Books : Customer and Sales : Customer and Sales Book Summaries
 Why We Buy- The Science of Shopping – Paco Underhill
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 Description:There are too many stores – we are over shopped. This is a synopsis only. RESULTS.com recommends you buy the original book. Very few stores open to serve new markets. Mainly it is to steal someone else’s market share Women do not like being approached by people from behind or touched by anyone (people brushing past) while shopping. (Hence Tesco’s wide isles – to appeal to their target market = “the harried housewife” – room for prams etc) Monitor the paths people take when they enter and move around your store. Which direction and path do they take? Make it easy for people to find what they are looking for (not necessarily how it is easiest for you to stack things) The checkout area needs to be slick. People are turned off by queues or chaos at the checkout Beware of waiting time. When shoppers are made to wait their satisfaction with your store experience plunges Traditional advertising in the general media is less influential than it used to be. It may entice people into a store, but does not guarantee you will sell anything Many purchasing decisions are made or can be heavily influenced by what happens in the store The key medium for advertising and informing is in the store itself Signage, shelf position, display space, and special fixtures all combine to either increase or decrease the likelihood that a sale will be made Conversion rate is a major KPI for retail. It must be measured (door count divided by # of transactions) The amount of time a shopper spends in the store (not counting queuing) is the single most important factor in determining how much they will buy. There is a direct relationship between time spent and sales $. A key priority for retailers is to get shoppers to stay in store longer. This KPI should also be measured. Staff customer interaction is important. The more employee – customer contacts that take place the greater the average $ sale (therefore beware of understaffing to reduce wage overheads) Know who your target market shoppers are and appeal to their needs and wants The store layout should reflect the nature of your ideal target market customer People tend to walk fast towards a store entrance. They will not stop to read your signs and window displays. Any signage needs to be big, bold, short and simple and able to be read while moving (2 seconds max) Wait until people have fully entered the store and adjusted to their new surroundings before presenting them with any displays. Shoppers need a landing strip. Create a transition zone Do not have staff pounce on shoppers like vultures and ask “Can I help you?” as soon as they enter. The answer will be no Instead – smile, make eye contact, and greet customers cheerfully (also shown to reduce shoplifting) – make them feel special Walk the store in your shopper’s shoes. The side of the road people drive on tends to be the direction they will take when they enter the door – this is prime real estate for displays Place baskets not only at the entrance (make them easy to find), but also in other locations for those who only popped in for 1 item but start grabbing more items than they can carry – shown to increase average $ sale Beware of baskets that are uncomfortable to carry when heavy Trolleys are better, or have places where people can put their baskets down. Keep people’s hands free to pick things up. Let people easily reach, touch and feel goods Testing leads to buying – let people feel things and try things. Sealing things inside plastic bags / boxes is a mistake. Involve as many senses as you can The sooner you can get people touching and trying things, the more likely you are to make a sale (law of reciprocity) People are less trusting – they want to experience things for themselves – make it simple and easy for them. Yes you will get some damage and spoilage but gain more in sales In store signs. It doesn’t matter how clever the design is. Do shoppers read it? You’ve got about 2 seconds. 2 or 3 words per sign at most. Don’t overload people with too much information Break the message into 2 or 3 parts and communicate it in stages as people get further into the store Place signs for people to read as they exit the rest room (they are too focussed on going to the toilet on the way in) McDonalds found that 75% of people read the menu after they have ordered (while they wait for their food) Tilt displays so that can be seen while people are moving forward – without having to turn their heads to the side Eye level to knee level displays only. Above eye level or below knee level is not seen easily Women do not like bending over to anything below waist level (risk of getting touched from behind) Put things for children only below waist level The narrower the space, the less time a woman will spend there Put your most popular goods in the middle of the isles Strategically place chairs for people to sit – it shows you care – it also keeps the non-shopper comfortable (males / children etc) Leave the best parking spots for your shoppers - don’t let employees use them Women: do most of the purchasing, are more relaxed shoppers, examine merchandise, compare products, interact with sales staff, test things, take pride in being prudent shoppers, Men: loose cannons, move faster, spend less time looking, don’t like asking where things are, don’t like asking questions as much as women, if they can’t find what they want after a couple of tries will give up without asking for help, move impatiently through the store, when they find what they want they quickly buy. 65% of men who try something buy it, only 25% of women do 72% of men look at price tags, 86% of women do (for a man ignoring a price tag is a sign of his virility) Men are far more easily up-sold than women are 60-70% of grocery items purchased are unplanned When a man and woman are shopping together the man invariably pays. He is very suggestible to impulse purchases requested by the woman or children. While men do not like the experience of shopping, they like the experience of being the wallet carrier Technology sales. Women are more likely to ask staff for information. Men are more likely to take information away to read themselves. When men return to a store for a 2nd visit they are highly likely to purchase. Women on average take 3 visits before they will purchase Women will shop faster than they want to when accompanied by a man. If you can find a way to occupy him she will be a happier, more relaxed shopper (seats, magazines, games, sports on TV) Shopping is inherently a female activity (men did the hunting, women the gathering). Retailers need to adapt to what women want. In generations past, shopping was a great escape from being a housewife. Now it must be crammed into the busy lives women lead (their habits are becoming more male like). Wise retailers (Home Depot etc) have made hardware stores less masculine and woman friendly Hardware store displays have moved from a nuts and bolts - “lego / erector set” mentality to living displays - “let’s play house” mentality No longer can you just put things on a shelf (taps etc) – you need to display them in context (a complete bathroom display) Paint has gone from being a hardware item to a fashion item – you don’t paint when the walls are cracked, you do it when you feel like a change of scene The less time women spend in stores – the less they buy – pure and simple Shopping can still be a social activity for women. When 2 women shop together they spend more than they would alone. Wise retailers encourage this – cafes on site etc – child entertainment areas - to keep them longer and make it an enjoyable social experience Men on the other hand, just want to find what they want and get out fast Men fall in love with technology – power and features. Women fall in love with what it can do for them – convenience and fashion Women prefer female sales staff – especially when buying cars / technology Car salesmen make the mistake of selling to the man, when it is the woman whose objections must be overcome – and women dislike being patronised by sleazy, wheeler dealer salesmen Women like clean toilets – and rate such things highly Aging Baby Boomers will mean many retailers & manufacturers will need to re-think things – especially diminishing eye sight. Fonts and labelling will have to get bigger Most graphic designers are young – they need to design with 60 year old eyesight in mind (bigger, bolder with greater colour contrasts) Baby Boomers are used to getting their way and will these demand changes Baby Boomer vision is less likely to see yellow, is less able to distinguish between blue and green. Baby Boomer vision will need brighter lighting to be able to see effectively Baby Boomers will want wide isles, ability to drive mobility scooters, able to reach goods, not to have to bend over, not to have to lift anything heavy ATMs / cellphones / Appliances – buttons will need to become easier to read and use Sales staff will need to be able to communicate well with this demographic (speak well, slowly, clearly, courteous) 3 Retailing pillars – all need to work in harmony:
In efforts to reduce wages, understaffing can frustrate shoppers who are unable to get help when they need it 3 lines of 5 people, seems less than 1 line of 15 to a shopper If queuing at checkout is a factor, find ways to entertain them, and make the experience as seamless and comfortable as possible Checkouts should not be the first thing someone sees when they enter a store – it’s like entering a restaurant through the kitchen. If shoppers walk in and the first thing they see is a queue, many will walk away Besides having add-on / impulse purchases at checkouts, it is recommended that you have add-on sales placed next to the main item on the shelves (put belts next to pants, tomato sauce next to pasta etc) Computer retailers are not good at this, they tend to group items in different parts of the store by product (computers here, printer over there etc). Better to have it all set up and connected as people would use it so people can test drive it Think, “What else would I buy with this?” when laying out displays Most salespeople don’t up-sell enough, or make enough suggestions – and are missing out on key opportunities to sell high margin items. The rule is the salesperson should keep asking gently, until the shopper says no Online retailers – increasingly shoppers will visit a brick and mortar store, make their choices, then go home and purchase the same items for cheaper from an online retailer who does not need to pay the same overheads Bricks and mortar stores need to compensate by enhancing the experience and service   Quantity:
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