Herb Sorensen is a preeminent authority on observing and measuring shopping behavior and attitudes within the four walls of the store. He has worked with Fortune 100 retailers and consumer packaged-goods manufacturers for more than 40 years, studying shopper behavior, motivations, and perceptions at the point of purchase. Sorensen’s methods are helping to revolutionize retail-marketing strategies from a traditional “product-centric” perspective to a new “shopper-centric” focus. As Baseline magazine commented, “Herb Sorensen and Paco Underhill are the yin and yang of observational research.”

Herb has conducted studies in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America. His research has been published in AMA’s Marketing Research, The Journal of Advertising Research, FMI Advantage Magazine, Progressive Grocer, and Chain Drug Review. He has also been utilized as an expert source for The Wall Street Journal, Supermarket News, and BusinessWeek. Herb appeared on the television show Dr. Oz as an expert on the movement of the eyes as part of the shopping process. Additionally, he is currently a panelist of Retail Wire’s “Brain Trust” and blogs at [...]

Herb’s career intertwines the world of science with the world of business. His Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California at Davis, 1970, resulted in publications ranging from metabolism, to chemical and electron structures. He is also a Diplomate of the American Board of Clinical Chemistry. In 1972 he launched a food laboratory, specializing in nutrition, safety, and HACCP quality programs.

His second company, Sorensen Associates, “The In-store Research Company,” grew at an annualized rate of nearly 30% from 1979–2009. In the 90s a mentor, Bob Stevens of P&G, encouraged a sharper focus on “assessment in context.” This led to the invention and patenting of PathTracker, a second-by-second method of electronically studying shopper behavior in stores. Early on, PathTracker enjoyed mentoring and advice from Peter Fader, and Herb shared in the honor of the AMA’s EXPLOR award in 2007, with Fader and his group at the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania.

In 2004 Fast Company Magazine named Herb one of its top 50 innovators. In 2013, he received the Charles Coolidge Parlin Marketing Research Award, “honoring distinguished academics and practitioners who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and sustained impact on the evolving profession of marketing research over an extended period.” In receiving this prestigious award, Sorensen joined other marketing research legends such as Robert Wood Johnson, Peter Drucker, Arthur C. Nielsen, George Gallup, August A. Busch III, Paul E. Green, John A. Howard, Philip Kotler, Robert J. Lavidge, and Jagdish Sheth.

Globalization of Herb’s work expanded when he sold his company to TNS/Kantar and published the first edition of Inside the Mind of the Shopper and through affiliation with the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute at the University of South Australia as an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow. Herb is collaborating with Mark Heckman on Accelerated Merchandising, increasing sales and profits through shopper efficiency.

Preface: Who Is #1? xxix
Introduction 1
Bidirectional Search 2
Products/Shoppers Competition 3
Open Space Actually Attracts Shoppers—Think Navigation! 5
Review Questions 10
Endnotes 10

PART I: TOWARD TOTAL CONVERGENCE OF BRICKS-AND-MORTAR AND ONLINE RETAILING
Chapter 1 How We Got Here and Where We Are Going 15
What Is Selling? 16
Selling Requires a Salesperson, Not a Retailer 17
SELLING: Focus on the Big Head of What the Shopper Wants to Buy 18
Stop Shouting at Your Shoppers 21
How We Got This Way 25
Early Shopping in America 26
The Birth of Self-Service Retail 26
Can Selling Make a Comeback in the Twenty-first Century? 32
The Four Dimensions of Purchasing 33
Now! Purchases (Advantage—Bricks Retail) 35
Surprise/Delight Purchases (Advantage—Bricks Retail) 36
Routine/Autopilot Purchases (Advantage—Online Retail) 37
Frustration/Angst Purchases (Advantage—Online Retail) 37
Where Is Selling Going? 37
The Selling Prescription 40
The Shopper’s Ideal Self-Service Retail Experience 41
What Does the Ideal Self-Service Retail Store of the Future Look Like? 42
The Dark Store 43
Step-by-Step 44
The Ever-Changing Retail Landscape Favors an Evolving Retailer Species 46
Review Questions 47
Endnotes 48
Chapter 2 Transitioning Retailers from Passive to Active Mode (by Mark Heckman) 49
Passive Merchandising No Longer Suffices in a Shopper-Driven World 50
The Journey to Active Retailing and the Five Vital Tenets of Active Retailing 51
The Five Vital Tenets of Active Retailing 52
Tenet 1: Measure and Manage the Shopper’s Time in the Store 53
A Shopper’s Time Should Be as Important to the Retailer as It Is to the Shopper! 55
Wasted Days and Wasted Nights 57
Implications for Active Retailing 58
Steps for Managing Shoppers’ Time in Store 58
Tenet 2: Focus on the Big Head 59
Implications for Active Retailing 61
Retailers Attempting to Manipulate or Extend a Shopper’s Trip Are on a Fool’s Errand 62
Steps in Managing the Big Head 63
Tenet 3: Assist Shoppers as They Navigate the Store 63
Mr. Retailer, Tear Down This Wall! 66
Implications for Active Retailing 67
Activating the Dominant Path 68
Steps in Assisting Shoppers as They Navigate the Store 71
Tenet 4: Sell Sequentially 71
What Comes First, The Chicken or the Egg? 72
Does the Order of Things Matter? 72
Implications for Active Retailing 73
Steps for Sequential Selling 76
Tenet 5: Managing the Long Tail 76
So Where Does This Leave the Tens of Thousands of Other Items That Populate the Shelves of the Store? 77
“Nobody Goes There Anymore. It’s Too Crowded”—Yogi Berra 77
Implications for Active Retailing 79
Steps in Managing the Long Tail 81
A Passing Thought about the Role of Displays in Active Retailing 82
Closing Thoughts 82
Review Questions 83
Endnotes 83
Chapter 3 Selling Like Amazon Online and in Bricks Stores 85
Amazon Selling Online 87
Amazon Point of Focus #1: Navigation—Simple and Fast 88
Amazon Focus: Selection 89
Amazon Focus #2: Immediate Close 90
Amazon Focus #3: Affinity Sales and Crowd-Social Marketing 91
Amazon Focus #4: Reaching into the Long Tail 93
Amazon Focus #5: Info, Info, Info 94
Amazonian Selling in Bricks Stores 95
Amazonian Bricks Focus #1: Navigation—Simple and Fast 96
Amazonian Bricks Focus: Selection 101
Amazonian Bricks Focus #2: Immediate Close101
Amazonian Bricks Focus #3: Affinity Sales/Crowd-Social Marketing 104
Amazonian Bricks Focus #4: Reaching into the Long Tail106
Amazonian Bricks Focus #5: Info, Info, Info 107
Review Questions 112
Endnotes 113
Chapter 4 Integrating Online and Offline Retailing: An Interview with Peter Fader and Wendy Moe 115
How Did the Internet Change the Study of Shopping Behavior? 116
In What Way Are the Online and Offline Patterns Similar? 117
How Are Paths in the Supermarket Similar to Paths Online? 119
Can Online Retailers Learn from Offline Shopper Behavior? 119
Tell Me about What You’ve Found Out about Crowd Behavior? 120
What Have You Learned about Licensing and Sequencing—Such as the Purchase of Vice Items After Virtue Items? 120
What Have You Found Out about the Pace of the Shopping Trip? 121
What Have You Learned about Shopping Momentum? 122
What Have You Learned about the Role of Variety in Shopping? 122
What Have You Learned about Efficiency? Is It Better to Allow Shoppers to Get Quickly In and Out of the Store, or Should Retailers Try to Prolong the Trip? 123
This Raises the Question of Whether Shoppers Are in the Store for Utilitarian Reasons Alone or If They Are Interested in an Experience. What Is the Difference? 124
What Have You Learned so far about What Shoppers Are Looking for When They Go Online? 124
How Do Online Retailers Use These Insights about Shopper Visits? 125
This Captures the Whole Point of What We’ve Called “Active Retailing ” Online Is Leading Offline in This Area How Does This Come into the Physical Store? 126
How Do Some of the Complex Forces of Shopping Behavior Play Out? Why Is There a Need for Better Modeling? 126
What Topics Are You Studying Now? 127
Review Questions 127
Endnotes 128
Chapter 5 The Coming Webby Store 129
The “Ideal” Sized Store 135
Review Questions 137
Endnotes 137

PART II: GOING DEEPER INTO THE SHOPPER’S MIND
Chapter 6 Long-Cycle Purchasing (by James Sorensen) 141
Higher Cost Leads to Anxiety and Indecision 142
Longer Shopping Process 143
Long-Cycle Purchasing 143
A Word about Building Desire 144
Wish 145
Want 145
Need 145
Got 146
The Shopper Engagement Spectrum 147
Speeding the Shopper along the Path-to-Purchase: First Build Desire and Facilitate the Tipping Point 149
Life Changes 150
Product Benefits 150
Ability to Pay 150
The Shopper’s Journey 151
Early in the Shopping Journey 151
Educate 151
Late in the Shopping Journey 152
Validating Choice 152
Complete the Transaction 153
Mobile 153
Again, the Sales Associate Is Key to Closing the Sale and Completing the Transaction 153
Conclusion 153
Review Questions 154
Endnotes 154
Chapter 7 The Quick-Trip Paradox: An Interview with Mike Twitty 155
How Do You Define a Quick Trip? 155
Why Do Shoppers Make So Many Quick Trips? 158
How Do Pre-store Decisions Affect the Quick Trip? 160
What Factors Do Consumers Consider in Deciding Where and How to Shop? 160
How Do Consumers Think about Shopping Trips? 161
What Did You Learn from This Research? 162
How Could It Be that Even Warehouse Clubs and Supercenters—Whose Design so Strongly Encourages Stock-up Shopping—Receive More Quick Trips than Stock-up or Fill-in Trips? 164
Given that Quick Trips Account for Two-thirds of Shopping Trips, How Can Retailers and Manufacturers Cater to these Shoppers? 165
What Is the Quick-trip Paradox? 165
Given this Paradox, How Can Retailers and Manufacturers Capitalize on the Quick Trip? 166
Could the Shoppers’ Motives for Making the Trip Offer Insights into the Best Assortment to Offer? 168
How Can Retailers Best Meet the Needs of Quick-Trip Shoppers? 168
What Are the Implications for Retailers and Manufacturers? 170
Review Questions 171
Endnotes 172
Chapter 8 Three Moments of Truth and Three Currencies 173
Moments of Truth 177
Seeing the Truth: Eyes Are Windows to the Shopper 178
Reach: Impressions and Exposures 182
Stopping Power (and Holding Power) 188
Closing Power 189
Three Currencies of Shopping: Money, Time, and Angst 190
Time 191
Angst: A Vague and Unpleasant Emotion 194
A Complex Optimization 195
Review Questions 196
Endnotes 197
Chapter 9 In-Store Migration Patterns: Where Shoppers Go and What They Do 199
If You Stock It, They Will Come 201
Understanding Shopper Behavior 204
First Impressions: The Entrance 206
Shopper Direction: Establishing a Dominant Path for the Elephant Herds 207
The Checkout Magnet 210
Products Hardly Ever Dictate Shopper Traffic—Open Space Does 211
Open Space Attracts: The Call of the Open Aisle 212
The Great Pyramids 215
New Angles 216
Managing the Two Stores 219
Five Store Designs 221
The Enhanced Perimeter 222
The Inverted Perimeter 223
The Serpentine Design 225
The Compound Store 225
The Big Head Store 226
Where the Rubber Meets the Linoleum 227
Review Questions 227
Endnotes 228

PART III: CONCLUSIONS
Chapter 10 Brands, Retailers, and Shoppers: Why the Long Tail Is Wagging the Dog 231
Where the Money Is in Retail 232
Massive Amounts of Data 234
Shifting Relationships 235
A Refreshing Change: Working Together to Sweeten Sales 237
Beyond Category Management 238
A New Era of Active Retailing: Total Store Management 239
Pitching a Category’s Emotional...