His firms' methodology concentrates on tracking shoppers throughout stores and videotaping their behavior, then analyzing it in the context of displays, traffic routing strategies and the use of signage in the stores. As a result of this methodology, the company Envirosell captures 50,000 hours of video each year. His firms' analysis shows that the front of stores is often used as a decompression zone, and that Americans tend to turn right when they walk into a store. As is the case with auto dealerships' service centers, the most crucial time to meet a customer is when they first enter the dealership or store. Mr. Underhill's analysis supports this fact with his firm stating that the first minute a customer enters the store is the most important in getting them to purchase. The challenges that Mr. Underhill highlights for retailers are to control the flow of traffic...
Each of these techniques is briefly analyzed below.
Increasing Same-Store Sales by Incenting Customer Loyalty
Mr. Underhill highlights the use of signage and shows the significant differences in how it is used at meat counters in grocery stores where 61% of the time spent waiting is after an order is placed (Berfield, 2009) in addition to how Williams-Sonoma uses signage to underscore the uniqueness and value of their products to customers. Mr. Underhill makes the point that the signage must have immediacy to them, as shown in the meat counter example, yet also be rich enough with content to provide sufficient differentiation for the products being sold. The example of this connection of incenting loyalty of customers through signage is also shown for
