Loading ...Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping
Well, I’ve gotten a little behind writing my reviews of (audio) books, so Why We Buy was actually something I finished a few weeks ago! Hopefully my memory will not fail me too badly, and indeed it was a memorable enough book. Why We Buy was written by Paco Underhill, the CEO of a research company dedicated to examining how people shop and then recommending ways of improving a store to help make that experience easier and thus improve sales.
The book in some ways is almost a study in both sociology and psychology - not only of the customer but of the store owner, managers, and clerks. All areas of retail are covered, from supermarkets to clothing stores, to online stores. Underhill’s firm observes shoppers in all these environments and they take detailed notes about what people pick up, put back, put in their cart, etc. Their conclusions and recommendations, according to Underhill, have unfailingly had one result – they improve sales. Many of these recommendations seem like total common sense, but I wonder how obvious they would be to many of us if we were told to go out and make such recommendations.
The main theme running through the book is that stores all too often get it wrong and do not make the shopping experience an easy one for a large segment of its customers due to wanting to portray a certain image – whether that image is the designer of the store or signage, or the image that marketing wants to portray, etc. For example, in a woman’s clothing stores, often the smallest sizes are placed within the easiest reach. So teenagers and 20-somethings are favored, whereas an older and/or heavier woman has to stoop down to the floor, reach way above her head, or even worse go looking for a sales clerk to help them find a larger size.
As mentioned, I actually listened to this book as opposed to reading it. The version I listened to was an unabridged one from Audible.com, narrated (very nicely I in my opinion) by Rick Adamson. Unfortunately it appears that Audible.com is the only place that it is available in audio.