Didja catch that article last week about “Six Sneaky Ways Stores Get You to Buy More”?

Reporter Mercedes Cardona intended the piece to warn shoppers of “tricky tactics” used by retail marketers. But what she’s done instead is create a quick and easy set of sales lessons for us solopreneurs.

Imaginative folks both online and offline can find inspiration from these ideas:

Free services

Have you noticed the mini-makeovers offered to women at make-up counters? Or those free how-to classes at the home improvement centers?

When people spend time with, talk about, and touch merchandise, they’re more likely to purchase.

The whole look

Room arrangements in a furniture store or displays of fully accessorized outfits at a clothing store are examples of how retailers help shoppers better imagine the actual use of products. This prompts more sales.

A good whiff

Pleasant fragrances often make people more willing to buy, so some business owners introduce nice scents into their shops.

A lovely melody

You know that soft jazz and folk music they play at Starbucks? Doesn’t it make you wanna stick around and maybe even order a second cuppa Joe?

Buy-one-get-one

Does this drive people to buy? You bet it does!

Store greeters

Store greeters who stand by the door to say hi and hand out flyers add a personal touch that makes shoppers happier to spend money.

Mercedes Cardona suggests that all these methods are manipulative “sneaky tricks” to encourage overbuying.

But notice that each of them…

1) Increases customer service, or…

2) Increases customer comfort, or…

3) Increases merchant-customer relationships, or…

4) All of the above.

And what’s the matter with that?

Methinks we’d all benefit if MORE businesses used such marketing shenanigans.