The summer 2010 Retail reading list

Summer is half over. And you are finished working your way through the "girl who" trilogy by that Scandinavian author. Now it's back to business, and breeze your way through a few well written books on creative, retailing and trends.

Here it is.
"The Retail Muse" Summer reading series for 2010:

1. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking | Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell, the author of "The Tipping Point", takes the reader on a journey into the subconscious mind and how we make snap decisions. His treatise is to reveal the difference between good and bad decision making. How, if we focus on a few key details, we make better decisions than if we scan all the vast information available to us.

Lots of discussion related to neuroscience and psychology, but don't let that turn you off. Gladwell is an engaging and enthusiastic writer that takes dreary concepts and makes them come to life. Recommended for anyone interested in becoming a better decision maker.


2. What Women Want: The Global Market Turns Female Friendly | Paco Underhill
Paco Underhill has been retailers' guru since the publication of "Why We Buy". Now Underhill turns his sites from the shopping aisles and considers the aspect of gender in the shopping and buying process. Paco asserts that females are now new power consumer in retail, and it is the influence of women that is reshaping the commercial landscape.

Peppered with his usual charming but soft touch sense of humor, Underhill goes on a mission with us to understand the difference between female and male shoppers. Every retailer should be reading this book to understand he difference between the sexes in the shopping aisles.

3. Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy | Gary Singer
Retailing and neuroscience is the new black. Singer goes into a great deal of detail (and a few brain scans or two) to show us how neuroscience and brain activity play an immense role on our purchasing decisions, from toothpaste to T-birds. Unless one of your hobbies is reading neuroscience textbooks, this one is not for the faint of heart. Still, some of the chapters on consumer behavior, along with discussions on how advertising and marketing agencies use neuroscience to drive purchasing, are well worth checking out.





4. Waiter Rant | Steve Dublanica  -AND - Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress | Debra Ginsberg
Alright. So not exactly about retail, but any tale from the restaurant trenches make a retailer feel like they are living the lap of luxury. Both books are similar formats. Not planning to become restaurant servers through a series of coincidences, living to tell the tale. Both share the terrible customer stories, the poor working conditions and management that have gone out of control.

Highly recommended for their fun and breezy style, and the anecdotes that they offer. Perfect beach reads before you head back to the store for back to college rush.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Paco Underhill on what women want to buy. (slate.com)
• Shopping Scientist Paco Underhill Tackles Online Retail (blogs.wsj.com)
• The Frontal Cortex blog: The next Malcolm Gladwell? (ksjtracker.mit.edu)

Retail is Hard

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For years I've heard from many that working in retail is a breeze. Everyone has an opinion on how easy it would be to work at the cash register all day, or has these romantic notions of how much fun it would be to own a little shop by the seaside.

Customers also seem to have a wide range of advice of how to staff your store. What products to carry (and how many), and of course what your operating hours, pricing strategy and marketing programs should be. Everyone is an expert, especially when it comes to retailing.

I was reminded of this curious state of being recently. I was watching the UK version of "The Apprentice" on "YouTube". This British version, (now in it's 6Th season) is basically the original "Apprentice", sans Donald Trump and the addition of sometimes difficult to interpret accents.

The show follows the same format, with each team of apprentices sent out on weekly tasks to make money. In one episode, the teams are sent off to Harrods, billed as the largest department store in the world (7 floors! Luxury goods! something for everyone!). Teams were given the task of choosing items from Harrod's inventory and then sell them to unwitting tourists in special pop up units within the vast store.

Watching the teams perform this task made me realize how incredibly clueless this group of bankers and lawyers and entrepreneurs where about the mechanics of retail. One team learned that it is very difficult to choose products for resale. They settled on teddy bears - nothing else, including a $2000 mega stuffed bear. A dubious and ill advised choice. Then other team added more variety, but learned that merchandising products is not just about hanging one sad t-shirt on slat wall.

Both teams found pricing hard to figure out. All these accountants and business majors couldn't figure out the difference between cost and retail. They were lost on the concept of retail margin, and stared glumly at the point of sale equipment wondering what all the flashing lights meant.

By the time they started to actually operate their store, I was in heavy eye-rolling mode. One team member shrunk into the the woodwork, fearful of chatting with strangers. Another became panicked and aggressive, almost demanding frightened customers to buy a bear. Finally a team member couldn't take the pace any longer, snuck away to the stock room. As he rubbed his aching feet and moaned about how he has never spent this much time on his feet, he looked at the camera and said;

Retail is Hard!

Yes dear apprentice, sometimes it is.