You are standing in front of a vegetable rack, and your attention is caught by a perfectly mature avocado for only PLN 5.99. You put 2 pieces in the basket, feeling like you're doing a large deal. You do the same with colored peppers, whose price per part besides seems attractive. It is only at the cashier’s office or at home that the painful fact comes to you – you paid a luck for a kilo of these “cheese” products. This is not a coincidence, but a precisely planned marketing strategy, which in 2025 becomes increasingly common. Supermarkets know that our brain is easier to accept a lower, single price per part than the seemingly advanced price per kilo. This intellectual trap is designed to get us to spend more, creating an illusion of savings. knowing this mechanics is the first step in defending your wallet against the silent drainage that takes place during all visit to the store. In this article, we will examine how these tricks work and how to successfully defend ourselves against them.
Price per part vs. price per kilo – what is the trick?
The basis of this manipulation is the usage of our habits and our tendency to simplify. Seeing the large, clear figure “£4.99” with a bunch of bananas, we seldom bother to find a much smaller, frequently hidden inscription with a unit price, that is, a price per kilo. And it is she who is the only meaningful indicator that makes it possible to effectively compare the costs of different products and offers.
Stores intentionally exposure the price per piece, due to the fact that it is nominally lower and more accessible psychologically. The amount of PLN 29.99/kg per pepper may scare away, but already PLN 7.49 per 1 large part sounds like an opportunity. In fact, this 1 pepper can weigh only 250 grams, which means that we actually pay almost PLN 30 per kilo. Trade networks are counting on our haste and deficiency of attention. They make an environment in which fast purchasing decisions are based on superficial, easy digestible information, and key data is intentionally marginalized.
Where are the traps most common? Check these products twice
Although a trick with a price per part can cover many categories, there are groups of products where our vigilance should be increased. Retail marketplace analysts indicate that in 2025 this practice is peculiarly visible in the following sections:
- Vegetables and fruit: He is the absolute leader in the application of this strategy. Take peculiar care of products specified as avocados, mangoes, grenades, peppers, cauliflowers, broccolis or citruses sold for art. Always compare their price with the price per kilogram of the same products sold in bulk if possible.
- Packed meat and meat: tiny pack of ham for 12 zł seems cheap. However, after the calculation it may turn out that the price per kilogram is 80 PLN or more, while the same product purchased per weight at the counter would cost much less.
- Cheeses in pieces: As in the case of sausages, finished, packed portions of cheese frequently have a much higher unit price than sliced cheese with a larger block in the dairy section.
- Weight-dependent products: Note the labels where the price is given ‘for packaging’ but the weight is only indicative. The final price you pay at the box office may be higher after careful weighing of the product.
What does the law say? The work to inform stores in 2025
It is worth knowing that as consumers we are protected by the law. The EU Omnibus directive, which is full applicable in Poland, imposes a clear work on retailers. Any product the quantity of which is expressed in units of weight or volume must bear on the price description the unit price, i.e. the price per kilogram or 1 litre. The problem is that the law does not regulate font size. Stores so meet the formal requirement, but do so in a way that makes it hard for the consumer to access this key information.
The price per part is printed with large, conspicuous figures, while the price per kilogram is placed at the bottom of the label, a tiny print, frequently in a colour poorly contrasting with the background. If you announcement that the unit price is completely absent or illegible, you have the right to draw attention to this store service and even study the case to the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection (OCC).
How can you not be fooled? Simple rules for smart purchases
Defending against price traps does not require complex tools, but only changes in habits and a small attention. simply implement any simple rules to make your buying more conscious and cost-effective.
First of all, always search for unit price. Make a habit of ignoring a large price per part and immediately scanning the description in search of information about the price per kg/l. This is the only way to objectively compare offers. Second, don't be afraid to usage the calculator on your phone. If you see a product per piece, rapidly weigh it on the weight available in the section and number how much it actually costs a kilo. Third, compare. Combine not only different brands, but besides different forms of packaging – frequently the weight product is cheaper than the same in the finished packaging. Slowing down the pace of purchases by a fewer seconds to analyse the description can bring savings of respective twelve and even respective 100 zlotys per year. It's an investment in your home budget that costs nothing.
Read more:
The price per kilo has disappeared from the labels? It's a fresh supermarket trap in 2025!
