by: Christian Sarkar
An edited version of this article was originally published in Clip webzine, an e-zine sponsored by Compaq.

Retail consultant Paco Underhill recently made a splash with his book "The Science of Shopping," which discusses how to merchandise successfully in both the physical and virtual worlds. In this interview, he talks about current trends in both worlds and how one affects the other.

As the acknowledged founder of the "science of shopping," Paco Underhill has been monitoring the behavior and habits of shoppers for almost two decades largely through Envirosell, the consulting firm of which he is founder and president. Indeed, Underhill is the person who has traditionally helped companies like Gap program their physical stores for the "total customer experience." Over the years, this anthropology of observation has paid off – Envirosell's client list includes McDonald's, Starbucks, Estee Lauder, Blockbuster, Citibank and Wells Fargo, among others.

His recently released book, Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, is an eye-opening report on the culture of shopping. It explores the consumer experience in both the familiar brick-and-mortar world and its virtual counterpart – the cyberstore. So far, the book has done astonishingly well. On its publication date, it was already number four at Amazon.com. One week later, it hit number four on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list for business books.

Will the Web ever replace the traditional storefront?

I'm absolutely opposed to the idea that somehow the Web is going to replace retail. I think what is fundamentally exciting is all of the ways that it can support it. Let's recognize that catalogs peaked at 10 percent of sales, and everyone thought they were going to replace retail. I think it's perfectly reasonable to think that the Web may capture 5 percent. But it's going to be in very specific categories of goods.

So what can cybershopping provide that the retail world cannot?

First is a certain measure of convenience – easy out. It can also provide more information. Look at what makes Amazon such a successful site. It's that I can go in and build a lot of purchase confidence that I can't get in a normal bookstore. There are reader reviews, there are other things that help me feel good about the $17 I'm about to spend. It's ironic that the Web has succeeded in retail where manufacturers and retailers have really dropped the ball, which is in a lot of entertainment-based products.

What is the psychology of blending virtual and real-world stores, and what are some of the more successful and unsuccessful examples of this?

I order over the Web what I'm comfortable ordering, sight unseen – then I use the store as my delivery vehicle: So rather than relying on FedEx, I simply go to my local Office Depot and I pick [it] up. While I'm there, I shop for those things that I feel I need to look at. That is a very successful integration of store and Web.

An unsuccessful example is Victoria's Secret.com, where if I order something, I have to return it by mail, and I cannot return it to the store.

Where are the opportunities for synergy and for growth in sales?

Particularly in books and music, there are opportunities for [traditional merchants] to bring the customer into the store better informed. I find a pair of jeans that I love at the GAP, in a 35/36. I buy them in blue. I take them home, I wear them for a while, everybody says I look great in them. I go on the Web, I find what other colors they make them in. I order and go pick them up at the store.

[Here's another] good example. I'm at home. I have a new house. It's Saturday afternoon. My vacuum cleaner gives up the ghost. I climb on the Web. I find ElectroLux.com. It explains what a 21st-century vacuum is. It tells me what the prices are and whether the local store is having a sale. I run out the door, hop in a cab [and] go to the store. I tell the sales associate exactly what I want, I'm out the door seven minutes later. Great use of the Web.

What do you think of the concept of building online communities as a way to drive commerce? Do you see that as effective?

I think that it makes sense as it's driven by specific issues. For example, I've suggested repeatedly to Blockbuster that they set up websites where you can talk about vintage movies, as a way of driving people to the catalog section of stores. Why not have a Blockbuster-sponsored John Wayne chat room? Where it doesn't work is where somebody doesn't see [that he's] getting something out of it.

What are some of the more innovative things you're looking at and seeing in the physical world of retailing?

Some are the trends to edu-tainment. Where people have realized that if they give people other reasons to come to the store, people stop worrying about prices. I was at a beautiful store yesterday here in Chicago called American Girl, which is sort of an actualization of the fantasy life of a doll. There's a little lunchroom where you can bring your doll, and little chairs so your doll can sit at the table with you. You could buy matching sets of doll clothes and then clothes for you, for your kid. I mean, the whole thing was wonderful, but it was also very scary. Look at Restoration Hardware, where you go in and sort of get lost in stuff.

It seems like that's what we try to do on the Web as well. We try to build community, as Amazon.com has done so successfully. Do you think this is a general trend in both the real world and the Web world, or is one bleeding over into the other? I think it's definitely bleeding over. I think Amazon is looking over its shoulder and seeing the fact that Barnes & Noble and Borders basically have got the idea, and therefore, if Amazon is going to successfully compete with brick-and-mortar retail, it has to start thinking about the fact that Barnes & Nobles have Starbucks cafes in them.

Do you see anything similar beginning to happen on the Web, where they have complementary products being sold together?

Ask me a year from now and I would answer that question much more confidently. One of the things the Web is waking up to is, 'How do we sell to people who aren't completely Web-literate? How do make sure we aren't constructing for other Web designers? How do we ensure the fact that our sites look good on a 15-inch screen as opposed to a 21-inch screen? How do we position our sites as something that solves a genuine problem and need?'

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