Over the winter period, many people will have been dashing about doing Christmas shopping and enjoying the January sales, as stores clear out products from last season to make way for what's new.
If you've been out shopping in the chilly weather recently and found yourself heading into a department store without really intending to go there, then there might be a sneaky reason why.
A consumer psychologist has been exposing little-known shopping secrets with The Mirror, sharing tricks shops and supermarkets may use to encourage people to stay longer and spend more.
Most recently, Dr Cathrine Jansson-Boyd from Anglia Ruskin University has explained a sneaky trick some department stores may use to lure people inside the shop.
"The temperature of shops can be used as an element to manipulate customers," she said.
"Usually when it's winter big department stores will have hot air coming out of the entrance to give a warm feeling so the consumer thinks that they are walking into something that is comforting and nice when they are stepping out of the cold.
"Local corner stores might also do something like this too but not usually larger supermarkets like Sainsbury's, Aldi, or Lidl.
"When it comes to supermarkets, they don't use temperature as a controlling factor for customers, because they can't. They're reliant on making sure their products are stored at appropriate temperatures."
While supermarkets may not lure people in with heat, it seems they do use several subtle tricks inside the store, according to the expert.
This includes pumping out artificial scents into the shop such as the smell of freshly baked bread in the bakery area.
"It's the most traditional trick of them all," D Jansson-Boyd says, going on to add how it evokes a feeling of nostalgia for many of us.
"It's so often an artificial scent because it doesn't smell in the bakery as often the bread is pre-manufactured but they still pump out the smell of fresh bread, as shoppers have childhood associations with the smell.
"It's homely, it's nice and it's fresh. You want to believe that everything in the store is made from scratch and is amazing, but of course, it isn't. However, we sniff it and we're quite easily duped, we buy into it and we think it's all very fresh."
Do you have an expert story to share? We want to hear all about it. Email courtney.pochin@mirror.co.uk
