Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping

William Whyte, a journalist who became a researcher during the mid-20th century, studied how people interact with public spaces—parks, squares, streets, and the like—using video cameras to learn in detail how visitors used features such as benches, fountains, and grassy areas. Whyte wrote a number of influential books, including the bestselling The Organization Man and several on urban spaces. He also coined the term “groupthink,” which describes how people in organizations often choose conformity over good decision making. In 1974, Whyte founded the Project for Public Spaces, which works to build community by improving places where people can gather. His research on how physical spaces affect people’s behavior laid much of the foundation for shopping science. 

Envirosell’s European office in Milan, Italy, began under the direction of Giusi Scandroglio, a woman who “had succeeded in a male-oriented culture” (258), and who brought great success to the company because she was “focused, independent, knowledgeable, tireless and tenacious” (256). Scandroglio’s successful stewardship also helped Envirosell develop contacts in Brazil, where the company was soon generating one third of its total profits. 

Mastopietro, known as “Kita” to associates, was hired to run Envirosell’s Brazilian office. A Stanford graduate, Kita proved as competent and tough-minded as Envirosell’s European director, Giusi Scandroglio. Kita’s work made Brazil the source of nearly one third of Envirosell’s profits. 

Women have traditionally done most of the shopping in Western countries. Though they’ve cut back in recent decades to pursue careers, women’s preferences still dominate the retail world. Women tend to be more thorough and cost-conscious—they touch, heft, read about, and ask about several products before making a choice. Women often visit stores in pairs or groups, discussing purchases as they shop. In recent decades women have invaded male bastions like hardware stores, and those places have changed to keep up, providing cleaner showrooms, brighter lighting, better signage, and more attentive staff. 

Where women think of shopping as an enjoyable pursuit, men often treat it like a burden, making purchases with little thought, sometimes impulsively, and paying more than a woman would. If they bring their children, men tend to indulge them by buying them toys and treats. Men have begun to change, though, shopping more carefully and with more thought to family needs than in the past. One retailer that understands this transition is Harley-Davidson, in whose motorcycle dealerships “not only do middle-aged guys shop for clothes, but you can sell them stuff for their kids, too” (104). Still, men save most of their enthusiasm for tools, vehicles, electronics, large appliances, and barbeque equipment.

Older shoppers often are heavier, don’t see as well as younger patrons, have trouble bending, and tire more easily. Stores frequently overlook these traits when they place products important to elderly customers on bottom or top shelves, package them in boxes covered in tiny print, lay out aisles too narrowly, and put up fancy signage that’s hard to read. Fixing these issues will increase sales from the older demographic, and wise managers of large stores provide chairs so seniors can rest. Underhill offers another idea: “You’ll also score especially big points with elderly customers if you make your chairs easy to get into and out of” (145).