The Rules…of Retail

Mall mavens have long believed in the science of shopping, fromthe preferred places to park to the best direction in which to makethe rounds. Paco Underhill, however, has spent thousands of hoursstudying such mavens and their amateur counterparts to create aclose-to-scientific perspective on shopping.

Underhill is a retail anthropologist who gets paid by clientssuch as Starbucks, the U.S. Postal Service and Gap to study theirshoppers. The goal: to understand why customers do–ordon’t–buy. Through countless hours of video footage,observation and customer interviews, Underhill has put together thenew bible of retail sales, Why We Buy: The Science ofShopping (Simon & Schuster, $25, 800-223-2348).

“One of the things about having a small store is that forall the maxims to work, you often have to be creative aboutbreaking the rules,” explains Underhill, who runs hisbehavioral market research and consulting company, Envirosell Inc.,out of New York City. A good example: “You may not be able tofit a good chair on your sales floor, but putting a chair outsidemight make sense. If you’re selling to women, having a place toplant their [husbands or boyfriends] is just goodbusiness.”

For more of Underhill’s retail rules, read on:

• Start outside: “The first thing a store ownershould do is simply walk outside and do a 180-degree sweep of theoutside of [his or her] store,” says Underhill. “Theseduction process should start a minimum of 10 paces away.”Also, understand where your customers are coming from. “Almostevery sidewalk has a dominant direction from which people move;that’s critical to understand.”

• Window shopping: Don’t forget your windows in youroutside critique. “Store windows need to communicate onemessage positively rather than six messages possibly,” advisesUnderhill. “Make it simple, fun and clever, and change itfrequently.” If your product doesn’t translate well at adistance, get creative. If you’re promoting cookbooks at yourbookstore, include wooden spoons and brass pots to make yourdisplay more dynamic.

• Entering the zone: Once customers are entranced by yourstore’s exterior, they’ll move into your retail portal.Your what? “A doorway isn’t a doorway. It’s aportal,” Underhill explains. “If you own a small store,[you need to] make that front 15 percent of your store as effectiveas possible. That’s where you want somebody to slam on theirbrakes and realize they’re going someplace new.” This canbe accomplished through a change in lighting, floor color ortexture, or by setting up actual barriers.

• The butt brush and other hazards: For each section ofyour store, you’ll want to establish a Browsing Coefficient.Underhill translates what that means: “How long does somebodyhave to stand in front of [an item] in order to gain purchaseconfidence?” When taking this into account, you have to figurein things like Underhill’s Butt-Brush theory (customers willmove away from a display if the store is so crowded that othercustomers are brushing against them from behind), because you wantthem to be able to stand there as long as necessary.

• The niceties: Don’t neglect details that may seemlike extras: clean, spacious fitting rooms; comfy chairs for thosedragged along on the shopping trip; even the music playing in thebackground. “Music is a merchandising tool. Have the musicreflect the demographics of who’s in the store when,”advises Underhill. “You may want to change the tenor of themusic at least three times a day based on changing demographicgroups.”

Last, but definitely not least, be aware of what yoursalespeople need to succeed. “Make the transition from salesclerk to cashier to sales clerk again easy,” advisesUnderhill. “Everything a cashier needs to interact with needsto be natural and in front of them, because you want your salesassociates’ eyes on the sales floor at all times.”Instruct your employees by example: “You, as the store owner,need to lead from the front, which means that when business isbusiest, you should be there. Your employees are going to watch youfor cues as to how you expect them to behave. If you’reill-tempered and curt, they will be, too. If you seem to beenjoying dealing with the public, they will also.”