| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.90
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.90, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"At last, here is a book that gives this underrated skill the respect it deserves." -- "The New York Times"
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.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
First let me give you some information about the context in which I read this book. I am starting out small in e-commerce and in doing so I'm reading up on just about anything that can give me some ideas or knowledge. This book caught my eye and I thought I'd give it a try.
For "normal" retailing this book must be solid gold - having read it I now constantly find myself thinking about signage, store layout, point-of-sale location, clerk density, etc. This is something I never did before and it is now obvious even to me that a lot of stores absolutely misses out on basics. The book is easy to read and provides a good mix between anecdotes and principles. The book is well structured and it feels like it covers just about every area in retail you can think about in a well researched way.
The book's weak point, by a landslide, are the chapters on Internet and global retailing. These chapters seem added in a rush and feel like they have been forced into the book by the publisher just to get a "new edition" out in bookstores. The opinions stated in the Internet chapter in particular seem counterintuitive, poorly backed up and downright uninformed. E-commerce as a whole has not improved since 2000? Amazon (and Internet retailers in general) does not provide good recommendations for their users? I might be overreacting slightly given my context as a reader, but I was almost bemused by the poor quality of these chapters in comparison with the rest of the book.
I'd rather not have read the latter chapters because I think they tarnish an otherwise excellent book. In the end though I certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in retailing or business.
For "normal" retailing this book must be solid gold - having read it I now constantly find myself thinking about signage, store layout, point-of-sale location, clerk density, etc. This is something I never did before and it is now obvious even to me that a lot of stores absolutely misses out on basics. The book is easy to read and provides a good mix between anecdotes and principles. The book is well structured and it feels like it covers just about every area in retail you can think about in a well researched way.
The book's weak point, by a landslide, are the chapters on Internet and global retailing. These chapters seem added in a rush and feel like they have been forced into the book by the publisher just to get a "new edition" out in bookstores. The opinions stated in the Internet chapter in particular seem counterintuitive, poorly backed up and downright uninformed. E-commerce as a whole has not improved since 2000? Amazon (and Internet retailers in general) does not provide good recommendations for their users? I might be overreacting slightly given my context as a reader, but I was almost bemused by the poor quality of these chapters in comparison with the rest of the book.
I'd rather not have read the latter chapters because I think they tarnish an otherwise excellent book. In the end though I certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in retailing or business.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Paco Underhill's book about shopping is a really entertaining read and full of interesting nuggets. I was reading it from the perspective of someone who is professionally involved in "shopper marketing" (to use the latest buzzword) but I honestly think even if you were not but had any interest in the psychology of shopping, it would still have much to recommend itself.
For a start, it is very engagingly written and easy to digest which is not always the case with texts based on market research, and lacks the pomposity of some of the other authors on this subject.
The topics covered range from the difference between the way men and women shop, to the way people navigate round stores, to the placement of products on shelf - all pretty fundamental stuff if you are involved in retail in any way, but fascinating even if you are not. Most of the chapters are peppered with anecdotes sourced from Underhill's long experience carrying out in store "tracking" of customers, which really bring the subject to life.
I nearly gave this five stars but docked one, perhaps a little meanly, on the basis of two things.
One is the underlying, though understandable and forgivable, sell that Underhill is making for his company Envirosell (there I've given it a plug!) and his company's approach to measuring shopper behaviour. Which is laudable but impractical for much of the market research world, dependent as it is on highly skilled and highly trained observers.
The other is the fact, as other reviewers mention, that the last couple of chapters are definitely weaker than the rest of the book. In my view, this is because the bulk of the book does draw heavily on actual observations and experience, whereas the latter chapters are largely based on Paco Underhill's point of view. Obviously that's a point of view that has more than a little substance and merit, but still compared with the rest of the book, it's a little soft.
Still on balance this book is a well justified best seller, heavy on substance but written with a light and easy touch.
For a start, it is very engagingly written and easy to digest which is not always the case with texts based on market research, and lacks the pomposity of some of the other authors on this subject.
The topics covered range from the difference between the way men and women shop, to the way people navigate round stores, to the placement of products on shelf - all pretty fundamental stuff if you are involved in retail in any way, but fascinating even if you are not. Most of the chapters are peppered with anecdotes sourced from Underhill's long experience carrying out in store "tracking" of customers, which really bring the subject to life.
I nearly gave this five stars but docked one, perhaps a little meanly, on the basis of two things.
One is the underlying, though understandable and forgivable, sell that Underhill is making for his company Envirosell (there I've given it a plug!) and his company's approach to measuring shopper behaviour. Which is laudable but impractical for much of the market research world, dependent as it is on highly skilled and highly trained observers.
The other is the fact, as other reviewers mention, that the last couple of chapters are definitely weaker than the rest of the book. In my view, this is because the bulk of the book does draw heavily on actual observations and experience, whereas the latter chapters are largely based on Paco Underhill's point of view. Obviously that's a point of view that has more than a little substance and merit, but still compared with the rest of the book, it's a little soft.
Still on balance this book is a well justified best seller, heavy on substance but written with a light and easy touch.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is fascinating book based on solid research. If you enjoy delivering true results this book gives you a great insight into the workings of a retail consumer and why they buy. It also goes into the differentiators in the way men and women buy, which touches on some product design, store plan and merchandiser issues.
If you're a professional designer working in the retail field, this books well worth reading and having as a reference point in your armory
If you're a professional designer working in the retail field, this books well worth reading and having as a reference point in your armory
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Well written, informative and engaging for expert and novice alike.
I was recommended to read this for a module on retail marketing and I have not been disappointed. For a retail student or practitioner this book is full of practical examples and... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Jack C
A mix of great information, and outdated useless junk
Alot of this books information is very good, but I find it hard to see what sort of person or business it could benefit, as most of the information is just regarding previous... Read more
Published 12 months ago by e7777
Buy why we buy, but only for the bricks, not the clicks
An excellent book, both for retail experts, who need to go back to the basics, and for complete newbies, who need to start there. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Maarten de Vries
why we buy
Fasinating book I could not stop reading this and thats from someone who is not a big reader at all.
well worth a getting if you are in sales or retail
well worth a getting if you are in sales or retail
Published 17 months ago by Coleman keith
Great book
The book is a must read for anyone who is studying or working in retail and marketing. The format is great not like a boring textbok it's almost like a narrative. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Calum
a useful update to a classic
Fascinating and fun, should appeal to anyone, though especially to retailers. The update with chapters on modern inernet shopping trends is very useful. Read more
Published on 27 May 2010 by tiredoldtimer
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
