In groceries, price is king - or is it?

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Though some grocery stores may have cheaper prices, the pricier stores are not without lures to get shoppers inside.

GVSU marketing professor Ben Rudolph, who tracks the grocery business, said many shoppers support Spartan, Meijer and Forest Hills Foods because they are "the home team. People want to shop there, even if Walmart may have better prices.

But loyalty to the home team is not the only way grocers may be able to get away with charging higher prices. The real trick is to get you in the door.

David Brickner, the general manager of Ric's in Rockford, told 24 Hour News 8 once he gets customers in his store, he wants "to be more appealing than the other guy."

Ric's is new in town. They advertise a lot of sales, and offer to double your coupons. They alos have a no-questions-asked return policy.

"Would you rather lose someone over a 39-cent can of corn," he asked, "or would you rather take care of them?"

Those policies cost the store money, but the idea is once you're inside you'll buy the items with the bigger markups. And those items will be staged in key impulse locations at the end of aisles or on shelves at eye level.

Baking in the store also gets you to spend more. There is nothing like the smell of fresh baked bread. Two-for-ones make customers think they have to buy both items for the discount, but many stores will give you the same deal even if you just buy one.

Sometimes stores will jack up the price of an item to cover an increase someplace else. For instance, if the store's cost of oranges jumps because of a shortage, oranges may stay the same retail price. But the price of lettuce may rise.

"They do try to cushion the blos a little bit so not to get their customers upset," Rudolph said. "They're scare you won't come back."

Sales and gimmicks may drive price-savvy customers crazy, but Rudolph said grocers prefer those methods rather than slashing prices altogether.

"If you lower your price, your competitor may lower his price," Rudolph told 24 Hour News 8, "so it stops price wars within a particular industry."

The one thing that does bring down price is competition. So far the market seems to be dominated by two players, Meijer and Spartan. Walmart said it has plans to add full-fledged supermarkets to all its stores in Grand Rapids, but would not reveal any timetable.