

It's like... There's like a film over the mirror.

That's kind of... It makes a bit of a glow.

I look a bit like I'm glowing and I really don't glow.

Definitely don't glow in real life.

Up here, the mirror is really close to the wall

and as you get further down, it gets further and further away,

till, at the bottom, it's that far away from the wall.

So it's quite a significant lean.

And that's why my legs look absolutely fantastic!

But am I just being cynical?

'What do other shoppers think?'

Do you trust mirrors in changing rooms? Sometimes.

But other times not, I guess some of them are quite slimming.

Mmm... I don't know. We'll see.

Can I come in? Yes.

I really like this one. Yeah. And how do you feel about the reflection?

What you expected, better than you expected? Um... Yeah.

The mirror looks nice. It makes me look good.

You kind of want to be helped to make the purchase.

99% of girls aren't fully happy with what they look like.

There is always something they don't like, so, obviously,

if the lighting and the mirror makes you feel good and look good,

then you'll buy it, whereas if it's not, it's just kind of,

you're not going to get that feeling. Even though you know there are a few tricks that the shop is playing?

Yeah. You kind of don't mind, because it gives you such a lovely feeling? Yeah, exactly.

You hope that it's going to look good when you get home, as well.

Fingers crossed. I think it will, by the way. I hope.

'Next door, another shopper and another angled mirror.'

Oh, I like it. It's really neat. Yeah.

The dress I really like,

but because I have curves, I thought it would look big on me.

But, for some reason, when I look in the mirror, I look very thin.

Are you surprised? Yeah. Hmm.

It makes me look really thin, so it could be the mirror.

Does it make you want to buy the dress? Definitely. Even more.

Most high-street chains deny the deliberate use of magic,

or angled mirrors, in order to create a slimming effect.

I decided to ask Briony why they tilt theirs.

You can see here quite clearly, it's significantly further out here than it is at the top.

Yeah, that was actually more for a design aesthetic than anything else.

We wanted it feel quite boutiquey and kind of vintage,

but modern and relevant.

So they're very big mirrors and to have them on the wall is quite heavy.

We wanted to lean them up against the wall.

You can see that with the mirrors we've got outside, as well.

It's more of a design aesthetic than any kind of ploy to make you

think you are 6ft tall, or anything like that.

But it must help your sales when women look in the mirror

and they think, "I look so slim and tall in these outfits."

I don't know that that is true.

Because you go home and try the item on again and, actually,

the last thing we would want is to disappoint the customer

and to use trickery to try and get her to buy the item.

Um, so I don't think there is any particular effect on these mirrors,

having them slanted against the wall like this.

I also noticed this little thing. What is this?

So that gives us scent for the store. So we have summer and spring, at the moment.

So that floral scent just gives a bit more of an edge.

Why is it useful to you as a company wanting to sell clothes

to have a certain smell?

It's really important, because smell is a trigger for contextual memory.

So what you will find is that people associate smells very strongly with certain experiences.

It's freshly cut grass, it's the summer,

they're lying in a park, they're feeling good about themselves,

they're relaxed and then they have that same smell

when they're entering our changing rooms.

Scent is used today by fashion retailers, hotel chains

and even car dealers.

But can our noses really make us part with our money?

I've selected eight people - a combination of retail workers,

style writers and shopping obsessives - to come to my aid.

I've devised a little test.

It's not scientific, but I'm hoping it will give me

a bit of an insight into why these big companies spend money on scent.

The first step is to separate my volunteers into two groups of four.

As you can see, there's the product.

I'll leave you for a couple of minutes, I'll come back and ask you a few questions.

'Both groups will examine the same pair of running shoes.'

This first group is looking at them in a non-scented room.

Shortly, we'll add the scent and show them to the second group.

They're very high street. ALL AGREE

Like a budget high street.

They don't feel expensive. No.

They don't look durable. No, not at all.

Like a cheap running shoe. No, in the sale permanently.

LAUGHTER

So, what do you think of the product? It's very cheaply made.

We decided low end. Price, roughly?

I think about ?30. 20 to 30. Or less.

19.99 sort of thing.

'Now it's time to add the scent.'

Yeah. That's really, really lovely.

It's kind of... It's citrusy, it's really fresh again,

little bit floral.

This scent is similar to one used by academic researchers studying

how it affected the sales of the top brand shoe.'

And they've done research to show that in a scented store,

there's an uplift in sales and that 84% of people

in the scented store were more likely to buy the product.

How will our second group of shoppers react

now that the fragrance has been added?

Time to hide the scent machine.

Just tuck it away.

Love the pink! LAUGHTER

It looks like it's really good quality.

They've got a lot of detailing on them, like, a lot of different types of fabric.

If you're working out, it would be brilliant.

There's air pockets, so you wouldn't get too hot.

Really well put together, really well made.

OK. What did you think? Good. We liked them.

What would you expect these trainers to retail at? I'd say about 60.

65 to 70, maybe. 60. I think they would sell about for 90.

Really interesting. Thank you so much.

'And it wasn't just with the shoes

'that the scent seemed to have an impact.'

We noted positive results when tasting a dress, a radio,

and when we switched the focus groups around.

So, very surprisingly, scent, it seems,

can have a big impact on the way we value products.

But there's one further classic test I want to try.

Can fragrance encourage us to trust a salesperson?

So you will see here, there is a photograph of a salesman.

Do you trust him?

'To kick things off, we begin with the room aired and free of smell.'

I'd say probably second-hand cars. Yeah, definitely. Looks a bit dodgy.

Bad body language, bad hair. I wouldn't trust him.

No, I really wouldn't.

He is the epitome of, "Would you buy a car from this man"? Yeah.

ALL: No. No, you wouldn't.

'Will a new scent encourage a different view?'

So there's definitely a vanilla flavour there.

It's quite soft, it's really calming.

And kind of welcoming and warm.

Actually, a massive car dealership has invested ?50,000

developing a scent just like this, because they believe

it encourages trustworthiness

and then, hopefully, an increase in sales.

Scent machine discreetly hidden again, will the focus group

in the now perfumed room trust the salesman more?

He looks quite nice. He looks like he'd be easy to speak to.

You could trust him. He looks like he has some charm.

Hello. ALL: Hi.

So, what did you think?

He just seems like an everyday, run-of-the-mill salesman, really.

So, for all of you, there is a sense of trustworthiness that he wouldn't try and scam you?

THEY AGREE OK. That's fantastic. Thank you so much.

I was a bit of a cynic at the beginning of today,

but the results have definitely convinced me

that scent has a massive impact on our opinions.

The people who came today were savvy shoppers.

But, to me, it does seem that the scent really influenced them.

I can see why businesses use it.

The internet has changed the high street.

10% of all retail spend is now done online

and we can compare prices on our mobile phones.

But high-street chains are now using social media to offer

their customers the promise of community.

By liking the chains' Facebook pages and following these brands

on Twitter, shoppers get a heads-up on special in-store events

that make them feel part of that firm's family.

Members of the club are offered anything from free classes in technology stores

to previews of new titles in book shops. All designed to drive footfall in-store.

That's the theory, at least, and I'm going to put it to the test

at one of the stores that's done the most to build a social media fanbase.

New Look is a high-street chain with over 1,000 shops

and a massive 2 million Facebook fans.

They entice customers by offering deals that you can only get

if you're signed up to their online sites.

Are you Shivani? Nice to meet you. I'm Cherry.

You look like you're in the middle of something important.

'Shivani Tejuja is multichannel director.'

How important is online to your profit now?

That's a great question.

So, at the end of our last financial year, we were 8.5% of the total business

and, as you can imagine, that number is growing like this.

It is just growing massively.

What do I get from asking for e-mail, Twitter, Facebook?

What am I going to get for making the extra effort?

There's tonnes of things. So, Facebook, for example, recently we did a flash sale.

We e-mailed it to our loyal database, as well as our Facebook fans,

and said, "From 12 to 2, we're going to take five dresses

"and we're going to discount them online only, limited offering."

So, a great example of something that is really exclusive to that community

and trying to engage with customers, who are part of that community.

Can we send a tweet to one of your fans and get them here?

You want to do that right now? Right now.

Sure, why not? We can test the immediacy of the internet.

Yeah, let's do it.

Right, so, we will entice them with a surprise. OK.

Shall we tweet it? Do it.

What New Look and other high-street chains are trying to pull off

is to use social media to make us feel like we are part of an exclusive club.

And, for New Look, that seems to be working.

'Just one hour after posting online,

'and the store's internet friends have started to arrive.'

Do you actually like talking to the shop, you know,

when they e-mail you and there's Twitter and Facebook? I like that.

Yeah, because you... Particularly, you find out about sales.

Definitely. I love it and it always gives you an excuse to shop, as well.

If they send you an e-mail, "Oh, there's 20% off this week. It's free delivery,"

it kind of gives you that... Oh, gosh. I don't need any excuse to shop.

Actually, you're finding out about things first? Yeah, definitely.

Especially sales.

You get that kind of buzz when you find out about it first

and you can rush and tell everyone.

Do you think you spend more money in the store, in the shop, or online?

Ooh. In the store.

Mine's online, because there are so many different...

Like, you'll see more of the imaging and the marketing kind of aspect online.

With the photoshoots, it kind of pushes me more to buy.

'I've seen that social media really can draw shoppers in.

'But now the store has agreed to let me try another experiment.

'This time, to test if shop layout can influence how we browse a store.

'Sophia has agreed to be my guinea pig.'

It is like James Bond. Yep.

You've got a camera facing forwards

and that's recording everything you are seeing.

'Dr Tim Holmes is a neuroscientist who works with cutting-edge eye-tracking technology.'

Perfect, OK. Right.

Goggles on, Sophia is ready to go

and the exact spot she looks at is pinpointed with a red dot.

According to Tim, nearly all high-street chains, from computer retailers or department stores,

use blocks of colour and texture to focus our eyes from point to point

and pull us deeper into the store.

The shops also use suggestive slogans,

which register in our brains, even if they think we haven't noticed them.

Sophia's shopping mission complete, Tim and I review what the eye tracker discovered.

OK, so, this is what we got.

New Look are employing quite a few common principles that we see in shop design.

One area that she went into that's was quite interesting is the shoes.

What we're seeing here is an example of something used a lot in retail, which is blocking.

You have a lot of things that are similar

and you group them together and this actually increases the impact.

You see groups of pink shoes. A shoe that's quite small wouldn't do it on its own,

but you have a group of them, it works great.

Her eye's really drawn to the sale signs.

Red is one end of a colour range

and by having it as an extreme colour,

it means it will stand out against almost anything else you put it against.

And so it makes it really powerful.

Knowing that shops really can set up their environment to capture us,

to entice us and to guide us,

how can we be more aware, be more savvy?

I would say if you're going shopping, take a shopping list,

because that is the best way to have a task that focuses your attention.

So, layout does matter and it's clear that retailers across the high street

can subtly influence our attention while we're browsing.

I'm back at John Lewis to find out

whether all their military-style planning has paid off.

Can the excitement of a traditional clearance sale

still get us out in our thousands, despite the allure of online shopping?

95% of the staff who work at this branch have been involved in preparing for the sale.

And this sale matters, because they are partners in the company.

'Unusually, it is a retailer that is entirely owned by its full-time staff.'

Could you tell me - you guys are partners, is that right? You're not like staff,

which means you're shareholders, you have a buy-in to the profits?

So how important are the sales? It's a big part of our bonus.

It works out like eight and a half weeks.

It's about two months' extra pay. Wow, that's massive.

It gives you something to look forward to.

'The partners have spent over a month planning the event.

'But hundreds of signs still need to be hung

'and thousands of price labels need to be individually changed.'

Is it a race against time now? It is, that's why we're just go, go, go, aren't we?

Everyone's rushing round. Don't let me stop you. You climb that ladder!

You look really busy and there's lots of red labels.

Is this department particularly frantic? Yes.

At the beginning, yes. Definitely.

Normally, we sell out of most of our stock in the first week.

You sell out in the first week? It's just go, go, go, really.

Busy, busy, busy. Do you normally work this late?

We do, but not that late.

Not this late? Not this late, this is a special one.

It's like a military operation. Every floor is just alive with activity. We're done.

The final bits going out and we're ready. (Is this the best floor?)

Oh, I think so. Are you do most organised? Certainly!

Today, the sale begins.

Branch general manager Jeremy Adams checks in with his key operations staff.

Good morning, all. Have there been any problems?

Come on! Spill the beans! We're reluctant to say no.

There's always glitches. There may be some product we're expecting in that hasn't arrived,

but we know about that. It's about selling what we've got, not selling what we haven't got.

That was such a good answer for, "Yeah, there have been a couple of problems, but it's all right."

I said "glitches". Glitches. Never problems.

It's a special purchase, for example.

There are five televisions in special purchase that only arrived about 20 minutes ago.

Great(!) Stressful.

What about these? These do not look that ready.

This will all be cleared by 9:30, no problem.

I'm just conscious that we've got to get downstairs, as well. We've got to get downstairs.

OK, let's go. Sorry, yeah, don't let me hold you up.

Here we are. There's Simon. Hello, Simon, good morning. Good morning. Here we go.

'The doors open and the countdown begins on the hottest clearance bargains.'

Here we go!

Someone's just bought that, already? Yeah. The guy just there.

The television department is almost at full capacity.

When it comes to day one of the sales, I think

people just don't mess about.

As the day progresses, the store gets busier.

I should think we've sold about 300 pairs of shoes already. Already? Yeah.

'The special buys are attracting a lot of attention.

'And with all the excitement that sales generate,

'it's not surprising we sometimes buy on wild impulse.'

Do you have a tactic when you go sales shopping?

I wasn't actually sales shopping today, I was looking for a wedding outfit

and I came away with a piece of ceramic shaped like a squirrel. So...

For John Lewis, the strategy has worked.

In the first week of the sale, they did 7% better than the year before.

We all love a bargain,

but what I've learned about how the sales work from the inside

is that our high-street shops are powerful selling machines.

What's really stuck with me

is the thought that goes into what's on sale,

how the store is laid out and what the shopping experience feels like -

all to make us spend more.

Knowing this puts us back in control.

Make a list, don't be afraid to ask when items are going to be further reduced.

Do your research and try, even though it is really hard,

not to get carried away.

# There's a big love sale At the five-and-ten

# They've got bargain rates On what never could have been

# A million screaming people Are stripping down the counters

# Tearing through the racks Paying sales tax

# On the split seam of a dream. #