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Most economists agree that our consumption-driven economies are based on our wanting things we don’t even need and buying things we don’t even want.
Here’s an excerpt from retail anthropologist Paco Underhill’s ‘Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping‘ on how shopping baskets form the foundation of a rock-solid economy –
In a very successful bookstore near my office, there is a pile of shopping baskets in the usual erroneous place — in a corner just inside the door… Judging by where the baskets are kept here, you’d think that shoppers enter bookstores saying to themselves, Well, today I plan on buying four books, a box of arty greeting cards and a magazine, and so first thing I will take a basket to hold all my purchases. Whereas common sense tells us that people don’t work that way — more likely someone walks in thinking about one book, finds it, then stumbles over another that looks worthwhile. In such moments the very heart of retailing lies and if shoppers suddenly ceased to buy on impulse, believe me, our entire economy would collapse… Anyways, when our book shopper stumbles upon a second worthy volume, she then begins wishing she had a basket to make life a little easier. And if at that exact moment a basket suddenly materialized… then she would probably take one. And then, perhaps, go on to buy book number three and four. Maybe even a bookmark. (page 55-56)
Judging by the hundreds of unread books in my house, Indian bookstore chains Crossword, Oxford and Landmark haven’t done very badly with their shopping baskets.
