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Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping--Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond |  | Author: Paco Underhill
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $7.70
as of 9/3/2010 16:33 CDT details
You Save: $8.30 (52%)
New (38) Used (48) from $6.89
Seller: Hugo Books
Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 4694
Media: Paperback
Edition: Upd Rev
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 1416595244
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.834
EAN: 9781416595243
ASIN: 1416595244
Publication Date: December 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Revolutionary retail guru Paco Underhill is back with a completely revised edition of his classic, witty bestselling book on our ever-evolving consumer culture -- full of fresh observations and important lessons from the cutting edge of retail, which is taking place in the world's emerging markets. New material includes:• The latest trends in online retail -- what retailers are doing right and what they're doing wrong -- and how nearly every Internet retailer from iTunes to Amazon can drastically improve how it serves its customers. • A guided tour of the most innovative stores, malls and retail environments around the world -- almost all of which are springing up in countries where prosperity is new. An enormous indoor ski slope attracts shoppers to a mall in Dubai; an uber luxurious Sao Paolo department store provides its customers with personal shoppers; a mall in South Africa has a wave pool for surfing. The new Why We Buy is an essential guide -- it offers advice on how to keep your changing customers and entice new and eager ones.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 22
 Every consumer should read this classic April 14, 2009
M. Greenwood (Connecticut)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
I used the first edition of this text in an American-studies graduate class. This newer edition is a bit updated (always good in a field like this) but mostly just in the last chapter, which is about electronic (internet) shopping. So, if you already have an earlier edition, you probably don't need this one: going to a library to check out the last chapter would be enough to update you. However, if you have no edition, I highly recommend "Why We Buy." Whether you are in the biz of selling or you are just an average consumer, this classic belongs on your shelf and should be periodically reread. I had my daughters read parts of it when they were teens so that they would become aware of how seriously the shopping industry is researched and geared to manipulate shoppers.
Understanding myself as a consumer February 23, 2009
S. Hatfield (San Francisco, CA USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I heard Paco speak on NPR Winter 2009, and I thought, well this is interesting in light of our economy collapsing. I had no idea he would walk me through my own mindset as I enter a store, and why I end up buying so many things I only realized I needed once I took them home. Now that I am unemployed, (and lacking that discretionary income that gave me the option to not really think about what I was doing), I at least have a better idea of when I feel like I am being manipulated by store marketing (even if I still buy the salsa to go with the chips to go with the coke...) I would love to get Paco's insights on the effect of a much smaller budget for the American Household, and what smart stores will do to adjust.
Why We Buy February 26, 2009
George Whalin (Carlsbad, CA United States)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Paco Underhill's revision of this extraordinary book is even better than it was when it was first published. This new edition is jam-packed with amazing insights into consumers and how they shop that have never been available elsewhere. If you have anything to do with selling consumer products or the business of retailing this is one book you absolutely must read. It is also one of those books that you will want to highlight key ideas and passages and reread again and again.
Fascinating, albeit mistitled, book September 7, 2009
Sooj
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I somehow imagine a team of marketers and sales strategist at Simon & Schuster sitting with Underhill's manuscript and trying to make the book seem snappier, a little more soundbiteable. After all "Observations on Shopping Mannerisms by Anthropologist turned Retail Consultant" doesn't have the same tone as "Why We Buy" which rings with a promise to explain our deepest desires for material goods. Alas, the title misleads (not living up to Underhill's explanation of the function of the sign, even if it is only three words short...and in some ways, one must consider every book cover fulfilling the function of store signage).
Rather than "Why", the book is more of a "How". In what ways do consumers function within a retail space? What are the deterrents, the subtle incentives to stay in a retail space, the final closing environment for the sell? How do consumers function based on demographics? What is the architecture of the retail environment? What makes a consumer buy or not buy? These are some of the questions that Underhill seeks to answer with his team of field observers who track (unbeknownst to the shoppers), tape and interview shoppers.
Some reviewers have mentioned how commonsensical some of the observations are. Yet, it's one of the aspects that is always surprising about retail: that the commonsensical is ignored because so many of the decisions are made by corporate executives who do not spend enough time in the retail environment. Yet, on the rare occasions when a corporate executive will spend time in his/her company's retail executive, genuine observations will not come easily as an employee's perception is colored by his/her own preconceived ideas about what the company is. Additionally, it's difficult to perceive judiciously every single reaction one has but each easier to perceive on a surface level the reaction of others. For instance, when I read Underhill's observation for a need for a "transitional space" between the parking lot and actually starting to be absorbed in the retail space, I immediately understood what he meant, remembering my own shopping experiences and needing some time to take off my coat, close my umbrella, etc. Yet, I could never have articulated that in the way Underhill has done after minute observation.
I loved the chapter on the senses and shopping. One might say that the boom of the farmer's market in recent years can be partly attributed to a more interesting sensory experience than the often sterile, air-conditioned supermarket experience (of course, there are also political agendas and food issues that come into play). Yet, when I go to an interesting farmer's market with tables displaying a bounty of produce, freshly baked goods, beautiful flowers, handspun yarn...the displays of multiple colors, smells, as well as the varying characters of each vendor all make the farmer's market a more pleasurable experience than shivering through a supermarket where I am confronted with mediocre produce, food hidden under too much packaging, or aisles and aisles of frozen goods.
Underhill includes some great observations on dressing rooms, from its awful interior design and architecture to the shabby daily maintenance. The one further item I wish he had explored as a natural complement is the existence of bathrooms. It strikes me that too often independent businesses lose out by not having a public bathroom, even if it were just one small lavatory. While Starbucks helped invent the "third space" concept, I also think that it has a restroom is crucial. I can't count the number of times I went into a Starbucks to use the restroom and bought a coffee as I felt I would too shameless to just use their facilities.
For those who are interested in the minutiae of the retail experience (and I use the word minutiae in the most complimentary manner), this is a superb and tremendously enjoyable reading.
It's the best for any Retail Business to know October 15, 2009
J. VanDox
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've been a Retail Visual Merchandiser and Stylist for 34 years and Paco Underhill's science is absolutely accurate. I live by this "science". It was great to know that I've been doing it right for all these years and even learned some new stuff from this book. It's a MUST READ !
Showing reviews 1-5 of 22
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