I buy a lot of my groceries online, because I don't have time to go out each week to the out-of-town retail park where the big supermarkets are. Every time I go to the website, something I've bought regularly will suddenly be "unavailable", and I'll be offered a more expensive alternative, or the price will have gone up in a massive leap. I'm constantly being steered towards what *they* want me to buy, not what *I* want to buy. And, if I go to the bricks-and-mortar shop (which is where the online order is processed, so the stock is exactly the same), of course the supposedly "unavailable" item is there. They lie :) So, I've taken to playing them at their own game, and deliberately changing my preferences and buying behaviours. Most people wouldn't even know they were being lied to, let alone how to fight back. Not because they're stupid, but because they don't understand marketing.

(An online friend).