In Paco Underhill's book, Why We Buy, he explains the delicate science of how people shop. To the everyday person, you would think, well, they go in the store, and tend to gravitate to what is displayed nicely. However, there is so much more to shopping than that. If items are not placed in the appropriate space in the shopping area, that item might be ignored altogether by the person for whom it is intended. Underhill addresses some of the factors that make a shopping trip triumphant, not only for the buyer, but also for the seller. Paco's research requires numerous different pieces of equipment, which range from video cameras, still cameras, digital cameras, some old fashioned Super 8 time-lapse film cameras, laptop computers, handheld computers, and all sorts of other camera accessories. He claims that they "have enough gear in that room to equip a major university's school of social anthropology or experimental psychology." Although they have all of that high tech equipment, Underhill says that their most important research tool is what they call the "track sheet," in the hands of what they call "trackers." These are the people that move inconspicuously through the store watching shopper's moves. They track anything from how many times they touch an item, to what the shopper looks like and is wearing. They also track whether or not the person reads the tag before they even pick the item up. All of their research is entered into their ever- changing computer system, and the results are evaluated. They then help the company that hired them make the appropriate changes to boost sales in that store. He does not simply address the mall scene. He also addresses areas of service, such as car dealerships and gas stations. As a reader, I was quite surprised at how simple some of his solutions for companies were. You would think that some things would be logical to do when arranging a store, but that is not always the case.
