5 ways Starbucks entices you to spend more money

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Starbucks stores are meticulously designed to make customers stay longer, buy more, and return for another visit.

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From the lighting to the ordering counters, everything in the store has a specific purpose.

In a Bloomberg video, reporter Sam Grobart points out five of the most common design tricks that Starbucks employs.

1. Starbucks often advertises new products on its doors. "Designers like to call this the handshake between the customer and the store," Grobart says, referring to a store's front door. In most cases, Starbucks stores place ads at eye level on the outside glass. In this case, the door handle is also subtly inscribed with advertising.

2. Starbucks places its ordering counter toward the middle or back of the store to ensure that customers walk past the store's seating area. This allows customers to scope out open seats, encouraging them to stay and enjoy their drinks in the store. The longer customers stay, the better the chances are that they will return to the counter and purchase another product.

3. Starbucks uses lighting to guide customers through the store. At the store Grobart visited, the ordering counter is towards the back of the room. Starbucks has placed a brightly-lit set of shelves in the rear of the store to naturally guide customers in that direction. The lighting also functions to bring Starbucks' merchandise to customers' attention, encouraging an impulse buy.

4. Starbucks has a thin strip of counter between the customers and its coffee machines, which makes the ordering process feel more inviting. "It's all part of Starbucks' plan to maintain your connection to the people that work here," Grobart says. "If this wasn't here, the first thing you would encounter after you had placed your order are these really tall coffee machines which might push you back from the counter."5. Starbucks places advertising between the ordering counter and the counter where you pick up your coffee and pastries. This is meant to encourage customers to think about what they might purchase when they return for another visit.

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For more on Starbucks' design tactics, watch the video below.

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