Product Description

Is there a method to our madness when it comes to shopping? Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "a Sherlock Holmes for retailers," author and research company CEO Paco Underhill answers with a definitive "yes" in this witty, eye-opening report on our ever-evolving consumer culture. Why We Buy is based on hard data gleaned from thousands of hours of field research -- in shopping malls, department stores, and supermarkets across America. With his team of sleuths tracking our every move, from sweater displays at the mall to the beverage cooler at the drugstore, Paco Underhill lays bare the struggle among merchants, marketers, and increasingly knowledgeable consumers for control.

In his quest to discover what makes the contemporary consumer tick, Underhill explains the shopping phenomena that often go unnoticed by retailers and shoppers alike, including:

• How a well-placed shopping basket can turn a small purchase into a significant sale

• What the "butt-brush factor" is and how it can make sales plummet

• How working women have altered the way supermarkets are designed

• How the "boomerang effect" makes product placement ever more challenging

• What kinds of signage and packaging turn browsers into buyers

For those in retailing and marketing, Why We Buy is a remarkably fresh guide, offering creative and insightful tips on how to adapt to the changing customer. For the general public, Why We Buy is a funny and sometimes disconcerting look at our favorite pastime.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4548 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-02
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Amazon.com
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

From Publishers Weekly
Underhill, once a budding academic who worked on a William H. Whyte project analyzing how people use public spaces, adapted anthropological techniques to the world of retail and forged an innovative career with the consulting firm Envirosell. Since brand names and traditional advertising don't necessarily translate into sales, Underhill argues that retail design based on his company's closeAvery closeAobservation of shoppers and stores holds the key. His anecdotes contain illuminating detail. For example, since bookstore shoppers like to browse, baskets should be scattered throughout the store to make it easier for customers to carry their purchases. In clothing stores, fitting rooms are best placed closer to the men's department, because men choose based on fit, while women consider more variables. And he sprinkles in other smart suggestions: drugstores could boast a consolidated "men's health" department; computer stores, to attract women, should emphasize convenience and versatility, not size and speed; and clerks at luxury hotels should use hand-held computers to check in travelers from lobby chairs. Underhill remains skeptical about cyberspace retail, believing that Web sites can't offer the sensory stimuli, immediate gratification or social interaction available in brick-and-mortar stores. While the book does little to analyze the international, regional or ethnic dimensions of the subject, it should aid those in business while intriguing urban anthropologists, amateur and professional.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The title for this treatment of marketing research in the retail setting is misleading. Underhill, founder of the behavioral research company Envirosell, summarizes some of the firm's conclusions about the interaction between consumers and products and consumers and commercial spaces. He lays claim to the research techniques of urban anthropology, but his casual, self-congratulatory tone and loose organization make the book inappropriate for academic use. Underhill breezes through anecdotes about how observing the mundane details of shopping improves retail sales, but there is limited grounding in the framework of his "science." Given the lack of recent titles on the topic, this is recommended for large collections with an emphasis on retailing.APaula Dempsey, DePaul Univ. Lib., Chicago
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

it was ok
i read the book because of the title, i'm kind of interested in how we tick, and though i don't think a book would be able to answer this question, attempts amuse me. however. this was not about why we buy, but about how stores position things so that you might want to buy them, a marketers perspective on the retail store if you will. and it was interesting for the most part, but it was only a passing fancy interesting, not a stop what you're doing and read this book interesting. things like who shopped with who was taken into consideration and a hypothesis on how merchandise or where to put the store was given accordingly. pretty much the whole book right there. ok i might be simplifying, but still, this book could've been a lot more, or i was expecting a lot more than what was given, so it was a disappointment i suppose. still, i think it should be read, even if it's only bathroom reading, because there is definitely something to be taken away from the book. nothing ground breaking, but something none the less:P

Well worth your time
This book is insightful, intelligent, and provides an invaluable view at the commercial world we live in. Paco Underhill is an amazing writer, the book is an easy & an enjoyable read.

It's a swindle!
First, as already pointed out in previous reviews, the title is totally misleading.
Second, there is no info you can use and Underhill knows it. "Why We Buy" is just a bunch of stories about how the author's company supposedely solved specific problems of specific clients through primary research.
"Primary research (also called field research) involves the collection of data that does not already exist. This can be through numerous forms, including questionnaires and telephone interviews amongst others." (Wikipedia). If you know anything about research you know you can't safely extrapolate these "discoveries" to your particular case or, in other words, use them as guidelines.
Underhill knows his stories have no value because primary research is what he does for a living. That's what Underhill writes about, i.e. that the only way to solve the problem is through field research in that particular store.
(A small note: yes, primary research is the best way to get the right answer, but also is the most expensive way. You may get the same results at only a fraction of a cost through secondary research.
"Secondary research (also known as desk research) involves the summary, collation and/or synthesis of existing research rather than primary research, where data are collected from, for example, research subjects or experiments." (Wikipedia)

So why was the book written? Hm...let me guess: to promote the author and his company and to exploit gullible uneducated readers.
When you purchase this stuff you pay for something you may not want to read for free. It's like paying $15 to watch an infomercial. Hey, I'm glad I never paid for that kind of enlightenment!