‘Why We Buy‘ by Paco Underhill is one of my all time favorite books on marketing, but, it was only when I reached chapter twelve — The Sensual Shopper — that I remembered why. Here’s Paco Underhill’s ode to shopping from pages 161-167 of ‘Why We Buy‘ –
What is shopping?
I don’t mean what is buying. I don’t mean what is entering a public place where goods are kept until they can be exchanged for money. I definitely do not mean what is retailing, or what is commerce, or what is trade.
I mean what is shopping? Who does it, and how? How does one go about this shopping activity?
For the purpose of this discussion, let’s stipulate that shopping is more than the simple, dutiful acquisition of whatever is absolutely necessary to one’s life. It’s more than what we call the “grab and go” — you need cornflakes, you grab the cornflakes, you pay for the cornflakes, and haveaniceday. The kind of activity I mean involves experiencing the portion of the world that has been deemed for sale, using our senses — sight, touch, smell, taste, hearing — as the basis for choosing this and rejecting that. It’s the sensory aspect of the decision making process that’s most intriguing because how else do we experience anything? But it’s especially critical in this context because virtually all unplanned purchase — and many planned ones, too — come as a result of the shopper seeing, touching, smelling, or tasting something that promises pleasure, if not total fulfillment.