Summary Of The Science Of Shopping Paco Underhill

The thought of being observed without consent is quite troubling, disturbing even.
Those who intrude on other’s privacy are seen as outcasts in society; spying is socially unacceptable. These individuals are often referred to as ‘voyeurs’, or most commonly, ‘creeps’. Malcolm Gladwell’s article, “The Science of Shopping” discusses the research that Paco Underhill collects as a ‘retail anthropologist’; which is obtained through hidden cameras. Individuals such as Hillary Chatswin assumes that Underhill isn’t any better than a disgusting man peering into a woman’s window, but Underhill and his colleagues believe observing shoppers is only done to benefit the shopper’s experience. The question at hand is whether Underhill is a just another ‘creep’, or a genius and Underhill proves that he isn’t a creep by illustrating that he wants to provide a better experience for the shoppers, he watches others in a professional standpoint (and not solely for entertainment), and his scientific research reaches as far as benefiting numerous retail stores. While

Underhill realizes that he needs to first attract people to the retailer’s store and get the shoppers to come in. Once the shoppers are in the store, the goal is now to get them to buy products, and that was based on the amount of time they spent in the store. Underhill is trying to teach to retailers, “If you can sell someone a pair of pants you must also be able to sell that person a belt, or a pair of socks, or a pair of underpants, or even sell a person a complete outfit” (Gladwell 98). Selling a “complete outfit” is one of the many tools that retailers used from Underhill’s observations to generate revenue. Although Chatswin classifies Underhill as creepy, he is able to use his profession in the name of science other than use it solely for