Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping - Hardcover

Underhill, Paco

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684849135 ISBN 13: 9780684849133

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1999

Synopsis

An expert on shopping behavior and motivation offers a witty analysis of consumers' tastes and habits, explaining why point-of-sale purchases are still the most significant, why Internet shopping will not replace the mall, how hardware stores are adapting to women's needs, and more. 75,000 first printing. Tour.

About this title

Review:

In an effort to determine why people buy, Paco Underhill and his detailed-oriented band of retail researchers have camped out in stores over the course of 20 years, dedicating their lives to the "science of shopping." Armed with an array of video equipment, store maps, and customer-profile sheets, Underhill and his consulting firm, Envirosell, have observed over 900 aspects of interaction between shopper and store. They've discovered that men who take jeans into fitting rooms are more likely to buy than females (65 percent vs. 25 percent). They've learned how the "butt-brush factor" (bumped from behind, shoppers become irritated and move elsewhere) makes women avoid narrow aisles. They've quantified the importance of shopping baskets; contact between employees and shoppers; the "transition zone" (the area just inside the store's entrance); and "circulation patterns" (how shoppers move throughout a store). And they've explored the relationship between a customer's amenability and profitability, learning how good stores capitalize on a shopper's unspoken inclinations and desires.

Underhill, whose clients include McDonald's, Starbucks, Estée Lauder, and Blockbuster, stocks Why We Buy with a wealth of retail insights, showing how men are beginning to shop like women, and how women have changed the way supermarkets are laid out. He also looks to the future, projecting massive retail opportunities with an aging baby-boom population and predicting how online retailing will affect shopping malls. This lighthearted look at shopping is highly recommended to anyone who buys or sells. --Rob McDonald

About the Author:

With clients ranging from McDonald's to Starbucks, Estée Lauder to Blockbuster and Citibank to Wells Fargo, Paco Underhill has been profiled in The New Yorker and Smithsonian Magazine, has written for American Demographics and Adweek and lectures widely. He is based in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0684849135
• ISBN 13: 9780684849133
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256