Consumer

The Science Of Getting You To Buy

(WCCO) Stores do lots of things to entice us to shop. For example, at the airport you'll often find restaurants on the left because studies have shown people will cross over to satisfy their hunger but rarely to make an impulse purchase.

Another study has shown that if you can get a shopper to spend 11 and 1/2 minutes inside your store they are more likely to make a purchase.

"There's a lot of tricks they use. The carpeting, the colors, mood lighting, scents," said Joe Cimon.

It may sound like wacky science, but there really is a science to shopping. It worked on shopper Stephanie Pillers.

"This is an example of me buying more because it was three for $12," she said. "So I wound up buying three things. I was just gonna buy a placemat, but then I bought the placemat, the bowl and a plate. So I was suckered in."

"We just came from one huge shoe retailer and I said 'This is the husband's seating area' and she said 'It's funny you should say that, because what we are doing is putting in big screen televisions with ESPN because if the husband is happy and content, he's not rushing the wife, she buys more shoes,'" recalled Cimone.

Comfortable chairs can be found at places like Best Buy too, where home theater set-ups do more than sell product.

"We try to create that environment inside the store for you to see it outside the store," said Best Buy General Manager Gina Gabrielson.

One of the newest features inside the Eden Prairie Best Buy is a gaming center station.

"It let's you experience what it's like and stuff like that, instead of it just having it just sit there and just reading the back of it," said 12-year-old Charlie Lawrence.

Retail has really changed. For years, stores would try to lure you in by putting their best products in the back in hopes they could entice you to buy other things on your way to the front.

"While it might help maybe in the short term to get them to buy more things, in the long run it's not a good strategy. It does not make your guests happy," said Randy Rients, Director of Store Operations for Target. "So we've really taken that feedback and tried to incorporate that a lot."

Rients said Target learned years ago it needed to listen to shoppers.

"A lot of what we do comes back from what the guest tells us she likes or doesn't like about the shopping experience. Everything from the merchandise we carry to the way we that lay out our stores. A lot of it goes back to the feedback that the guests have given us," he said.

For example, Target stores have no curbs. The reason: women complained they had a tough time navigating the parking lot with a shopping cart.

Inside you won't hear any music or many overhead pages. And forget the warehouse feel.

"We tried no ceiling tiles for a while kinda for that 'warehouse effect' and it just didn't feel as warm or comfortable for our guests," said Rients. 

A Best Buy store in Eden Prairie revamped its checkout lanes based on customer feedback.

It also plans to add more specific signs in the digital camera department. Right now signs on several aisles simply say "accessories," but customers complained they couldn't find the batteries, camera cases and other accessories.

Stores also do more testing. Best Buy is currently testing detailed signs on all digital TVs so you know you are looking at a 40 inch Plasma 1080i Digital Television.

At Target, there's a new test on an electronics finder which uses a computer to help customers see what items other shoppers recommend and the features each electronic item includes.

It also tests food.

"We're testing this actually in this story right here," said Rients. "What this is is basically a meal solution, a quick grab-and-go section for our guests. What we'll do a lot at Target is we'll try things like this, we'll test real quick and if it works we'll roll it out to more stores."

It's how Target's "See Spot Save" section and "Global Bazaar" got their start. Stores know more shoppers are like Joe Cimone.

"I'm a very savvy consumer. I'm a retailer's worst nightmare," he joked.

In the past, people have complained they were being manipulated, but the truth is stores realize we want to have a say.

"As long as it helps in the end for the consumer to get what they want, if they listen to the consumer and supply the product we want, I think that's fine," said Cimone's wife.

Some stores will even videotape shoppers to figure out what gets them to buy.

It's also why you'll notice stores asking on receipts for you to fill out surveys online. Best Buy and Target say they do listen to the feedback, so if you've got an issue or a solution you should speak up. You might see it in your store some day.

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