Forget Baseball - Shopping Is America's Favorite Past Time 

New book by marketing expert Pam Danziger explores American's love affair with shopping

It's after Labor Day and America's ‘official' shopping season has begun.  From September through December, nearly 40 percent of the nation's $3 trillion in retail sales are made.  This year retailers will face an even more challenging shopping environment due to three key factors:

• Rapid retail expansion means more competition - there are more stores and more places to shop;
• Shoppers need less of the things retailers have to offer, while shoppers' desire drives more people into the store to shop;
• Driven by desire, not need, people go shopping for recreation and fun, rather than necessity, which means shoppers want more out of shopping than just buying more stuff. They demand an engaging shopping experience, thus transforming the business of retail in America today.

Pam Danziger's new book, Shopping:  Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience, is written to guide retailers in the challenging new world of recreational shopping and how retailers must transform their stores into a fun experience. 

"For years retailers' success has largely been a function of offering the right products at the right price in the right location.  But those factors are less important today as shopping becomes one of our favorite forms of recreation.  Today success in retail is less not about what you sell, and more about how you sell it,"  Danziger explains.

Shopping uncovers the shoppers' mindset and explains what makes them buy

Backed by the in-depth research author Danziger is known for, Shopping explains shoppers' propensity to buy as an equation based upon four key factors. 

P = (N + F + A) × E²

That is, Propensity to buy is defined by:

• N= Need or some perceived consumer need
• F= Features of the product that make the item more or less desirable
• A=Affordability or whether the price is worth it or not
• E=Emotion which is dominant in the overall shopping equation

Called the quantum theory of shopping, the equation explains that the tangible factors in shopping, i.e. the need, features and affordability, play a supporting role in the shopping decision, but they rarely dominate. The tangibles, i.e. need, features, affordability, are only added together, 1 + 1 + 1 = 3, whereas emotion works exponentially, (1 + 1 + 1) 5² = 75.  

Of far more importance than the tangibles in the quantum theory of shopping -Need, Features, and Affordability-is Emotion, which touches off and interacts with each of the tangible features. High emotion, such as a passion for a particular type of item, can spark need.  High emotion can enhance the perception of product features, whether it is a favorite brand one feels emotional about, or a favorite color, designer, specific feature, style and so on, to make the item more desired.

Affordability is strongly influenced by emotion. What people really want, they are willing to pay a lot of money for. Where the need is fairly low and the product features are not all that spectacular, a super price touches the emotional hot button-getting a bargain-and makes people buy.

Shopping examines each of the variables in the quantum theory of shopping by showing how  specific retailers, such as The Apple Store, Nordstrom, Target, Aerosoles, Godiva and Best Buy's Magnolia Audio Video stores, play these shopping variables to their advantage.  

Shopping profiles retailers, both large and small, that create an ultimate shopping experience

After examining the shoppers' mind set, Shopping next examines the specific characteristics of stores that offer their shoppers truly extraordinary shopping experiences - They are what Danziger calls "shops that pop."

Shops that pop are distinguished by these qualities:

• Encourages high levels of customer involvement and interaction-Shops that pop create a shopping environment that fully involves the shopper and engages them interactively in the shopping experience. Barnes & Noble on a national scale and Charlottesville, Virginia's Feast! gourmet store exemplify the highest levels of customer involvement.
• Evokes shopper curiosity-Shops that pop excite consumer curiosity to explore and experience from the shop windows and entrance to lure them into the store and around the next corner. Atlanta, Georgia's Boxwoods Gardens & Gifts and Atchison, Kansas' Nell Hill's entice shoppers to explore and discover.
• Has a contagious, electric quality-Shops that pop exude energy and excitement that is contagious. The contagion spreads through word of mouth to make the shop a destination. Award-winning Charleston, South Carolina's Tiger Lily florist electrifies their customers with awesome flowers.
• Presents a convergence between atmosphere, store design, and merchandise-Shops that pop present a comprehensive vision that captures all the tangible and intangible elements of the store in a unified whole. Cabela's is as much theater and natural history museum as shopping destination, thus living up to their tagline "World's Foremost Outfitter."
• Expresses an authentic concept-Shops that pop are more than stores selling stuff; they are conceptually driven and reflect a visionary's values. A shop that pops transcends being just a store into a new realm of experience. Rapid City, South Dakota's Prairie Edge shares the Native American experience, while Colonial Williamsburg Marketplace gives visitors a taste of authentic 18^th century America. Columbus, Ohio's Easton Town Center offers a new home-town shopping alternative to enclosed malls and strip centers.
• Priced right for the value-Shops that pop have a carefully constructed pricing strategy based upon offering fair value delivered to the shopper for a reasonable price. Television retailer QVC consistently delivers on their quality-value-convenience promise.
• Offers an environment that is accessible, nonexclusive, and free from pretensions-Shops that pop have all the preceding qualities, plus another essential feature-they are immediately accessible to everyone, free from pretensions of exclusivity or snobbishness. Saks Fifth Avenue extends their welcome to both lookers and buyers. Washington, DC-based Bluemercury apothecary and spa personalizes shoppers' skin care regimes. Worthington, Ohio's Damsels in This Dress helps shoppers create their own personal style.

Shopping shows retailers how to transform their store into a shop that pops

In the final part of Shopping, Danziger lays out more than 30 principles or action steps that retailers can take to transform the shopping experience in their store from ordinary to extraordinary.  Organized around the five P's of marketing - Product, Pricing, Promotion, Place, and the most important P of all, People - Shopping draws upon the consumer research and profiles of truly exceptional retailers to help retailers both large and small create the ultimate shopping experience for their customers.   Also included are specific activities that will help retailers put the principles to work in their stores.

"Because shoppers today demand more, retailers who offer them an alternative, one where shoppers can find great stuff at a reasonable price in a store where it is fun to shop, will survive-even thrive-in the future,"  Danziger says.  "Shoppers today are looking for an alternative that can become a destination for them, a place where they really love to shop, not a store where they have to shop. They want more and the recommendations and principles that are laid out in Shopping will ensure that retailers deliver that to the shopper." 

Shopping:  Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Shopping Experience will be published October 3, 2006 by Kaplan Business.  It can be preordered now through Amazom.com.  For a preview of Shopping, the introductory chapter can be downloaded directly at http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/downloadPDF3.php

For media:  Review copies are available by request to 717-336-1600.

Author Pam Danziger is available for interviews.