Colleague and correspondent Herb Sorensen writes about the shopper from the view of a scientist. He helped us formulate some of the key concepts we used in the innovation center. Extensive and informative article in Shopper Views. With online retailer Amazon at its center. Read it! See also his book and related articles. Abstract:" ... Selling, logistics and payment are the three principal functions of retailing. In self-service retailing, the mental selling function is largely left up to the shoppers themselves. The mental process shoppers use in serving themselves, whether online or offline ("bricks",) is amazingly similar — and inefficient.
Amazon has learned how to efficiently sell to shoppers in much the same way as personal salesmen of old assisted shoppers in acquiring merchandise, albeit now done algorithmically.
The super-efficient Amazonian selling process can be broken into five steps of moving the mind of the shopper from interest to the close of the sale. Those same five steps can be implemented in bricks stores, with phenomenal success, as has been demonstrated by one global retailer and smaller regional operators.
The advent of smart phone shopping apps (personal sales assistance,) will likely accelerate sales, but not without fixing fundamental flaws that currently impede sales in bricks stores. The driving force of efficiency begun by A&P in the first half of the 20th century, with the baton passed to Walmart in the latter half, is now with Amazon in the first half of the 21st century. However, it is the Amazonian sales principles that will identify the winner(s) of the current struggle for retail dominance. ... "
Read the whole article.
See also his excellent book.
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