Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping

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

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:

Although a book like this could be written in a very technical way, the voice and perspective are quite approachable. Also, the book is written to be equally interesting to shoppers and retailers. I'm sure you notice a lot of new things about your own behavior and that of others the next time you go shopping.

I also thought that the book was a good example of the way that stalled thinking holds back progress. For example, without this kind of observational measurement of shoppers, most retailers would never know which shoppers leave without buying and why. Or, why some merchandising experiments succeed or fail. In both cases, there are opportunities to accomplish more, if you can only grasp how your own decisions and behavior are helping and hurting your sales.

One of the sections I enjoyed was an evaluation of why many book stores miss sales. I often notice the inconveniences mentioned when I am in a book store, and wondered why the stores persist in doing things that make the store hard to shop in. There's a lot of stalled thinking in the industry, which is why we are fortunate to have Amazon.com to help us.

The book does a nice job of discussing how people with different perspectives shop differently. You'll probably get a laugh or two when you find yourself there. Do you secretly dig a sample out of the lipstick or the men's deodorant gel? Do you browse and rarely buy in Laura Ashley or in a computer store? When do you look at yourself in the mirror in a store? When do you not even go into a store because you can see long check out lines?

Ultimately, almost everything in this interesting book is common sense. But chances are that your needs are not often well served in areas that are important to you in retail outlets. My favorite was the problem of people only having two hands, and all of the times that we need three or four to negotiate the retailer's set-up.

A particular strength of this book was that it also pointed out that behavior is subject to change, as social patterns and values change. Men's jeans need to be in areas of wide aisles or fathers pushing their children in strollers will have to choose between looking at jeans and abandoning their children. That was not a very important problem 50 years ago.

I have often noticed how much people like to sample things before buying them, and how difficult it is to sample in many situations. Do you really want to go through what it takes to take a test drive of 20 different cars in 20 different dealers? Probably not. Yet, I would certainly buy a car more often if I had an easier chance to try the new ones out. You are probably the same way.

The main weakness of the book is that much less work has been done in looking at consumer behavior on the Internet, so the findings will hardly surprise you. You probably noticed these things years ago, like sites that are hard to navigate, have no site maps, and won't let you use the forms to buy.

I encourage anyone who has an interest in being more customer oriented to read this book, and use it to reexamine what your customers have to go through to do business with you. How could you improve?

Eliminate your stalls that make buying from you difficult, and rapid profitable growth should quickly follow.


A concise, thoughtful read on a relevant subject   April 15, 1999
Richard Kurtz (NYC<P>NYC, NY United States)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I was fortunate enough to get my hands on an advance copy of Paco Underhill's new book on shopping. Now, like many people I am often recommended to "how to" & "why" books on various business subjects -and I find that they are usually quite ponderous and dry and I generally last about a chapter --not so with this book --Underhill presents a POV on a subject that many of us take for granted --how people shop and why they do what they do when they are in a bank or a store. Obviously, since his business is studying this subject in all its minute details, he has had ample opportunity to study and probe vast amounts of film and this experience has provided him with insights that are both fascinating and, at times, quite humorous as he explores the human condition in that very American -- and now increasing global activity of shop 'til you drop. In short, it's ainteresting and informative read and every store manager should be given thisn bookm as required reading --as well as "civilians" who frequent these establishments--large and small.


Research-Based Insights   August 1, 2003
Walter H. Bock (Charlotte NC)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful

Two kinds of people will really like this book. You'll like this book if you're responsible for the merchandising in a retail store anywhere. You'll also like this book if you're fascinated by human beings and how they act in their natural habitat.

Why We Buy is as much an anthropological study as it is a business book. Paco Underhill describes what the title implies: Why We Buy. He looks at all of the elements that go into merchandising, such as the signage in a store, the width of the aisles, waiting times, and more.

That might be enough, but he also will give you insights into different kinds of shoppers and the differences in the ways that men and women - as well as adults and children - shop. Along the way, you'll pick up interesting tidbits, such as the distinction between marketing and merchandising.

To Underhill, marketing is increasing the number of people who come to the door with interest, while merchandising is everything you do after that and leads to selling on the floor. He has insights to share, based on his research, about both.

This is an excellent book except for one part. The section on the Internet and Web are simply weak. They show a lack of understanding of the Web as a retail medium and of how the Web, catalog operations and physical stores will each function in the Digital Age.

It seems to me like this section was inserted because "there has to be something about the Web." I would have preferred that Underhill either lavish the kind of attention and effort on Web selling that he so obviously has spent on physical stores, or had left the Net material out of this book all together.

Even with that problem, this is an excellent book. If you're responsible for a retail store, this book is a "must read." If you're a customer, you may want to recommend it to the owners of stores where you shop especially the ones where you love the merchandise, but hate the shopping experience.


Retailers can't lose, a must read!   September 22, 1999
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

The retail industry has and will continue to face monumental challenges when it comes to getting customers to shop and purchase. As a consultant who has spent 20 years working with all types of retailers this book offers real tools and real life issues that this industry must face. No one has ever stepped out and quantified with hours of videotape how customers shop in such a realistic and engaging way as Paco Underhill. I applaud you for sharing your many years of research with us and supporting the research with commen sense! There is much to be learned by reading this book. For retailers of all kinds this book should be read before you re-merchandise your floor, make new signage, sign on for the next advertising campaign or send your staff to a training program. The most important aspect of this book is the concept that the store=brand. What happens within the four walls will make or break it. Read this book with the intention of trying something new or at the least, read this book and believe the greatest asset any retailer has is the store! If a book like this was not needed we wouldn't have 50% of retail businesses fail every year.Thanks Paco. Mindy Thompson, founder, Simply Retail Inc Mpls, Minnesota


Marketing in the real world   May 13, 1999
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

While I don't agree with all of Underhill's conclusions, I think that what makes this book a valuable resource for anyone in the business of selling is his methodology. Instead of putting together focus groups or doing market surveys, he took the revolutionary step of watching HOW PEOPLE ACTUALLY SHOP. A lot of his deductions struck me as sheer common sense, but how "common" is that in the retail business? (For example, one of my local department stores has a Women's Plus Sizes department that should be a big draw: the buyer has excellent taste, the merchandise is high quality, and there's a very good selection. But I hate to shop there because it's crammed into a small area of the store, so a Plus Size woman can barely force her way between the racks!) This book is a real eye-opener, as well as fun to read, and I hope merchants (in the mall as well as online) pay attention to it.