Manipulation in market communication, or how to “hunt” a customer

The contemporary market reality has made the consumer the starting point for all marketing activities of enterprises. Sellers compete to gain unique knowledge about the consumer; their behavior, expectations, and needs. However, information about the customer is not always used ethically; consumer manipulation in the sales market occurs extremely frequently. The purpose of this study is to show the most sophisticated manipulation techniques and the essence and principles of their influence on the consumer (on their feelings, psyche, and propensity to purchase). To achieve this goal, an analysis of the subject literature, an analysis of reports from the Agricultural and Food Quality Inspection, and the participant observation method were used. Observations were made during the summer period in 2011 in selected retail outlets of the “Manufaktura” Shopping Center in Łódź.Manipulation – essence, definitions
There are many definitions of manipulation, and they refer to various areas of human life. Colloquially, it is associated with concepts such as: propaganda, agitation, advertising, or politics. Many people in society are convinced that even small groups of people can insidiously direct the majority in order to achieve their goals or benefits [6, p. 78.].
According to the Small Dictionary of the Polish Language [5, p. 418], the term manipulation includes concepts such as: influence, communication, sociotechnics, persuasion, propaganda, agitation, indoctrination, manipulation, while manipulation itself can be a component of each of these concepts. The essence of manipulation contained in the same source is directing someone without their knowledge and using them to achieve specific own goals. Observations made by the author in selected retail outlets show that achieving personal benefits is the primary premise in constructing increasingly sophisticated manipulation techniques. It should be noted that the object of manipulation is almost always the ultimate goal for the manipulator, who is predominantly the broadly understood seller.
Techniques for manipulating product size, or the “art” of downsizing
Research shows that the process of an average consumer absorbing the most important information regarding a specific purchase takes 5 seconds [4]. The battle between companies is therefore fought over these 5 seconds. (…)

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