This trend just had a 9,000% YOY spike + Aldi is running a psychological experiment 🧠...and you’re in it.

Hiya,

I’ve been thinking a lot about grocery stores lately (mostly because a carton of eggs now costs me $15 where I live…which is basically highway robbery. 😱)

Most of the time I’m completely unaware of my surroundings when I shop for groceries, but lately I’ve been strolling a bit more consciously down the aisles of my local produce-and-meat house, so it got me wondering…

Why are grocery stores so good at getting people to buy exactly what they want them to buy? And how can we, as DTC pros (who have no physical store layout to use as our map to our best products) use what they know to our advantage?

Take Aldi for example.

Everyone thinks Aldi wins because it’s cheap, easy to shop in, and widely available. (They’re not wrong to think this…but they’re not entirely right either.)

Aldi is winning for an entirely psychological reason.

I’ve been studying Aldi this week, and I’m kind of impressed with what I’m finding. Aldi isn’t dominating the grocery world by slashing prices—it’s doing it by hacking your freaking brain, mad-scientist style.

This isn’t about budget, customer awareness level, or even price framing. Their stores have a behavioral design so subtle, you don’t even realize you’re playing along.

It’s also the main reason they’re worth $60 billion.

From cart deposits to curated chaos, Aldi is running one of the most quietly brilliant psychological ops in retail.

This quiet little German chain is running laps around its competitors…not just on price, but on psychology. And they’re doing it with a toolkit straight out of the behavioral science playbook.

Let’s break it down..

1. Aldi has perfected their choice architecture

Think about the last time you shopped in a regular grocery store. You just wanted peanut butter to have on hand for your “picky eater” second-born child (IYKYK), something quick to have on hand. Should be a simple process right? I mean…it’s just peanut butter…

Stepping into the aisle though, you’re immediately confronted with seventeen different peanut butter options like:

• Organic

• Crunchy

• Super Crunchy™

• One with honey

• One with flaxseed

• One with a label that says “Do Not Refrigerate” and now you’re panicking because you already did…

Who needs this many options for peanut butter?? 🤯

It’s hard to say, but this is choice paralysis at it’s finest, and it's a very real phobia for the human brain. Brands who want to get their products into the hands of as many customers as possible, pay attention:

Being faced with so many options causes extreme cognitive overwhelm. More options → your decision confidence drops → your satisfaction tanks → you either delay your decision… or abandon it altogether.

AKA: the more options we’re presented with, the less confident we feel about our decision making skills…the quicker we opt out of the process entirely.

Aldi’s solution to this = ruthless simplicity (emphasis on the ruthless).

These guys don’t mess around when it comes to product placement. They carry about 90% fewer products than a typical grocery store—around 1,600 SKUs. Most of them are private label, which gives them more control over quality and pricing.

This isn’t “fewer products” as a cost-saving move (though it does that too). It’s an excellent use of cognitive efficiency - AKA: Aldi makes the brain go “Ahhhhhh…..”🫠 when it steps into the aisle.

The average shopper doesn’t need 12 kinds of peanut butter (even if they say they do). They really just want to grab a jar and move on with their life.

The takeaway for DTC pros here: less choice = less friction = more conversions.

2. Aldi is craaaazy good at creating real scarcity.

Aldi doesn’t stop at limiting choice. They actually make some of those choices vanish entirely, which is a smart move.

Enter: ALDI Finds: a section with rotating weekly specials, available for a limited time only. One week it’s cast-iron pans. Next week, air fryers. After that? A pizza oven you didn’t know you needed until this moment.

Psychologically, this is HUGE. It taps into:

• 😱 Loss aversion (“If I don’t grab this now, it’ll be gone forever.”)

• 🔁 Variable rewards (You might find something amazing—so you come back next week to check.)

• 👏 Impulse activation (Because who has time to overthink when stock is limited?)

Aldi Finds is basically a little slot machine moment in the middle of your budget grocery trip, and it’s one of the biggest drivers of revenue for them.

You came for milk. You left with a dehydrator. This is positive reinforcement retail at its finest.

3. Aldi created their own muscle memory.

Ever walk into a new supermarket and feel...kinda lost? (I’m lookin’ at you, King Soopers 🫠)

Aisles that don’t make sense. End caps with chaotic promos. Eggs in three different places. A lot of grocery stores are really just giant warehouses full of products laid out in no clear structure (and no map to help customers navigate).

Aldi flips this script with ultra-consistent store layouts. Every store is structured with the same narrow aisles, same left-to-right product journey, same unbranded efficiency. Everywhere.

That consistency creates cognitive fluency - AKA: a fancy way of saying “easy for the brain to navigate without much help.”

Here’s what that buys them/their customers:

• Faster navigation (shorter trips = happier shoppers)

• Less perceived effort (which boosts satisfaction)

• Higher retention (because familiarity breeds loyalty)

TLDR; if every time a customer visits your site things function relatively the same, that creates fluency and fluency reduces stress. Which is good because stress is bad for both humans and businesses

4. Aldi teaches their customers what to expect, then delivers.

Let’s talk about this shopping cart system, because yes, even the carts are psychologically optimized. I had never heard of a grocery store charging their customers to use their carts, but I’m starting to think every brand needs to charge for stuff like this…🤔

At Aldi, all the carts are locked together. To use one, you have to pay - insert a quarter, get a cart. Then, when you return the cart, you get your quarter back.

Simple? Yes.
Genius? Also yes.

It flips a classic behavioral script that most of their competitors miss:

• Instead of hiring someone to round up stray carts…

• Aldi gets their customers to do it, without even asking…

• Because all you want is your dang quarter back.

This is operant conditioning in action—a reward (getting your coin back) reinforces the desired behavior (returning the cart). And it creates:

• Cleaner parking lots

• Lower labor costs

• A sense of earned satisfaction

Also… it kinda makes you feel like a responsible adult. And Aldi just gave you that tiny victory for free. We rarely do this in DTC, but it’s a brilliant move.

TL;DR: Aldi Isn’t Just a Better Option. It’s the Smarter One.

Aldi isn’t winning just because they undercut the big guys on price. They’re winning because they make the shopping experience feel easier, faster, and sneakily enjoyable—all while slashing operational bloat.

🧠 How to Apply This to Your Brand

Here’s how to turn Aldi’s $60B psychology playbook into tactical wins for your DTC brand:

1. Choice Architecture → Curate like a minimalist
Limit your SKUs per product category. Highlight 1–2 bestsellers with clear “why this one” copy, and use guided quizzes or filters to help customers self-sort fast. Less cognitive friction = higher conversions.

2. Scarcity & Surprise → Build a “Finds” engine
Add a rotating section on your site or in your emails—think: This Week’s Drop, Flash Finds, or Gone Soon. Keep it limited, fresh, and a little unpredictable to tap into loss aversion and dopamine-driven revisits.

3. Cognitive Fluency → Make every visit feel familiar
Audit your store’s navigation, product page layout, and checkout flow. Keep it consistent across mobile and desktop. When users don’t have to “relearn” your site, they buy faster and return more often.

4. Behavioral Reinforcement → Reward tiny positive actions
Build in micro-rewards: give points for writing a review, refer-a-friend perks, even a small freebie when they complete a bundle or return to restock. Reinforce good customer behaviors like Aldi’s quarter system reinforces cart returns.

Chat soon,

🦕 Sarah

PS: I work with DTC brands looking to turn psychology into profit. If you want to audit your store’s decision flow, tweak your messaging, or build a “Finds”-style loop into your funnel—we can do that together. I only take on a few strategy calls each month, so if you’ve been curious, now’s a great time. Book yours here →

Then, keep reading 👇

Dex’s Trend Alert: 9,000% YOY spike – Consumers aren’t following trends. They’re curating them.

Pinterest just lit up with a 9,000% year-over-year surge in searches for “new trend inspo.” From what we’re seeing this isn’t just the next wave of girlcore/aesthetic/fairy grunge…this is something deeper.

✨ The Signal:
“New trend inspo” is now what we call a “meta-trend”, otherwise known as: a trend about finding trends. Users (especially 20s–30s women) are actively seeking fresh aesthetics to explore, not passively scrolling for what’s popular.

These consumers are hunting, sorting, and curating in the hopes of finding something distinct that will differentiate them from their peers and propel them to the top of their social circles. Think of it as trend forecasting for the masses.

🧠 The Diagnosis:
This is the Pinterest generation’s version of a mood board meeting a makeover montage. It tells us:

→ “I’m tired of what’s already out there.”
→ “I want to be early, not just adjacent.”
→ “I’m not looking for what to wear—I’m looking for what to become.”
→ “Trends are tools—I’m the main character.”

This trend is interesting because it’s built on macro identity exploration. And every product, look, or vibe is a puzzle piece in a bigger self-expression story.

📌 Here’s how to capitalize:

🛍️ DTC Brands
Forget trendjacking. Start trend seeding. Frame your products as the start of a new movement. Sell with language like:
→ “Start your era.”
→ “Be the blueprint.”
→ “Founding member of the next big thing.”

📸 Creators
“New trend inspo” is your open invitation to experiment wildly. Turn outfit vids, skincare dumps, and room makeovers into “here’s a trend that doesn’t exist yet, but should.” Give your audience the fantasy, not just the fit.

💡 Bonus strategy: Launch a “Trend Starter Kit” experience on your site. Combine products + moodboard assets + a name for the look. (Extra points if you give it a totally absurd-but-clicky title like “Post-Apocalyptic Coastal Academia.”)

Until next time.

—Dex 🦖