Buy buy buy

By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY. Michelle Bogan, a retail consultant for Kurt Salmon Associates, at a Ruehl store in Tysons Corner Center in McLean, Va. She says the store is designed so merchandise isn’t visible from outside — shoppers must enter to see it.

Last Friday's USA Today business section has an excellent cover story on retail selling strategies, in terms of controlling all aspects of the shopping environment, engaging all the senses, from sound to aroma, to get you to buy. The articles are "Just browsing at the mall? That's what you think" and "Understanding why you're shopping can help curb it."

And it's not about price, but by controlling the environment to sell the most merchandise possible without markdowns.

Unfortunately, the best part of the set of articles is not online--an almost full page diagram of a typical store, and how it is typically laid out for maximum sales effectiveness. These are the kinds of principles discussed by Paco Underhill in his work, as well as by Scott Day, who is a consultant in the Main Street commercial district revitalization world.

Maybe your corner store still has a copy of the issue. It's worth buying for the diagram.

Index Keywords: retail