Inside the Mind of the Shopper: The Science of Retailing, Second Edition

Afterword: Endcaps and the “Promotional” Store

After completing the second edition, I am uneasy about “the elephant in the room,” so-to-speak. But let me give you a few thoughts before I clarify that—and then some more interesting/validating data!

The “science of shopping” rightly has as its focus first on the shopper and then on the products. But there are actually at least five entities directly connected to that two-point nexus of shoppers and products. More or less in their order of priority from the shopper’s point of view, they are:

The shoppers themselves.

The products those shopper seek, plus the host of “also ran” products that are relatively ...