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OWL BOOK REVIEW
AVIARY
Why We Buy, The
Science of Shopping
by Paco Underhill
Simon and Schuster,
1999
ISBN: 0 684 84913
5
This is an exciting
book to read, in as much as you learn about the new field of "the science
of shopping," while you also get to learn what these newest anthropologists
are uncovering about Americans as consumers.
Paco Underhill
became interested in tracking shoppers quite by accident. Underhill was
asked to look at people movement patterns at the Lincoln Center, and in
the process observed a clumsy shopping interaction that grabbed his attention.
Not long after that, he suggested to Epic Records that it might be an interesting
idea to use scientific tools on shopping. He was asked to submit a proposal.
Nothing happened, until someone ran across the proposal in a dusty file
a year later. That was the beginning of a business that has been developing
for the past twenty years.
Information
gathered about shoppers in the past was quite indirect. But, Underhill
and his trackers literally go out and observe movements, behaviors, touching
patterns, eye flickers, and so on of thousands of shoppers for his clients.
In the process,
he has learned that:
-
Buying decisions are
strongly influenced on the shop floors themselves. Brand loyalty alone
won't determine what a customer will buy.
-
Signage, shelf position,
display space and fixtures all influence whether something will be purchased
or not.
-
The longer someone remains
in a store, the more likely they are to buy. It's the single most important
variable in determining whether a customer will purchase.
-
The more interaction
a customer has with staff, the more likely they are to buy.
-
Most shopkeepers don't
know what is going on in their stores, though they probably think they
do.
-
When customers have to
wait too long for anything, their perception of customer service plunges.
-
Men and women shop differently.
Hey, did we need Underhill to point this one out. But he has spelled out
these differences beyond the generalizations most of us make about male
and female shoppers.
This is definitely
a book for anyone who is interested in customer service, shopping, consumer
behavior, and just a good read. The book makes one wonder what other scientific
techniques can be applied to business questions.
Janelle Barlow, Ph.D.
President, TMI USA
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