Paco Underhill: Why We Buy

Published by Orion Business Books in 1999.
248 pages + index.

I borrowed this book from a friend, or a friend of a friend, whatever ... a non-BookCrosser, anyway. :-) I read it last month.

This was a pretty good read, although somewhat dated. It's relatively well written, though IMO it would have been better if the language had been less informal and there had been fewer personal anecdotes. That's my opinion. But the topic is very interesting and there is a great deal of interesting information here. I work in retail myself and I found several useful points in the book. It's obvious that the author knows what he's talking about - there's solid research underlying all his claims. It's also quite entertaining to read about the various ways in which that research is conducted. :-)

This book is ten years old, and as I mentioned, it does show to some extent. This is most apparent in the part of the book that deals with online shopping. :-D But the predictions made by the author are all very correct, so it's simply amusing and doesn't spoil the book.

This is an easy read that I'd recommend to anyone interested in the mechanics of retail. Although I would perhaps suggest looking up newer work by this author as well. Such as this title, which I would also like to read some day.