The Science of Shopping

1.The most important points of this article are the various different identifiers of how and why we shop. Companies are reacting to new research in shopping behaviors - namely that people don't shop as often as they used to, and shopping habits vary vastly between male and female shoppers. How do stores set up their merchandise in order to sell optimally to a fickle market of consumers? According to this article, a number of variants are extremely important, even which side of a walkway a store is located on and what types of businesses surround the store. I feel that the observations about how a store is decorated and how it is set up to sell between men and women is extremely important, noting all the visual research that Paco Underhill conducted to understand styles of shopping and the way that men and women make shopping decisions. The aesthetic and physical setup of the store even influences shoppers - a store that makes them feel a certain way or think certain things about the product they are buying can have all the influence in the world, and likely the aesthetic of a store reflects the ideas behind the brand or the product they are selling. All of these together, plus other factors, are important to consider when trying to design and sell a product as well as a place in which to sell it.

2. I don't feel I am intensely influenced by a store's design - or if I am influenced by a store design, I try to keep other factors in mind when shopping there. While I find myself intensely attracted to certain aesthetics within a store - such as Urban Outfitters or Anthropology, both very vintage and kitschy stores, or Banana Republic and Gap, whose aesthetics are very clean and welcoming - it does not necessarily mean I will shop at those stores more frequently or buy items there that I would not buy elsewhere. Stores whose aesthetic does not really jump out at me will not deter me from still spending far too much money there - like Target, which I feel is not the most attractive store to be in, but I buy a massive amount of merchandise every time I go. (However, conversely, if I intensely dislike a store's aesthetic, I am not likely to ever shop there. Think: Hot Topic or the Dollar Store, which give me headaches for the opposite reasons: one is over-designed, one under-designed.) As a female shopper, convenience isn't my priority and so I keep other factors in mind as well, such as the fact that many things you can find at Urban Outfitters are available for a miniscule fraction of the price at a thrift store, and the necessity for certain items (yes, I love these shoes and I love the image they will give me, but do I really need another pair of black flats when I already have at least two?).

3. Retail store checklist!

• Where the store is located
• What is displayed on the right hand side (where most people turn first)
• How the sections are arranged in the floor plan (specifically, segregated men's and women's sections)
• The aesthetic factors of the store (layout, decor, flooring, music playing, wall colour, scent)
• How the sections are arranged organizationally (where are the items located? How are they organized and presented? Are things simpler for men, and is there more space for women? For grocery stores, are junk food items located where kids will grab them and want them?)