11/10/2026
🛒 Are special offers really saving us money?
Discounts, supermarket deals and loyalty apps are part of our everyday shopping. But do they really help us save money — or do they influence us to buy more than we intended?
In the ARD documentary “Die Wahrheit über Sonderangebote” (The Truth About Special Offers), Prof. Dr. Kai-Markus Mueller from HFU Business School explores the psychology behind special offers and how they shape our purchasing decisions.
As part of the filming, the research team visited EDEKA Culinara in Schwenningen and explored how our brains respond to special offers in an MRI scanner at Freie Universität Berlin.
The documentary looks at questions that matter to consumers and retailers alike:
- Which supermarkets and discounters offer the best deals?
- Do loyalty programmes such as Lidl Plus and REWE Bonus help us save — or encourage us to spend more?
- How do special offers capture our attention and influence our decisions?
The research combines eye-tracking technology from HFU Business School with MRI scans at Freie Universität Berlin, offering insights into the psychology behind our everyday shopping habits.
We’re looking forward to seeing which findings made it into the final 45-minute documentary!
📺 Watch “Die Wahrheit über Sonderangebote”
📅 Monday, 12 October 2026
⏰ 8:15 p.m. (CEST)
📡 Das Erste (ARD)
👉 Watch here:
https://www.ardmediathek.de/tv-programm/6a9697c069ea547d658a3f9a