The ways stores entice shoppers to buy
Marketing expert Martin Lindstrom says stores have special ways to get shopppers to spend. Kai Ryssdal gets him to reveal some of their methods.
Martin Lindstrom and his book, "Buyology" (martinlindstrom.com)
More on The Economy, Retail, America's Financial Crisis
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TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Kai Ryssdal: When the economy slows, consumers predictably start changing their behavior -- trying to be more thrifty and less impulsive. Just as predictably, stores change their tactics to try to get around those good intentions. Often, they do it in ways we're not aware of, not even at a physiological level. It's a technique called neuromarketing.
In his new book, "Buyology" -- that's B-U-Y-ology -- marketing expert Martin Lindstrom explores what makes shoppers tick deep down. We met up at a new mall here in Los Angeles to find out how retailers hit and sometimes miss the mark.
Martin Lindstrom: We're just pausing by the Barnes & Noble store right now, and as you can see they have a nice island in there . . .
Ryssdal: Yup.
Lindstrom: . . . in the middle of the store promoting books. Now, does that work or not, do you think?
Ryssdal: I don't know. I mean, I love books, so it works for me. Maybe not everybody, though.
Lindstrom: We did an experiment with chocolate. We offered women a box of chocolate with 30 pieces in it. We said to them, "Take as much as you want." Guess what? They took one piece. Then we gave them a box of chocolate with only six pieces in it. We said, "Take as much as you want." They took three pieces. What we have learned is less is better than more.
Ryssdal: When you did this study and this research, did you actually put people in MRI machines and do the brain scans?
Lindstrom: We did. And we did it with a lot of peole. We had over 2,000 consumers' brains we were scanning across from five countires. And we needed to use that when it came to smoking to subliminal advertising and to the influences of our senses, because we know those factors are ingrained into our brain and we cannot verbalize it, so we had to use brain slides to find out the answers .
Ryssdal: This is about so much more than branding and consumer experience, isn't it?
Lindstrom: It is. This is about our life, because . . . I just noticed when we met up, Kai, that you were holding a Starbucks coffee cup in your hand.
Ryssdal: Guilty.
Lindstrom: Why do you do that?
Ryssdal: Because I needed a cup of coffee. It's been a long day.
Lindstrom: Yeah, and it's a ritual.
Ryssdal: And you know what's funny is I walked by two or three other coffee places on the way to Starbucks.
Lindstrom: But you bypass the . . .
Ryssdal: But I bought the Starbucks, yeah.
Lindstrom: So what's interesting is that, first of all, it's a ritual. You walk to work, right, and you have to have it there. And I'll bet you, if one day you do not have that in your hand, guess what? You're whole morning is destroyed, right.
Ryssdal: That is true.
Lindstrom: Secondly, what's interesting is the tactile sensation you have on that cup. You know this little cardboard they have around.
Ryssdal: Right. Yeah.
Lindstrom: In fact, we remove that for fun sometimes. And people did not feel the coffee tasting as well any more, becauses the tactile sensation is programming our brain to think it tastes better.
Ryssdal: So, let's do the consumer advocate thing, here, and tell me how we as consumers can be smart to all this, other than buying and reading your book.
Lindstrom: [laughs] Well, you know, I think No. 1 point is: skip the shopping trolley. You know I was in Woolworth the other day and I'd been into Whole Foods the other day, and those brands are actually increasing the size of the shopping baskets right now. In fact, Whole Foods basket is now double the size as it was last year. You know why? Because if it's double the size, you buy 30 percent more products. And you do that because you look down into this huge basket in Wal-Mart, for example, and there's five products down there and . . . "Oh, I haven't bought anything," right.
Ryssdal: Right.
Lindstrom: Well, guess what? You [actually end up] buying much more.
Ryssdal: Are all of these things, the signage and the false scarcity and the branding and all this neuroscience, are they enough to help retailers in the economy that this country and a lot of the rest of the world is in right now?
Lindstrom: No, it's not. They will struggle no matter what. And we will see that this Christmas is probably going to be the worst in 24 years. And I thinkg the main reason why is because the first time ever we are realizing this is serious stuff. This time it's almost like we got a slap on the chin. And when that slap on the chin, and we know that from neuroscience, people wake up and they start to say, "Hey, I have to buy stuff differently." And what happens is people literally change stores, people literally change the path down the supermarket aisle. And they have never done that before, but that is the change we are facing right now, and retailers are realizing that.
Ryssdal: Martin Lindstrom, his book is called "Buyology: The Truth and Lies About Why We Buy." Martin, thanks a lot.
Lindstrom: Martin and I spent 45 minutes walking around the mall, the Americana at Brand...way too long for the broadcast. So if you want to know, say, how the ritual of putting slice of lime in Corona beer got its start, head to our Web site. It's marketplace.org.
Comments
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From Los Angeles, CA, 11/18/2008
Our apologies for the audio clips not playing in their entirety. They are now fixed.
From Philadelphia, PA, 11/17/2008
Everyone, I found a video blog by Martin Lindstrom where he gave the punchline to the Corona story. You can find it at http://www.martinlindstrom.com/index.php/cmsid__video_blog. The specific video is called "Rights of rituals". Oh, and the answer is...a bartender in California made it up to see how far and fast a ritual could spread...for my money I prefer the taste of an orange instead of a lime in a Corona.
From Cambridge, MA, 11/17/2008
Same issue that Edwin Aoki is having. Those clips seem to be cut off before you get to end of them.
They seem to cut at 11 and 48 seconds. Also the "Download" button is getting file not found.
From Ellensburg, WA, 11/15/2008
So what is the rest of the Beer story? Some Guy thought of it and?
From Owls Head, ME, 11/15/2008
I Agree! I love your show - especially the "step back and take a look" series you're doing about the financial system. But it's VERY frustrating to have come to the site, downloaded the extra audio about Buy-ology, and find that nearly all of it is missing! Please ask your webmaster to re-upload the audio, then email us so we'll know to come back! Thanks.
From CA, 11/15/2008
This isn't a comment per se, but the side bar stories - "Smell" and "Beer" appear to have truncated audio (11 seconds for the former and 48 for the latter). It cuts off just as it's getting to the meat of the story. Would love to hear more.
From Allentown, PA, 11/14/2008
As I listen to the comments about people not buying the comments all seem to indicate it's because people are worried about the economy. Certainly, that is part of it, but isn't part of it as well that we simply have most of the things we need. For the average middle class person is there really anything else that we really need? Plus we're working all the time, so we barely have time to enjoy what we have in our lives. Could it not be that our consumer stomachs are satiated?
From Iowa City, IA, 11/14/2008
I started listening to Marketplace a year ago, when I had to slim down my budget. But am I glad now! I understand what is happening, and why, thanks to you all. I'm actually not afraid of what's to come, I feel I might have a bit of control over my bit of the economy here! (hee-hee) Thank you Barack, Milton, Kai and the rest. "It's going to be a bumpy but interesting ride!"
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