Trader Joe’s bucks much of the general wisdom of typical grocery stores in the U.S. — it doesn’t do sales or coupons, has no self-checkout, no loyalty cards, and almost always has a nightmare-ish line at check-out. Here’s how it was successful anyway.
A trip to Trader Joe’s is an odyssey, with struggles, discovery and the spoils of victory: Its parking lots are notorious (“If you didn’t have a near death experience in a parking lot, did you even go to Trader Joe’s?” tweeted a customer), as are the long checkout lines that wind through the store’s crowded aisles. And you won’t find sales, coupons or loyalty cards. But Trader Joe’s shoppers inevitably leave with an exciting new snack addiction and a respectable bottle of wine for under $5.
That odyssey, the emotional journey, is part of what has inspired consumers’ obsession with Trader Joe’s.
There are unofficial Instagram accounts dedicated to the brand (@traderjoeslist has 1.1 million followers alone). Even celebrities crave Trader Joe’s; Hillary Duff, for example, is “obsessed” with the egg-white salad. And when Trader Joe’s opened it’s store in Germantown outside of Memphis in Tennessee, more than 500 people reportedly waited in line.
Fandom translates to sales. In 2019, Trader Joe’s 505 U.S. stores had an estimated $13.7 billion in net sales, according to retail insights company Edge by Ascential. For comparison, Whole Foods had $16.5 billion U.S. net sales in 2019 (in-store sales only, Whole Foods groceries sold on Amazon.com not included), while Costco had $110.5 billion in store-based (Costco.com sales are tracked separately) net sales, according to Edge by Ascential.
Bringing in billions from a cult of customers is no accident. But the brand has carefully pruned its business strategy to inspire evangelism from its customers. Here are some of the ways Trader Joe’s gets people hooked.
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Why You Spend So Much Money At Trader Joe’s
Link do Vídeo
What’s your favorite Trader Joe’s product? Like the video and let us know in the comments below.
I actually spend less, when I go to Publix everything is super expensive.
You mean wholefoods
Junk food vegans
Trader Joes has amazinggg prices, and I saved hundreds of dollars per month purchasing my monthly groceries from here in NYC. Plus, they are way more upfront about contents in their items, which I love!
Trader Joe's is very cheap here in Florida
TJs crew member here. This video is spot on about a few things. BUT…Trader Joe's, just like every big company has a financial agenda for more and more profit. It's a multibillion company that has, over the past few years decreased some of their benefits for staff. That is not a complaint, it's just the reality. One thing that must be clarified, staff reviews are twice a year, only if your review is good, will you get a raise. If you happen to not meet all expectations, you may not get a raise. And lastly, a majority of products, especially the fun ones, are fully prepared. Read all ingredient labels!! We are NOT a health food store or healthy alternative to commercial grocery items. The amount of sodium and sugar in products to make them taste better is huge. And, if you are more of a purest like me, canola and/or palm oil is in almost everything among a few other undesirable ingredients. What is really true is the genius of Joe Columbe who paid for all products up front (it's one of the few companies of its size that is still private and debt free) and created a culture that he knew the public would become addicted to. OH…nope, we will never be part of the digital age. It was always meant to be a people first company.
Everything around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Alot of there foods have bad ingredients is not even healthy for you.
My favorite Store, never empty shelves plus some there prices are lower than some our regular Grocery store. I have to go to Phoenix, L.A, or to Vegas. I wish they would get a Store in Bullhead, LAUGHING or Havasu. A lot of people from California that leave here in the Tri State Area. Please get Store out in this area. Everyone out here wants a Trader's Joe's.
I bought recently a bag of Trader Joe's ridge cut chips with sea salt. It was a 16 ounce bag for $2.99. Best chips I've eaten ever. I just looked at a supermarket ad for Lays Wavy chips in the "party size" which is 13 ounces. They cost $5.69. And they are not as good. So for nearly the same price as the Lays, I can get 32 ounces of chips that are better. You can't tell me that isn't a bargain.
I lived about a mile away from the first Trader Joe’s in Pasadena, California. There were this adorable, cool twins that worked there. They had the brightest smile. After a while they would always greet me with a kiss 😘 on the cheek (Mexican style) they always made me feel welcome and appreciated. I now live in Texas 😢 no T J’s anywhere near. I miss it so badly.
I worked at Trader Joe's and LOVED it, honestly if Germany had them I would have applied once I moved here. Still miss my coworkers, the job''s mentality, the products, and honestly it was super sweet to get a card in the mail from corporate for christmas and my birthday 🙂
LOVE THIS STORE. ❤
TRADER JOE'S IS SMART SHOPPING
OMG! I FEEL THAT TOO MUCH CHOICE OF PRODUCTS IS OVERWHELMING, THIS IS WHY I ❤ TRADER JOE'S!
Trader Joe's also donates to the food pantry that I sometimes go to. It's given me the opportunity to try things from trader Joe's that I necessarily wouldn't buy and honestly because of this I shop at their store to find the foods I've tried and feel in love with like there banana cake with brown sugar icing is too die for! Plus I really like to give back to a place that gives to the less fortunate.
Is this a Millennial or Generation Z thing?
LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. Something huge that they missed. Some of their busiest stores are located directly and exactly where their target demographics live.
I don’t want to stock up a mini van drive 35-1 hr to a Walmart or Costco to buy boxes of stuff I need for the month and hope they stay fresh in my fridge. I hate the concept of large warehouses within endless seas of parking spaces.
I could just walk or bike to TJ :>
It's the packaging!
Safeway better
I hate people who shop at Trader Joe's
Oh for the days when Trader Joes was really Trader Joes. I grew up in Southern California, when TJs first opened, the items for sale were limited to Cheese, Wine, Granola, they had a 10lb and 25lb bar of Ghirardelli Chocolate, which you could buy either whole, or after being able to watch the crew members in the back of the store, behind the tables they put the items on, (no fancy shelving or frozen foods then.) Drop a large bar of chocolate breaking it into smaller pieces, then opening the package, wrapping it in plastic, weighing it and selling it by weight. The crew members would scoop out the granola and other products from the wooden barrels they came in, packaging them into bags, heat sealing them and then re-using the barrels to display the items. The cheese was hand cut and wrapped, most everything was processed or packaged in the local stores. TJs was one of the first with the re-usable canvas bags. The first one's said Bag and Generic on the side in green, later they put the TJs logo on them. I still have two from the late 60s that my mom got when I was still in Middle School in South Pasadena
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As for Joe, until his final days, he would walk down in the Arroyo between Highland Park and Pasadena/South Pasadena with his dogs, close to the original TJs location in South Pasadena, and was as friendly as can be. Petting everyone's dog, and while after he sold TJs was an even more wealthy multi-millionaire, who gave large donations to great causes, he would chat with each person who wanted to say hi, and make them feel they were the only person on the planet.
Today when I go into TJs it's more a corporate feel, nothing like the feel that it had from it's founding through the mid to late 80s, but I still get just a hint of it's past when I go in and pick up a few things that you can't find elsewhere. But the original TJs which was just one of the local mom and pop markets and deli/markets is just a fading memory.
I don’t think it’s particularly cheap but I actually spend less when I shop at Trader Joe’s than I do at my local chain Harris Teeter.
I love Trader Joe's! I'm from rural WV and when my mom and I visited DC we stayed around the block from one, I'd never been before and I was instantly hooked, I want one here so bad but the closest one is more than 2 hours away in Ohio.
Hmmm… trying to spin a positive image for a store that used racist labels for their food.
Mostly go there for relatively cheap pasta and frozen meals when I'm budgeting. Cool to see the occasional quirky product like ube cookies.
Am I the only one that pays less at Trader Joe’s than at a regular grocery store? I usually pay around $200 at a regular place, I’ve never spent more than $100, it’s usually around $50 at TJs
🍎 will have a new cell phone in Dec 2022 with scratch and sniff app for Trader's Joe's exciting products….
I look at products at TJ's vs Costco and other stores. I consider TJ's a fancy convenient store with unique items. Their meats and most of their refrigerated products are more expensive than almost everyone else, why, because they sell smaller portions in bachelor/bachelorette packaging . I believe it's a genius marketing tactic, cater to the single person in smaller quantities and you can charge just slightly above average. Because you're buying smaller quantities, you get to the cashier and spend less than buying bulk or for a larger family, like you would at the grocery store, so there's a slight impression that TJ's is cheaper.