Shoppers have been left questioning reality after spotting chocolate Easter Eggs in supermarkets across the UK in the first week of January.
With Christmas 2022 barely out of the picture, shopping centres have cleared the aisles of surplus Baileys, mince pies and boxes of Celebrations, Roses and Quality Street to make way for premium and own brand chocolate eggs.
While it happens every year, people are constantly left scratching their heads as to the reasoning behind selling stocks now, with Easter celebrations not actually taking place until April.
Read more: B&M shoppers spot 90s Cadbury chocolate selling for just £1
An experts speaking with The Mirror has revealed that it's actually a sneaky psychological trick that convinces shoppers to spend more money, as they buy the products now, then again in several months' time closer to Easter. Dr. Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, a consumer psychologist from Anglia Ruskin University, explained how shoppers think that by buying products in advance they are being 'practical' but they actually end up spending more in the long run.
Speaking with the publication, she explained: "The reason why [supermarkets] do it is that often [the seasonal items] are on special offers. People are then thinking 'ooh but it's cheap now and if I buy them now, I can store them and keep buying things little by little, then I don't have to pay it all out at the point in time when perhaps I need to buy lots of it'.
"That's the reasoning for why they're doing it - in order to get the consumer to think it's practical for them. However, that is not why they're doing it - if you start buying mince pies in October because you want to put them away for December, you think 'ooh I'll have one' and then you have two and then you've eaten them and then you go and buy a new packet.
"Then as it's coming up to the festive period, you'll buy another one. So it's not because the shops want to start Christmas in October or Easter in January, it's just purely to get people to buy more and little by little you'll spend twice as much."
The expert then went on to detail that we often feel like we have to keep buying more of these items for ourselves and loved ones as 'we've been conditioned for a long time to think that consumption is important', and it's very hard to change that view.
She added: "You want to give the people you love as many things as possible to show that you care, because the items are the equivalent of importance and caring. We are conditioned, whether we like it or not, it's just the way life has gone and I think we need to become dematerialised and understand that material possessions are not important."
She continued: "What's really tragic in psychology is that there are a lot of studies that show that social experience with others makes us much happier and is better for our mental health, than receiving a gift from someone."
Will you be stocking up on Easter Eggs early? Let us know in the comments.
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