I haven't finished reading this book, but have picked up some good ideas so far.

I would think that most retailers could learn a huge amount about maximizing profits from this book. It was an eye-opening read for me. I am almost sorry that I am not a retailer so that I can't use this information. I wonder if the author has done any writing for professional journals. As others have noted, there isn't enough information on technique for anyone to really critique his methods. Still, though, that would be important mainly for an academician. The ideas themselves are what would be important to a retailer.

From store layout and design to how and why your customers behave the way they do in your store, this book reveals a ton of information that you can use to increase your sales.

It also gives you advice on what changes you can make to help you make the buying experience easier and faster for your customers.

In my marketing consulting practice I concentrate on "guerrilla marketing" strategies that retailers can use to quickly, easily and inexpensively increase their sales and reading this book is one of the ways. I recommend it to all my clients.

I had never thought upon this until I got this book in my hand.
The information given in the book is based on practical studies conducted in different retail shops, departmental stores. Data gathered has been analyzed thoroughly and findings put in the book. The stuff is kind of hilarious and mind boggling. While you are reading the book you will take some time to think ..Is Paco talking about me?
Paco for instance, discusses the implication of the trolley/baskets on the shopping experience, what happens if your shelves are oriented at an angle of 45 versus 90, what is the sales boost in having a merchandise displayed at the entry of the store versus in some middle section, A kid coming with his/her father is a better customer versus when he/she coming with mother and so on.
Paco has touched base on very common things which can significantly change the shopping and sales.

Check my blog for more [...]

This is a witty, easy-to-read book full of insights into how shopper behave in stores. It'll get you thinking from the customer's point of view and give you a framework for innovating on the retail experience. A must read for retail and marketing professionals. I definitely recommend it.

This books gives an insight on how people decide to buy, mostly intuitively. The stories that are the basis for the book are very entertaining making it very easy to read.


Actually this is my second copy of the book, as I loaned the first one and never got it back., For me it is a must in my library.

Definitely not the author for me,(Sanguine temperment. If you enjoy science blended with retail knowledge then have at it.

For newcomers to selling, this is probably helpful. But it is only quaint, not fascinating, due to its outdated information. And the section on internet selling is just plain embarrassing.

If he were to ask me tomorrow, I would marry Paco Underhill. I have read both his books, this one and Call of the Mall, and quite frankly I have fallen in love.

Fun and informative Why We Buy will put everything about the retail enviroment into perspective. Like the "Butt Brush Effect". It seems so obvious, who likes to touch or be touched by strangers? but you'll have never thought of it, I assure you. Or what about the strategic placement of mirrors? How many times have I had to hunt down a mirror in a store? How many times did I simply give up when the hunt became too time consuming?

This book has become one of the driving motivators to my switch to a Merchandising minor, and one day I hope to use some of his ideas in my own store.

i read the book because of the title, i'm kind of interested in how we tick, and though i don't think a book would be able to answer this question, attempts amuse me. however. this was not about why we buy, but about how stores position things so that you might want to buy them, a marketers perspective on the retail store if you will. and it was interesting for the most part, but it was only a passing fancy interesting, not a stop what you're doing and read this book interesting. things like who shopped with who was taken into consideration and a hypothesis on how merchandise or where to put the store was given accordingly. pretty much the whole book right there. ok i might be simplifying, but still, this book could've been a lot more, or i was expecting a lot more than what was given, so it was a disappointment i suppose. still, i think it should be read, even if it's only bathroom reading, because there is definitely something to be taken away from the book. nothing ground breaking, but something none the less:P

This book is insightful, intelligent, and provides an invaluable view at the commercial world we live in. Paco Underhill is an amazing writer, the book is an easy & an enjoyable read.

First, as already pointed out in previous reviews, the title is totally misleading.
Second, there is no info you can use and Underhill knows it. "Why We Buy" is just a bunch of stories about how the author's company supposedely solved specific problems of specific clients through primary research.
"Primary research (also called field research) involves the collection of data that does not already exist. This can be through numerous forms, including questionnaires and telephone interviews amongst others." (Wikipedia). If you know anything about research you know you can't safely extrapolate these "discoveries" to your particular case or, in other words, use them as guidelines.
Underhill knows his stories have no value because primary research is what he does for a living. That's what Underhill writes about, i.e. that the only way to solve the problem is through field research in that particular store.
(A small note: yes, primary research is the best way to get the right answer, but also is the most expensive way. You may get the same results at only a fraction of a cost through secondary research.
"Secondary research (also known as desk research) involves the summary, collation and/or synthesis of existing research rather than primary research, where data are collected from, for example, research subjects or experiments." (Wikipedia)

So why was the book written? Hm...let me guess: to promote the author and his company and to exploit gullible uneducated readers.
When you purchase this stuff you pay for something you may not want to read for free. It's like paying $15 to watch an infomercial. Hey, I'm glad I never paid for that kind of enlightenment!

Paco Underhill is a MUST read for anyone working in a retail store environment. Brilliant.

This book provides excellent insight into the minds of retail shoppers. I would recommend it to anyone involved in the design, marketing, manufacturing, or business fields...it's pretty interesting even if you don't make a living off of it. Muy bien.

As any classic thing, this book have the problems of the "classics". Like a Cadillac El Dorado, is beautiful, interesting, but have some problems due to old age. Althoug book is presented as "scientific", it is not. The research have not a scientific method because is led by commercial interests that not allows ask all questions about. Just those whose answer allows increase sells. The questions that try to solve the book were not asked by author but her clients. Then is not a scientific book, but is great, like El Dorado.

The book shows how we move inside the stores, what kind of expressions we make, how many time we spend inside, and other variables. All that items are procesed from data bases and graphic film bases gathered by author in many years. Is a magestic effort!. But, althoug book tries to explain the move, never shows that a in store map. Is not presented the technic that today is a modern tool helped by geographic information systems: the "in store dynamic" or also calle "store wath", that allows show conceptual maps about client moving and microgeogrpahic patterns of several kind of people.

But that lack is just because the book is a classic. A very great classic.

Interesting and insightful with some good tips for people setting up an interactive environment like a shop or a library. It seemed more like an ad for his services and/or his other books but it was a good introduction to the principles behind his business.

A good read if you are a marketing or advertising professional who wants to get some insight into the retail psychology and its operations. However, there is no magic formula or scientific methodology given in this book.

Besides making a lot of publicity for his company, Paco Underhill gives a lot of very interesting & practical examples of the consumer's shopping psychology and how it all translates in the retail environment. Paco will tell you why shoppers intuitively steer to the right upon entering a store and how retail managers can use that information to increase their revenues. Overall, not an extraordinary book by any means, but full of interesting examples and stories that could come in handy for any business professional.

Not only is this book interesting to the lay reader, it is a must read for retailers, marketers, and market researchers. There are gems within the pages!

The whole thesis of this book is that stores can increase profits by better accommodating certain demographic groups.

For example, he thinks gasoline stations can sell more to women by creating and advertising high-end and clean bathrooms.

He foresaw a new computer manufacturer which would dominate companies like Microsoft or Dell by offering nicer, female oriented phone assistance. Seven years after this book was written, it's evident that inexpensive Indian call centers are the key to customer service success.

He thinks sunblock makers can sell more to men by making a "masculine" sun block, for example for construction workers.

I only got through the "how to sell better to men/women" part. He is now starting on the "how to sell to senior citizens" part. His first idea? He thinks all retailers can sell more to seniors by using no less than 13 point font on their items, and even suggests increasing box sizes to achieve this goal.

Now he recommends that John Deer and Prada make wheelchairs and scooters for older buyers, who want brand name mobility devices! I might listen to the rest of this, but mainly for the humor.

This book gives you concrete suggestions for increasing sales.

It was a really easy book to read and it gives you insides on strategies to set a retailing space, having a lot of things in mind, that might seem obvious when you read it, but they really aren't. It was a great; I highly recommend it for people on the retiling industry.

If you are in the marketing/communications/advertising/design business (or in any business for that matter) you must read this. It is full of insight and valuable information. I highly recommend this book.

From a laymens view, it seems like Paco Underhill's methods have merit. Because this book reads like a how-to for retailers, it makes me wonder why more companies don't use or at least study Mr. Underhills findings. The information in the first few chapters is fun, after that it's a little redundant.

Underhill is a consultant who conducts field work for retailers. His book consists of a great many anecdotes drawn from years of experience, many of them fascinating and revealing. However the book is misnamed: it should be titled "How We Shop: the Art of Retail Persuasion" or something like that. It largely fails to discuss why we, as shoppers, buy the things we buy and concentrates instead on how we can be lured into considering new purchases as we browse.

Underhill clearly has lots more ideas left in him--the book is littered with suggestions for retail strategies that, it would seem, he hasn't yet been able to convince any of his clients to try. The structure is loose and largely arbitrary. He gently derides academics for a reluctance to but theory into practice yet his book fails to construct helpful theory from his practice and is weaker for. Because the text is largely anecdotal it's harder for the reader to draw out principals that might apply to their own circumstances.

An interesting book but not quite what it purports to be.

If you want to know why you get those impulse urges to buy things you didn't go into the store for, check out this facinating read.

I really didn't get much of value out of this book. Long winded, little actual data. A book to skim through. Most of the book is spent on impressing you on how great the author is for figuring things out. Ah, how I hate books written for money and not substance.

For nonspecialists (that is, those who are not involved in the retail industry on the inside), this is a quick read that will provide explanations for things perhaps not hitherto pondered, such as why shopping baskets are placed where they are or why clothing shops employ low tables/shelves for display.
Underhill and team's research methods seem in keeping with many standard anthropologic ones, although it may be difficult for those without experience in observational and interpretive research to guess the details of those methods. This, perhaps, is to be expected, given that Underhill needs to balance keeping the reader interested with keeping confidential the methods used to differentiate his business from others'. Most of the evidence here is anecdotal even though it preports to be based on quantitavely analyzed observations. Readers are not given sufficient numbers (error estimates, for examples) to evaluate whether the research results reported on here are supported by the results to the extent acceptable in, say, academic publication. Again, for a casual reader this is not problematic.
As a long-time communist (though not necessarily anti-consumerist and decidedly non-Marxist), I found the book simultaneously compelling--it's written breezily, and, though it is repetitive and boring in parts, has a decent "Huh, I didn't know that..." coefficient--and repulsive, as I would, I guess, a book of recipes for cooking human flesh. As someone forced to shop, reading this book has made me even more wary of being manipulated. Some 30 or so pages into the volume, I made a promise to myself to not go shopping again without both a shopping list I will not allow myself to deviate from and a strict time limit.

Underhill creates a compelling, readable reference for anyone interested in retail shopping and merchandising. The focus on shopper behavior is particularly useful; what I found most valuable from a sales training standpoint is:

+ superb insights on optimal signage, pathing and display combinations
+ dozens of insights into commonly-overlooked, yet critical to sales success, retail tips and concepts (eg seating, placement of displays, lighting, and other factors)
+ very readable with dozens of anecdotes from actual client case studies.

Superb book, highly recommended for *all* retailers to study. I found this one of the more useful, insightful books on retail sales training and retailing of all the dozens I've read.

Excellent book - if you sell retail, you need this. Buy it now.


Ken Calhoun

If you are in retail or you distribute your products through retail, this is a MUST read.

A compelling book,loaded with insightful comments of the way customers responses at the retail world, ideas gathered in many years of experience the author and his team had expended watching people behave naturaly in a retail enviroment. A good book for business people interested in learning consumer behavior in a practical sense.

You might get dissapointed if the title of book led you to think you will find conceptualized steps for merchandising sucess, even the lessons the author gave are fact based they are encompassed by american culture and might fall short in sight for ethnic markets. However, Paco Underhill show us a great example how taking a closer look to customers interactions at stores can reveal us the obvious -but often overlooked- thruth: shopping is a pleasure experience, the more the senses get pleased the more the products/brands are prefered.

An awesome new business book I read was Why we Buy - The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill. This one is a business book primarily of interest to retailers (although I see similarities in retail and online habits). Paco (and his researchers) followed and recorded the behavior of tens of thousands of shoppers. From this he is able to run a consulting business that makes recommendations to retailers on minor changes they can make to increase their sales.

Examples include - Provide a spot for people to sit, especially the person who brought the shopper. Leave parking spots for people at fast food places since 10% of the customers buy then go eat in their car. Children and old ladies are the primary buyers of doggie treats - put them where they can seen and reached.

He gives many examples of simple changes that can be made to increase sales.

As with all brilliance, many of his observations are obvious.

This book is a must read for any retailer.

Paco Underhill has hit the nail on the head with Why We Buy. It was assigned to me in a college marketing class and since then I purchased a copy for my own and given away copies to some merchant freinds of mine.
If you are in retail you must read this book before you put together your next display.

This was an outstanding book on a subject matter that would take months to decifer myself. His writing style makes this book an effortless read. Mr Underhill has a great sense of humor that shines through his writing and makes a potentially dull subject an easy read. I am looking at shoppers with a whole different eye and attitude! As a new buisness owner I am planning to take much of his adcive in arranging and selling my merchandise.

Loved the book, all the tips and insight into buyers. Have employed many of the suggestions with great success.

Underhill has created a groundswell of interest in 'retail anthropology,' but is it science?

Yes, considering that observed consumer interactions are observed, measured and quantified. What percent of consumers stopped when they saw the display? How many interacted with the display? How many walked away? This is better decision support than most available research methodologies. Qualitative research (focus groups) are good at raising questions and notoriously dangerous when used to try to answer them. Quantitative research (questionnaires) are great, assuming that the respondent has an opinion at all; often, these are highly sophisticated analyses of pure fluff.

Marketers, there is no substitute for observing consumers in the act. Anthropological observation touches upon the simple point that consumers just can't tell us what they can't tell us. Asking doesn't always work. But consumers may be able to show us what they like -- if we watch carefully.

I have no idea why I decided to read this book. It may be because I hate pretty much everything commercial because of manipulative processes like the ones explained in this book.....But I think mostly it was because it was on sale for $3.

Don't get me wrong this book is worth reading. It's very interesting and even for someone who hates every aspect of marketing....I found this book very informative. If you're into marketing it's deffinately worth your time. Even if you're a waiter who's looking to add that extra dollar here and there this book will probably have some techniques that can help out. Another plus is this is a simple book, and it's not a complicated read.

The problem I had with this book is that it's very basic. It points out his companies findings but it doesn't explain how or why people act the way they do. It's like reading the effects of scientific research without the causes. I would have liked a little more Pyschology and Sociology research to back up his findings. The other issue with this book is that even though it's short as is, it could have been even shorter. By about the halfway point of the book it seemed like I was re-reading stuff I'd already read that was just being placed in a different store or context.

Paco Underhill, the author of Why We Buy, fancies himself a Margaret Mead of sorts, unobtrusively observing and reporting on the shopper in his native habitat. But in additon to contributing to our understanding of our own behavior, his observations and conclusions will (for a price) help retailers to make more money. In this case what's sauce for the retailer is sauce for the consumer, so if it results in a more comfortable shopping environment in which we more easily find what we came for, everyone wins.

But to call it a science is a bit of an exaggeration. A lot of what Underhill divulges is no more than common sense, such as that shoppers don't like it when the aisles are too close together and other shoppers bump into them. Sometimes the information is contradictory. He tells of a bookstore in which a sale table is placed near the entrance. Shoppers bought lots of sale books, but few ventured further into the store where the more expensive items were located. So a discount table near the entrance is a bad thing. But then he tells of a department store that places a discount table near the entrance to great success.

If there's any lesson that a retailer can draw from Why We Buy, it may be to pay attention to the shoppers. Watch how they flock to certain displays and avoid other areas of the store. Adjust accordingly. There's a lot of trial and error involved, and a fair amount of just putting yourself in the shoppers' shoes. And if there's a lesson for the consumer, it's that someone may be watching you.

Interesting book, But the content doesn't support the title. A more descriptive title would be "How We Buy" or "Why We Don't Buy" since it doesn't go into the psychology of purchasing (which is what I was looking for).

Some keen observations on what might cause potential customers NOT to buy, so the book does present some value in that respect. An easy read as well.

My book arrived quickly and was in great condition.....better than promised. I would readily do business with this group again.

Why We Buy is an interesting, highly readable book about a fascinating subject. Shoppping is something we all do, to some extent. Mr. Underhill explains some of the ways retailers try to manipulate us into buying more than we planned to in their stores. One of the best things to take away from reading this book is a more critical eye for how the retail establishments you visit are succeeding, or failing, in their efforts to attract your attention and your money. Men: the new insights you gain from reading Why We Buy will give you something to do the next time you're standing around in women's wear waiting for your wife to come out of the fitting room again.

Paco Underhill and his consulting firm have made a study of the psychology of shopping--watching and taping people as they make their way through stores, determining how the layout and placement of fixtures and items encourages or discourages sales. He lays out his conclusions in Why We Buy, in language accessible to a lay reader, heavy on anecdotes rather than charts or stats.

This is a must-read if you are a retailer yourself, of any kind, and even if you aren't, will give you ideas for your next garage or rummage sale! And even if you are merely a shopper, it will change your shopping experience as you become more aware of the tricks of placement that are maneuvering you into buying more (or fleeing the store). I've also enjoyed doing a small imitation of Underhill's researchers and watch others shop. It's fascinating! This is a book that will change your experience of an important part of every day life, well worth reading.

This book is a great bunch of facts and insights into the nature of selling (which may be translated into buying). It does a good job of segmenting customers based on age, interests and personalities. Everyone who is in business of running, supporting or consultig to retail stores will benefit from reading thsi book.

Paco Underhill's Envirosell has carved out a healthy and valuable niche in retail consulting - loosely, it's the 'science of shopping,' and Paco and team do impressive legwork to round up secret shopper-based observation and hidden video analysis.

But, don't expect to read 'Science of Shopping' and come out with a gameplan for your small- or medium-sized chain (although there's certainly a fair share of pointers). 'Why We Buy' is more a walk through Paco's life work, the evolution of the science. And kudos to Paco for that: he literally invented the field. My hats off to him. Coming out with the book was a brilliant piece of marketing. Want proof of that? When I pulled up 'Why We Buy' here on amazon to write this review, I was met with a sponsored link to Envirosell. Sweet.

The title suggests that the book discusses the psychology and science of shopping and consumerism. It doesn't. At best, it provides some practical advice to retailers on how to catch the customer's eye, where to position product displays, etc.

If you're looking for a book that actually digs into the psychology and science of consumerism, you might try "How Customers Think: Essential Insights Into the Mind of the Market" by Gerald Zaltman.

A very interesting book and a very easy book to read. The content flowed well. It brings up lots of interesting items that many consumers don't think of. It has certainly given me many things to think about as I visit retail establishments. Every now and then it seems as though it seems like a plug for the authors company.

The chapter on Internet selling feels very dated, and it is, even though it is only 4 or 5 years old. Many of the criticism that the author had have been changed and many of his conceptual ideas are common practice. Then again, maybe on-line retailers took the author's suggestions and implemented them.

Overall it is a thoroughly enjoyable book that I would recommend to anyone.

This book's thesis is that by making the process of shopping easier and more desirable, and the choices clearer, the consumer will buy more. That's very similar to the observation that Taylor made about manual labor. Make it simpler and easier, and more work will get done. The methods are remarkably similar. Measuring the actions that the person under study makes, and changing the environment and process to see how the productivity is affected. I think this work is an important extension of behavioral economics, and hope it will be applied to more areas of business.

Although a book like this could be written in a very technical way, the voice and perspective are quite approachable. Also, the book is written to be equally interesting to shoppers and retailers. I'm sure you notice a lot of new things about your own behavior and that of others the next time you go shopping.

I also thought that the book was a good example of the way that stalled thinking holds back progress. For example, without this kind of observational measurement of shoppers, most retailers would never know which shoppers leave without buying and why. Or, why some merchandising experiments succeed or fail. In both cases, there are opportunities to accomplish more, if you can only grasp how your own decisions and behavior are helping and hurting your sales.

One of the sections I enjoyed was an evaluation of why many book stores miss sales. I often notice the inconveniences mentioned when I am in a book store, and wondered why the stores persist in doing things that make the store hard to shop in. There's a lot of stalled thinking in the industry, which is why we are fortunate to have Amazon.com to help us.

The book does a nice job of discussing how people with different perspectives shop differently. You'll probably get a laugh or two when you find yourself there. Do you secretly dig a sample out of the lipstick or the men's deodorant gel? Do you browse and rarely buy in Laura Ashley or in a computer store? When do you look at yourself in the mirror in a store? When do you not even go into a store because you can see long check out lines?

Ultimately, almost everything in this interesting book is common sense. But chances are that your needs are not often well served in areas that are important to you in retail outlets. My favorite was the problem of people only having two hands, and all of the times that we need three or four to negotiate the retailer's set-up.

A particular strength of this book was that it also pointed out that behavior is subject to change, as social patterns and values change. Men's jeans need to be in areas of wide aisles or fathers pushing their children in strollers will have to choose between looking at jeans and abandoning their children. That was not a very important problem 50 years ago.

I have often noticed how much people like to sample things before buying them, and how difficult it is to sample in many situations. Do you really want to go through what it takes to take a test drive of 20 different cars in 20 different dealers? Probably not. Yet, I would certainly buy a car more often if I had an easier chance to try the new ones out. You are probably the same way.

The main weakness of the book is that much less work has been done in looking at consumer behavior on the Internet, so the findings will hardly surprise you. You probably noticed these things years ago, like sites that are hard to navigate, have no site maps, and won't let you use the forms to buy.

I encourage anyone who has an interest in being more customer oriented to read this book, and use it to reexamine what your customers have to go through to do business with you. How could you improve?

Eliminate your stalls that make buying from you difficult, and rapid profitable growth should quickly follow.

Great if your anywhere in retail sales. Just what the cover says. Easy read. Won't be dissapointed.

My only complaint is that this book could have used a better editor. The same examples are rehashed throughout the book, so much so that you'd think the author assumed that readers would skip around the book and only read certain chapters (i.e. ones geared toward them). A good example of this is in one of the later chapters the author is explaining adjacencies in bookstores. He then goes on to explain that books should be grouped according to how they might appeal to certain categories of shoppers (men and women in this case). He says books on computers, sports, and business should be grouped together as should books on nutrition, self-help, etc. The author then teases us to guess which groupings are targeted at which gender. The glaring problem here is that the author used this exact same example earlier in the book, and at that point he explicitly told us which was which. I felt like shouting, "Hey, you already told us that."

Another shortcoming is the chapter on internet retailing. The book having been written in 1999, this chapter is really dated. It talks as though one can't e-shop without having an power outlet and a phone jack (as one of internet shopping's shortcomings, he states that you can't surf the web on a commuter train - so much for that point).

All in all, however, this is a fun and informative book that will cause you to view your shopping experiences of the future in a different light.

I finally picked this one up after about a year of "meaning to buy it." I'm glad I did. It's a lighthearted and fun book that will make you analyze every store you set foot into and make you want to avoid many others. There are no earth-shattering ideas in here, but it does point out many of the obvious things you'd probably miss, ie: product placement, who the decision-makers are and traffic flow of the stores. It's written clear and concise, but recycles many of the examples. I read it over the course of 2 planetrips (with layovers) and will probably pass it along to a store-owner I know - meaning I won't be referencing it for the rest of my life, but I'll probably keep an eye to see what stores have read it and who should

It is interesting to note people's reactions to this book. I'm reminded of the adage about the stages of acceptance of an idea. At the first stage people say it's wrong, at the second stage they assert that that it's right, but also trivial (common sense perhaps?), and at the 3rd stage (final acceptance) they claim the idea as their own. Many of the negative reviews fit into stages 1 or 2. I would concur with several reviewers that the author's ego interferes with the presentation, but this does nothing to diminish the observational detail that he manages to share, if you are in a place where you can think about it. It takes a little effort to step back from the detail and consider some of the ideas about our behavior that are cloaked in the author's descriptions. Yet many of the notions about what we notice and why and how we move about in a space could be applied (with some reflective thought) to the whole process of "arriving at" and "navigating" a web site (to purchase something or to get information).

If you are looking for a book that correlates characteristics of people (socieconomic status, sex, etc) with purchases you will be sorely disappointed. I assume that many of Underhill's clients have contemplated charateristic type marketing data with an eye toward some causal connection between characteristics of people and purchasing behavior. But what Underhill notices is that the act of going to a store and buying something is a sequence of behavior that can be derailed in a variety of ways. And this, ultimately, is why characteristics (socieconomic status, gender, etc) that predict purchasing are also not causal (I don't know of any 100% correlations between characteristics and purchasing behavior that would suggest a causal relationshp). There is instead a process that starts with purposefully going to a store, or arriving their fortuitously, and a subsequent sequence of steps that may or may not result in a purchase. In detailing this process he also takes note of differences related to gender and other characteristics. If you want to understand something about how people must get to a place, enter, move about, notice things and think in order to buy things you will intrigued by the Underhill's anthropological musings. If you want some definitive "cause" for why people buy you might look elsewhere, though I suspect you would be hard-pressed to argue that the processes Underhill takes note of have nothing to do with a successful retail environment.