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The surveillance of consumers by retail anthropologists and its benefits
Behavioral economics essay
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Do you ever wonder why the windows of stores are captivating and give you that desire to purchase their item? Well According to Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Science of Shopping,” of an individual named Paco Underhill studies the behavior of American shoppers by looking at the recording footage and statistics of customers inside the stores. Consumer researcher proved that Paco helped increase the income of the retailers by tracing the behavior of shoppers through the lens.
In fact, not taking Underhill’s advice would be a mistake on any businesses’ part. People like Underhill are hired to guide a business in the hopes of making them separate from the rest. Everything catches their eye a successful store location, item placement, where and when an item should be presented to a customer, or where a shopper will move
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next, they simply know it all. A store manager starting from scratch would never be able to make that type of observation without the kind of knowledge Underhill presents himself with. With there being well over a 1 million other business, is what makes this tough for any store to thrive in this industry. This is why taking advice from Underhill can be important and helpful for a business that wants to be known. Helping customers shop in a more efficient way and helping a business sell in a more efficient way, is something Underhill has perfected to a tee.
Underhill, “who in the past decade and a half has analyzed many hours of shopping footage and, as a result, he probably knows more about the strange habits of the shoppers.
Research and more research is the only way they can be successful in their profession, which is why Underhill studies have been helped by hidden cameras. Even if not every retail anthropologist is like Underhill, you are still able to get a sense of the intelligence these people walk around with. In order for Underhill to explain why a customer acts the way they do, he bases his observation off of those video segments.
Some may be afraid of Underhill’s ability, why? Taking advice from someone who thoroughly enjoys examining the way our retail business runs is rather interesting. It's understandable that some people believe tracking our every shopping move with video cameras seems in many respects the last straw, but once Gladwell spent time with Underhill researching and viewing video segments; he now sees everything in a clearer
picture. Underhill has secretly learned how to manipulate the shopper. By the setup and location of the store. He turned his observations into a business by sharing them with retail store and grocery store owners. Paco did not let his observation skills go to waste, instead he made a business out of them. His determination and successful ideas took him vary far.
Companies realize what people need and they take it as sources to produce commodities. However, companies which have famous brands try to get people’s attention by developing their products. Because there are several options available of commodities, people might be in a dilemma to choose what product they looking for. In fact, that dilemma is not real, it is just what people want. That is what Steve McKevitt claims in his article “Everything Now”. When people go shopping there are limitless choices of one product made by different companies, all choices of this product basically do the same thing, but what makes them different is the brand’s name. Companies with brands are trying to get their consumers by presenting their commodities in ways which let people feel impressed, and that are some things they need to buy. This is what Anne Norton discussed in her article “The Signs of Shopping”. People are often deceived by some famous brands, which they will buy as useless commodities to feel they are distinctive.
Shopping is not simply a chore; it is also an experience. Shopping for clothing is a particularly personal decision, and various motivating factors can cause one shopper to choose a particular store over another store. Some consumers go to the store to confirm that they belong to a certain social stratum, others because they enjoy the thrill of a bargain. According to Daniel Miller in ‘Making Love in Super Markets’, the behavior of consumers in supermarkets tends to fall into two categories: ‘treat’ shoppers and ‘thrift’ shoppers.
As technology get more advance, people use cameras, tracking devices in the stores to track customers shopping behavior. The retailers apply every detail that they get from anthropologists to get people buy their products. Some people claim that the surveillance of consumers by retail anthropologists is manipulative and unethical. However, the claim is not entirely true. Many retail use the data they get from anthropologists and apply it to their store to create great experiences for their customers, encourage customers to revisited, and ultimately improve business performances.
Samantha Ureno Professor Zia English 99 22 January 2016 The Science Behind Sports Authority “Nothing in a grocery store is where it is by accident. Every item on a shelf has been planned” (Paco Underhill). In the articles, “The Science of Shopping” by Malcolm Gladwell and “How Target Knows What You Want Before You Do” by Charles Duhigg, these authors exemplify effective marketing strategies which were composed by Paco Underhill and Andrew Pole. Underhill is an environmental psychologist; additionally he employs the basic idea that one’s surroundings influences ones behavior and invented structuring man-made environments to make them conducive to retail purposes.
In “High-Tech Tools Help Stores—and Shoppers”, Givens writes, “The more store owners know about their customers’ behavior, the better they can make the shopping experience. They can improve displays, showcase popular merchandise,
The following are some of the challenges faced within existing systems or application which led to the development of the ‘Musgrave Simplifies Retail’ system:
With retail being an artery in the body of the United States economy ( over three million retail stores nationwide) everyone has either worked in it or shopped at a location and has an opinion on it. There are over 40 million retail jobs so the managers have an important and difficult job to keep everything intact and running smoothly.
These shopper always shop for different things but as time goes on and you have a conversation with them you learn what type of shopper there are. You be surprise what type of customer you meet because you can meet people who have some things in common with you. When they come to the store and you see them they will always speak to you ask you how you doing or how you been since the last time you saw them. Sometimes customer will ask about you on the day you didn’t work and you were off so they were trying to speak to you or whatever the case might
The study primarily focuses on the consumers buying behavior in a mall. It helps us to understand the mindset of the consumers, by which we can develop more products according to their needs.
Coupon codes and sales are wallet friendly, and every bargain hunters dream, unless one feels sifting through circulars are more appealing. Limited operational availability can be frustrating when one forgot that ever important last minute Christmas gift, which in turn can ordered at midnight and arrives the very next day causing smiles appear instead of tears. The contact we crave with others is fulfilled by outings to stores, unless one desires the company of self. Whether it is the sales, availability, or socialization that drives us to shop online or in a traditional brick store, personal preference is the ultimate reason for in which we shop.
Many people think that retail anthropologists install several cameras at the store to observe the privacy of the customer, but this action has an ability to make consumer easier to shop. To grab the attention of customers, what the retail need to do is provide them with comfortable feeling when they are
In the retail business, they have spent a lot of money watching and studying the behaviors of shoppers to where they believe they have it down to a science. Their main purpose is to present items so that the customer will buy those items and feel good about their purchase. One main question that a customer might ask themselves is what value will this item bring to me? Will this purchase be worth all my time and effort it took to acquire this item? If a customer can answer yes to these questions then the marketer have done their jobs.
Shopping is something that has to be done whether you enjoy it or not to get essentials needed. We all go places where merchandize is being sold for a specific reason. Whether you go to the mall, shopping centers, or your local grocery store, you 'll always encounter many types of shoppers. Shopping isn’t always as fun as it sounds to everyone, but it is something we often do. This is the only way we get products we need, by personally buying them. You have three main shoppers including impulse buyers, list makers, and bargain hunters.
Everyone likes shopping, but everyone has their own way of spending when they go shopping. I love shopping, but I hate being at the mall, if I don’t need to be there then I won’t be there. I’ve noticed that when I have money, I do not buy anything, and when I do not have money I want everything I see. From my experience I’ve observed that there are people who shop smart, people who are just plain addicted to shopping, people who join another person while shopping, basically called window watchers.
Most of the unorganized retailers of kirana stores initially feared losing their customer but now