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This book discusses the power of product placement, branding, and purchasing.

The Science of Shopping

You’ve just spent an entire day walking around in 5 inch stilettos and your feet are covered in blisters. It’s just not worth reading.

Finding the perfect pair of dress pants, but the store is out of your size. If only the information came in a variety of sizes and colors.

Like going to Jimmy Choo and leaving empty handed. Had some good ideas, but none that would benefit in the long run.

Like wearing a Burberry cashmere scarf in a blizzard. Ad students should read this book to withstand the harsh advertising world.

Wearing that perfect little black dress to a cocktail party and getting compli-ments all night. All students, both male and female, should read this book.

Best aspect of this book: Why We Buy by Paco Underhill gives the reader a very in-depth understanding of how and why consumers buy everything, from cosmetics to hardware. The book provides humorous anecdotes that make this an overall easy, enjoyable read. Underhill also reports real world applications to his findings using retail environments most readers have experienced themselves, whether that be The Gap or the national bank.

Worst aspect of this book: Why We Buy is divided into four main sections. This sounds like a logical way to separate the large amounts of information, but it is deceiving. The ideas within the sections are scattered; they do not follow any flow. Underhill’s examples jump from ways to improve a supermarket’s aisle adjacencies to The Gap’s incredible tran-sitional zone to the signs that should be behind the registers at Barnes and Noble. I wish the book had a seemingly easy-to-follow order.

Final Thoughts: After reading Why We Buy, I feel more in tune with how I behave as a consumer. I am now conscious of how I shop for my cashmere sweaters at J.Crew and how long it takes for me to browse the shampoo aisle at the drugstore. I am aware of where the baskets are located and if there are any signs to read while standing in line to fill out my de-posit slip at the bank. As an advertising student, I feel better prepared to enter a world where consumers drive sales and keep my future job and option. Why We Buy also opened my eyes to the retail world my generation lives in compared to the one of my parents and grandparents. I never thought of the difficulty my eighty year old grandmother went through just to buy my birthday gift. I would recommend this book to anyone who has even the slightest interest in shopping and adverting or possibly, psychology or anthropology. It was an