Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping: Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond »

Paco Underhill is the founder and CEO of Envirosell, Inc. His clients include Microsoft, McDonald's, adidas, and Estee Lauder. He is a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He lives in New York City.

Is there a method to our madness when it comes to shopping? Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as "a Sherlock Holmes for retailers," author and research company CEO Paco Underhill answers with a definitive "yes" in this witty, eye-opening report on our ever-evolving consumer culture. Why We Buy is based on hard data gleaned from thousands of hours of field research -- in shopping malls, department stores, and supermarkets across America. With his team of sleuths tracking our every move, from sweater displays at the mall to the beverage cooler at the drugstore, Paco Underhill lays bare the struggle among merchants, marketers, and increasingly knowledgeable consumers for control.

In his quest to discover what makes the contemporary consumer tick, Underhill explains the shopping phenomena that often go unnoticed by retailers and shoppers alike, including:

• How a well-placed shopping basket can turn a small purchase into a significant sale

• What the "butt-brush factor" is and how it can make sales plummet

• How working women have altered the way supermarkets are designed

• How the "boomerang effect" makes product placement ever more challenging

• What kinds of signage and packaging turn browsers into buyers

For those in retailing and marketing, Why We Buy is a remarkably fresh guide, offering creative and insightful tips on how to adapt to the changing customer. For the general public, Why We Buy is a funny and sometimes disconcerting look at our favorite pastime.

I

INSTEAD OF SAMOA, STORES: THE SCIENCE OF SHOPPING

1. A Science Is Born

2. What Retailers Don't Know

II

WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN: THE MECHANICS OF SHOPPING

3. The Twilight Zone

4. You Need Hands

5. How to Read a Sign

6. Shoppers Move Like People

7. Dynamic

III

MEN ARE FROM SEARS HARDWARE, WOMEN ARE FROM BLOOMINGDALE'S: THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF SHOPPING

8. Shop Like a Man

9. What Women Want

10. If You Can Read This You're Too Young

11. Kids

IV

SEE ME, FEEL ME, TOUCH ME, BUY ME: THE DYNAMICS OF SHOPPING

12. The Sensual Shopper

13. The Big Three

14. Time, Real and Perceived

15. Cash/Wrap Blues

16. Magic Acts

17. In Cyberspace, No One Can Hear You Shop

18. The Self-Exam

19. Final Thoughts

Acknowledgments

Index