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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Inside the Mind of the Shopper Published

Herb Sorensen book is now out Inside the Mind of the Shopper: The Science of Retailing, from Wharton School Publishing.

It details some of his work exploring how the shopper behaves in their environment. Based on extensive databases of how shoppers move, shop and buy in the store.

We had many fruitful conversations with Herb that led to improvements in our innovation spaces. Wish we could have collaborated more. Includes descriptions of collaboration with Peter Fader at the Wharton school, Wendy Moe of the University of MD and work by Mike Twitty at Unilever and Bill Bean at Pepsi and Colgate. Glad to see that P&G provided some of the earliest inspiration for Sorensen's work. He describes some of those experiences with Bob Stevens of P&G.

As is quoted on the cover: ' ... Inside the Mind of the Shopper is a preeminent handbook for any marketer or retailers seeking to understand why people do what they do when they shop ... '

The book covers many classic issues based on quantitative results: the nature of the trip ... what do they buy ... why is money left in the aisle ... the influence of packaging ... the nature of the engagement and what makes the close. Must reading for marketers and retailers who seek to understand the complexity of retail behavior with real experiments. He treats the operation of retail as a science.

I particularly like his Three Currencies of Shopping: Money, Time and Angst. In that short section (p. 62) he quickly brings together the measures that can make or break a shopping experience. Overall the book is an easy read, with lots of useful measures and direction.

The book also covers some of the newest advances in merchandising technology such as visual media and cart based displays.

I often cover Sorensen's work and writings in this blog.
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