Supermarket shopping carts (trolleys) tend to have horizontal handles – would people buy more things if the handles were parallel – like a wheelbarrow? New research from City University of London and the University of Innsbruck suggest that the answer could be ‘yes’. In an experimental study : “supermarket shoppers purchased more products and spent […]
Tag: shopping
Shopping – more like gathering than hunting? (study)
If you’re the type who enjoys (or otherwise takes advantage of) the January sales, you might be interested in taking a look at the work of professor Daniel J. Kruger of University of Michigan [pictured]. A news release from the university (2009) related Dr. Kruger’s take on the subject of shopping, saying : “- it’s […]
Headless mannequins – good for business (or not)?
Mannequins in shop windows – should they have heads, or shouldn’t they? And what about mannequins displayed online? From a retailer’s point of view, the question of whether to use headed or headless mannequins is a complex one – or rather, the answers are complex. And now, for the first time, such answers can be […]
How waiting in line is like war
A defense researcher analyzes (1) customer satisfaction in a shopping scenario and (2) the efficient use of warplanes in battle. He comes up with a mathematical model common to both—in which “[the] parameter of principal interest is the expected customer-survival rate.” Here’s his paper on how the two relate: “Queuing with Impatient Customers and Indifferent Clerks,” […]
To Predict Home-Based Shopping Trips, Fuzzily
Of all the fuzzy intervening opportunity models, this one is most explicitly designed to predict home-based shopping trips: “A fuzzy intervening opportunity model to predict home-based shopping trips.” Shahriar Afandizadeh [pictured here], Seyed Mehdi Yadi Hamedani, Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 2012, 39:(2), 203-222, The authors are at the School of Civil Engineering, Iran University of Science […]
Wait, do tell: Why your line is slow
Are you waiting in a line at a store right how, fuming? Bill Hammack gives about as clear an explanation as possible for why your line probably moves slower than a line next to you: (Thanks to Gizmodo and Kristine Danowski for bringing this to our attention.)
The uncomfortable beauty of shopping
New research about shopping: “Match-Up Revisited: The Effect of Staff Attractiveness on Purchase Intentions in Younger Adult Females: Social Comparative and Product Relevance Effects,” Journal of International Business and Economics, Bianca E. Price and Duncan W. Murray, vol. 9, no. 2, 2009, pp. 55-76. The researchers are at the University of South Australia. University World […]