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Title: Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping by Paco Underhill ISBN: 0-684-84914-3 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 02 June, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.58 (99 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: MUST READ FOR ANYONE IN MARKETING OR RETAIL!!!!
Comment: Paco Underhill's book utilizes observational research to determine why people buy. The book starts off with a detailed description of the shopping behavior of a customer in the towel section of a store. Underhill carefully writes down the customers every move, from the number of towels touched, to checking the price tag, nothing gets by without being recorded. He does this same type of observation on hundreds of customers, and from the observations recorded; he makes very thoughtful suggestions to the management of the firm.
I found many of his observations very common sense. For example, "transition zone" as Underhill calls it. Many businesses fail to recognize that it takes time for customers to make an adjustment from being outside of the store to being inside the store. A customer will ignore a simple item like a shopping basket if it is placed in the transition zone. Hanging signs and posters in front doors go unnoticed, because customers are concentrating on opening the door, rather than looking at signs. In a later chapter he goes on to discuss how natural human movement motivates customer purchasing. Because humans walk and look in a forward motion, a lot of items that are on the shelves go unnoticed. If a customer is familiar with the stores environment, then he or she is more likely to roam with his or her eyes as they are passing through the isles.
I found the most interesting topics later in the book. Underhill gives a very insightful description of why men and women shop differently. Underhill states, "Men are from Sears Hardware, Women are from Bloomingdale's." I found some of his research findings very fascinating. He gives a wonderful statistic on men's buying behavior. When a man try's items on at the store there is a 65% chance that he will purchase the item vs. a woman 25%. There is one observation Underhill makes I definitely have to agree with is that idea that men almost always pays. However, I do not agree with his idea that men get a thrill out of purchasing their female friends items.
When I started reading the chapter about what women want, I found a lot of his research findings not too surprising. It is almost common knowledge that women tend to shop faster if a male companion accompanies her. Also nothing new about how ritualistic women shopping patterns is. From seeking and comparing, to trying on and leaving items behind, it is all part of a days shopping for women.
At the end of the book there is an insightful chapter called "The Self-Exam." One idea that he mentions repeatedly through out his book, and emphasized again in this chapter is that shoppers need baskets when their hands are full. Which is not surprising, however when was the last time you saw a stack of baskets sitting in the middle of a store? This book is very thoughtful, interesting and gives any person in the marketing field excellent insight on buyer behavior. This book is a must read for anyone managing in the retail.
Rating: 5
Summary: Why We Buy Helps Me Sell!
Comment: Since I have never been an avid shopper (usually once or twice a year besides the grocery), I found this book absolutely enlightening! I find I "shop like the guys" in the stores the few times I go each year. Usually I give my neighbor money and she buys my clothes, etc., during her very frequent shopping trips.
However, about a year ago I opened a Holistic Clinic and have started carrying items to fill needs of my bodywork clients and yoga students, etc. Paco's book really made a BIG difference in how I have done the presentation of products, signs, customer checkout, etc. My sales did indeed increase significantly!
I'm in a Business Networking group and have recommended the book to the other 20 people in that group and loaned it to a few. I also recommended it to 3 of our local bookstores (including a very large chain), the post office, and have given it as a gift to two friends who are starting their own businesses.
My husband teases me about "Well, what does Paco say?"
This book is fun to read, extremely informative, and has made a great difference in my sales - and a newfound enjoyment in shopping for me!
Thanks Paco!
Rating: 5
Summary: Everything it says it is
Comment: All about shopping behavior. There are tons of insights to be gained for anyone in retail, esp store planning and merchandising. Certainly not written as a how to book for retailing, but worth it all the more for valuable perspective.
FRANKly, the review about it being contradictory--BOGUS because retailers very often show both printers bundled with PCs and printers by themselves in separate locations--it's called cross-merchandising. Also, the claim that Underhill omits any mention of obstructed signage--simply not true. But, I totally agree that more should be said about the impact of employees on shopper behavior.
And yes, there is repetition, even some word for word repetition. That's because lot of the book is compiled from journal articles and other publications. In my opinion this adds credibility. At the outset it claims to be a brief anthropological survey of shopping behavior, and that's exactly what it is.
All in all a compelling read for seller and shopper alike!
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Title: 1001 IDEAS TO CREATE RETAIL EXCITEMENT by Edgar A. Falk ISBN: 0132923939 Publisher: Prentice Hall Press Pub. Date: 19 April, 1994 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market by Gerald Zaltman ISBN: 1578518261 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 21 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Retail Success! by George Whalin ISBN: 0970643500 Publisher: Willoughby Press Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Up Against the Wal-Marts: How Your Business Can Prosper in the Shadow of the Retail Giants by Don Taylor, Jeanne Smalling Archer ISBN: 0814479162 Publisher: AMACOM Pub. Date: February, 1996 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Soul of the New Consumer: Authenticity-What We Buy and Why in the New Economy by David Lewis, Darren Bridger ISBN: 1857882989 Publisher: Nicholas Brealey Pub. Date: May, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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