Paco
Underhill, founder of Envirosell, takes us on a journey, a
journey of the ever-elusive shopper in, "Why We Buy: The Science
Of Shopping".
Right
away, the author jumps into the story, as we see a personal account
of a shopper being tracked by a tracker--usually a paid laboratory
assistant whose job is to follow shoppers, write down the time,
person, and the item bought onto a clipboard. Obviously, this was the
old-fashioned way of tracking people. Now they just use multiple
cameras and computers to track shoppers.
Using
real-life examples and scenarios, we see how the shopper interacts in
the world of retail both from the shopper's perspective and from the
retailer/tracker, who must adapt to the shopper's every-changing
needs, wants and desires.
Gleaning
insights and observations from Underhill, the reader can understand
how the whole shopping industry works. You need not be an avid
shopper or a retailer to learn some very interesting facts about "Why
We Buy".
For
example, there was a very humorous scientific phenomenon called, the
"butt-brush effect", where shoppers being brushed by
or touched from behind, will quickly move on to another part of the
store, abandoning the display they were previously looking at.
Also
according to Underhill's study, if you're a woman shopping with a
female companion, your shopping time is timed at 8 minutes and 15
seconds--compared to just 4 minutes and 41 seconds when shopping with
a man. The lesson? Women together, take longer to shop. They like to
talk, look at things, talk about those things they looked at, and so
on. Most men just want to get out of the store as quickly as
possible.
But
as we all have found out, the longer you stay in a store, the more
chance you see something you want and just have to
buy.
In
the chapter, "Time, Real and Perceived", we see how time
can shift while in a store. It also shows the loss of profit for the
retailer when it takes too long for the shopper to purchase an item,
if the line is too long or if they have nothing to look at while
waiting.
It's
interesting to see how much trouble retailers will go to get your
attention. A study of signs in the chapter, "How to Read a
Sign", shows the process marketers go through to see if their
sign is both readable and attention grabbing. If it's too attention
grabbing, however, it bares the risk of being too annoying and thus
defeats the purpose of the ad sign.
Published
in 1999, Underhill foresees the importance of advertising on the
internet with the chapter, "In Cyberspace, No One Can Hear You
Shop", but isn't quite prepared for the current online ad
tracking system we have today.
He
does point out the difference between online shopping and retail
shopping, where online shopping cannot replace: social interaction,
trying-on of clothing and the 'immediate gratification' you get when
coming out of a store. Since 1999 was a very different time for
online shopping, he uses past examples of bad webpage design that is
rarely seen today. His book is obviously out-of-date. He offers a more updated version: WHY WE BUY: The Science of Shopping Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond. (See website listing below)
Still,
knowing how retailers and marketers work behind-the-scenes can be
very beneficial for the reader. Automatically, you learn to think
like 'an observer' noticing how retailers get your attention in the
store. You may notice absurd gaffs in how they present their
products--like the ridiculous bins that crowd the aisles in every
grocery store you visit. You may even have a few suggestions for
those retailers--I've made quite a few myself--on how they can
improve their displays or make the check-out time go faster.
At
times the reader may feel like a guinea pig, when being 'studied' in
the shopping environment. Being labeled a consumer is very limiting
to the humanness of the shopping experience. But there are
consequences for the retailer who won't cater to the shopper's every
whim. A shopper is still the person who gives money to the retailer
and without the shopper, the retailer wouldn't exist.
With
this knowledge we can appreciate, "The Science of Shopping"
as Underhill puts the term. An observer rather than a marketing
analyst, Underhill's job was not to simply 'spy upon shoppers' but to
analyze patterns and behaviors in the retail environment. As
Underhill says in his book,
"...the
science of shopping knows a great deal less about individual
consumers than does your average direct marketing consultant, who can
summon up any American's name, address, phone number, marital status,
credit record and purchasing history in a flash."
His
book also points out the often un-intended issue of discrimination
toward shoppers who are older and can't read the small print on drug
bottles in the store. Some of those elder shoppers have to actually
bend down, close to the floor, just to reach those said hard-to-read
bottles. Stores can easily remedy this by providing bigger signs from
the printed bottles and positioning the most widely used drugs on a
higher-shelf. See? You're learning something already!
Though,
slightly out-of-date, the average reader who's interested in
shopping, marketing or even human anthropology can learn a great
deal. There are many nuances in the everyday social interaction that
takes place in the retail environment.
Think
about what you do when you enter a store. Where do you go and why? Is
there something that 'calls' out to you, a sale rack conveniently
placed next to more expensive items? Do certain colors in a store
'grab' your attention? Do you wonder why sugary cereal is so easily
reachable by your children? (It may be on purpose!). All these
questions are relevant to the shopper, if we only take the time to
think about them.
Paco Underhill's website and booklist is here, with a link to his other books and where to buy them:
