I’m Not Buying It

Review by Mike Gange

 

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping
by Paco Underhill
Simon & Shuster, $15.00 U.S., $23.00 CDN, 255 page

At my neighborhood mall, when I sometimes enter through the national brand-name store which serves as an mall anchor, I am often annoyed, perplexed and uncomfortable. If I enter and turn left immediately, as my wife and children want to do, and which is the quickest way to connect to the mall, the path runs right through ladies clothing and sexy lingerie. Wonderbras of every imaginable color are right at eye level, sometimes protruding their shimmering lacy fronts right into the aisles. If I were to go straight, to get to men’s clothing, I have to step around a display rack of pots and pans that intrudes into the aisle. If I turn right, I have to wander circuitously past vacuum cleaners and appliances to get to the electronics or to the hardware sections.

Coming from the mall, the mouth of the store is bottlenecked by a row of glass cased cosmetics counters, followed by another row of display cases where watches are sold. Although this store sells hundreds of baby strollers, two strollers can not pass side by side, because there always seems to be something set out on display tables in the aisles. I have never felt very comfortable there, and until I read Paco Underhill’s book Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, I never fully understood why. I always feel pressured into buying something, and the message does not come from the staff. I am being manipulated not by human sales agents, but by the lay out of the store. I keep my wallet in my pocket and hurry out of the store, feeling somewhat guilty for having visited without buying.

Shopping has come to mean different things to different people. "We use shopping as therapy, reward, bribery, pastime, as an excuse to get out of the house, as a way to troll for potential loved ones, as entertainment, as a form of education or worship, as a way to kill time," writes Underhill, whose New York based firm, Envirosell provides retailers with advice on how to get and keep customers in the store.

Why We Buy, though, is directed at consumers and spills the beans on manufacturers and retailers, advertisers and store designers. Underhill is witty and candid about what works for retailers and what needs to be fixed. He provides interesting insight into our ever evolving consumer culture.

Underhill looks at some shopping phenomena which make us buy or which make us leave quickly. His research shows, for example, that keeping shopping baskets available at the back of the store can result in significant sales increases. A discount table at the front of the store brings more people into the store, particularly women, but they will only stay at that table if no one brushes by them, squeezing past to get into the store. Cell phone ads for men, points out Underhill, show the eternal child with his toy, while those for women show the responsible adult juggling family and job commitments. And he says, by the year 2025, one fifth of all shoppers will be older than 65, but most retailers aren’t anywhere ready for that idea yet.

Underhill’s book is a bit like having the master plan to allow safe passage through the mine field. My wallet will still be in my pocket as I pass through the anchor store to and from my neighborhood mall, but now that I know I am being manipulated, I’m already feeling a whole lot less guilty about not buying.

Mike Gange teaches media studies and journalism at Fredericton High.