The Science Of Shopping Malcolm Gladwell Analysis

Andrew Leonard's "Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization" argues that the Black Friday shopping spree has begun to get out of hand in the previous years. Leonard explains that consumerism is a great thing for America, but showing Americans that it is okay to go crazy when shopping for deals is not the way to approach the buying markets. He mentions a Target advertisement and states that, "The Crazy Target Lady is not a joke. Watch her cannibalize her gingerbread man, or strategize her reverse psychology shopping techniques... she is America. She might be a lunatic, but it's a culturally approved lunacy" (Leonard 166). The author emphasizes how Americans embrace the acts of the target lady as funny and amusing, but during Black Friday shopping, some shoppers will take the night to the extreme like the advertisement does. He does remind us that there is light at the end of the tunnel, by reporting how shoppers are seeing the problems with the night of crazy shopping. I agree with Leonard that there are problems with Black Friday ads, and that consumers are realizing Black Friday shopping is taking away from Thanksgiving.

Shopping, a common activity conducted by almost everyone at least once a month, is such a normal subject in our everyday life, one barely puts any thoughts into the potential semiotic explanations behind it. According to the two essays, “The Signs of Shopping” and “The Science of Shopping,” Shopping has significant impacts on one’s self-identification. It is a two way straight, the consumers’ shopping styles can also influence the economic status of the retails businesses.

Many people do not understand what overselling capitalism with consumerism means. Based on the essay by Benjamin Barber, I have learned that people mistake the difference between what they want and what they actually need. In the essay he makes a contrast between capitalism and consumerism by giving examples throughout the essay. He also outlines the values of capitalism and how it has a positive impact on society and the impact of consumerism on people.

A famous writer for the New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell has written an article, “The Science of Shopping”, which is based on Paco Underhill’s study of retail anthropology. The intention of a retail store is obvious- that is to attract customers and convince them to perchance as much as they can. There is so much knowledge that we can study, such that how the environment affects people’s thinking. These are tiny details that we don’t usually think about. The reason of how Paco Underhill success is because he notices these details. Details determine success or failure. Paco Undnerhill—a talent and passion environmental psychologist, provides us a new point of view of the science of displaying products,

Malcolm Gladwell is currently a non-fiction writer for The New Yorker. After college, he took a journalism position in Indiana and later took a position in Washington. In 1996, he moved to New York, where he is today. He has written five books and each has been on the New York Times best seller list (Famous Authors). In his first year of working as a journalist for The New Yorker, he wrote, “The Science of Shopping.” In this piece, Gladwell objectively evaluates Paco Underhill’s research within the business industry. Underhill “would have from a hundred to five hundred pages and pages of carefully annotated tracking sheets and anywhere from a hundred to five hundred hours of films” for each experiment that he conducts (99). With Underhill’s determination and research, and Gladwell’s journalistic qualities, this report changes the way anyone views shopping.

Intro: I complicate the claim that the surveillance of consumers by retail anthropologists is manipulative and unethical. Although it can be manipulative, it is ethical. "If you haven 't done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear” (Wu, Chung, Yamat, Richman).

For example, Gladwell writes "What Paco likes are facts" (100). The sentence is short but strong and clear enough to emphasize the idea of the following paragraph. The way Gladwell describes Paco Underhill and his expression of Paco is objective. Although Gladwell says "It isn 't a hostile gaze, because Paco isn 't hostile at all," readers do not find any kind of subjective emotion in his article (102). He keeps his tone throughout the article neutral, neither positive nor negative. This is one of the strongest points that makes his essay more convincing compared with Norton 's essay. Gladwell is specific when talking about Paco. He gives a brief description of Paco and the way he feels when he interacts with Paco: "Paco Underhill is a tall man in his mid-forties, partly bald, with a neatly trimmed beard and an engaging, almost goofy manner" (Gladwell 98). This gives readers a clear image of Paco Underhill like he actually stands before them.

Everyday thousands of retail stores throughout the United States open up their stores in the morning for the sole purpose of attracting customers and selling them merchandise. For this assignment I decided to do a store analysis of the retail giant Wal-Mart. To begin with I will evaluate the store layout and design. Next I will explain the visual merchandising techniques used that Wal-Mart uses. Finally I will discuss the problems and recommendations that I have for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has continually been a leader in the retail industry, and it all starts with the layout of the store.

“Do you want to go out with us on Mill tonight?” I begrudgingly shake my head no, since I am twenty years old that means I truly have no business being on Mill Ave on a Friday night. Mill Ave offers a movie theater, restaurants, clothing stores, and plenty other places people can spend money, but on a weekend night, Mill Ave is cluttered with booze, and college students. It has somehow become a rite of passage for ASU students to head over to Mill and get as drunk as you can, for the cheapest amount of money. The street is filled with people, some drunk, some loud, and the brave souls that were trying to go to Mill for something other than the bars, people like me. The further into Mill, the drunker people seemed to be. Women were wearing short

Author Malcolm Gladwell in “Science of Shopping” argues about the study of shopping and how important position of advisement is to attract customers. Gladwell uses Paco Underhill as his claim. Underhill has five theories including downshift theory, Decompression zone, the butt brush, and “petting” Gladwell uses these Underhill’s theories in his writing to describe the customers. For example, downshift period is even customers are looking so fast they cannot even see the sign; this theory came about by studding people when walk fast and slow. This theory is important because this is why position of the advertisement is important.

For generations, Americans has been brainwashed by the media to believe that what is displayed on television is the ideal perception of what real beauty have manipulated American citizens of what style looks like. Furthermore, with their many brainwashing strategies, that means more and more consumers spending beyond their budget. Our perspectives have been heavily influenced by what they believe is nice, but can we afford it all? With unrealistic combination of goods in store, plazas, and mall, consuming has become a bad behavior of some. In support of my argument of the “Overspending”, author Gladwell’s article “The Science of Shopping” also argues that stores adjust to fit the needs and wants of the shopper are evidently presented. With that being said, we have no idea when we are being manipulated into unrealistic shopping behavior that is influenced by the way the advertisement is presented in visual sight. Author Gladwell gets a “retail anthropologist” and “urban geographer” named Paco Underhill to give breakdown points of how he helps brand name stores influence consumers into persuasion of buying more. However, most of us fall short of that discipline, while being persuaded to overspend during our store visits.

I like this because it has a clear thesis statements and strong three reasons. The first paragraph introduces of the surveillance of retails by retail anthropologists and it claims a certain assertion that it is ethical and it can many benefits. Each body paragraphs stated the main points and used the MEAL plan successfully. This second paragraph suggests the main idea, “The first reason that surveillance benefit is bringing more convenience for consumer.” The convenience for consumer directed to the reducing the customer’s shopping time and the relating evidence support the idea. After the evidence, the writer thoroughly analysis. Especially, I liked the quote, “Thus, they just go straight to the store to grab what they needed and head to the pay counter. The time of a person spends in shopping mall is decreased which affects the slowly growth of businesses’ profit”, because I could relate to my shopping experience. This essay is effective argument essay with clear thesis statement, strong reasons and evidences to support the main ideas, and successfully followed the argumentative structure.

Imagine a young teen sitting at home on a couch, watching TV while eating. It occurs frequently in a teens life time. Everyone has done this numerous times even if they are willing to admit it or not. Most young American teens would fit into this stereotype; often characterized as being lazy and watching television periodically. Online shopping has become a popular way to buy products because teens find it easier than going out and actually shopping. Customers can easily browse, shop, and buy without leaving their homes. Teens are attracted to the new and hip stores where they can shop online to buy an identity such as American Eagle. American Eagle attracts with site simplicity, popular new clothing, and trending styles while also creating a popular look for the identity of its consumers.

Forever 21 has become one of most popular brand among teenagers and young adults because of its affordable prices and great deals. The store itself has transformed from a small store in Los Angeles known as Fashion 21 to what it is today, a big retail store that receives shipments of clothing, accessories, and shoes everyday. Forever 21 stores have moved in many malls to bigger spaces, even two story stores, to accommodate all of its merchandise and new clothing sections that the visual merchandisers have decided to create. The store located at the Santa Anita mall is one of the biggest stores that accommodate styles in departments such as boho, two free spirit sections, forever 21 men, plus size, love 21, shoes, sale, two accessories sections, a sport section, a basic wear section, a denim section, a lingerie/pajama section, and more. All of these departments have been created to appeal to more than one fashion style, which in other words means to sell the most that they can. Forever 21 is a store that uses window displays to attract customers, utilizes the store’s layout, and takes advantage of the small impulsive merchandise to encourage consumption.

Agreeing with Shields (1992), the presumption of shopping no longer included the concepts of utility and need and rather transformed consumption into a cultural event predominated by the emphasis on providing a pleasurable experience by regarding shopping as a leisure activity, thereby demarcating the shoppers among the ones who found pleasure in it and those who did not. It became a significant marker for understanding identities through a series of socially constructed and subjective experiences, while simultaneously peeling the complex layers of the psychological ideologies of desire and want.