Signage, shelf-position, display space and special fixtures all make it either more likely or less likely that a shopper will buy a particular item. Meaningful growth, which Wall Street demands, can be stimulated effectively at the store level. Some underutilised means to measure what happens inside the store are as follows:

1. Conversion Rate
The very concept of conversion rate implies that shoppers need to be transformed into buyers. Conversion rates vary widely depending on what kind of store or product we're talking about. In some sections of the supermarket, conversion rate is probably 100% (dairy or toilet paper). In an art gallery full of paintings, probably the conversion will be less than 1%. Conversion rate measures what you make of what you have - it shows how well or how poorly the entire enterprise is functioning.

2. Time spent in the store
The amount of time spent in the store is the single most important factor determining how much the customer will buy. Over and over again, studies show a direct correlation. For instance, in an electronics store, buyers spent 9 minutes 29 seconds, whereas non-buyers spend 5 minutes and 6 seconds. In some stores, buyers spend three times as much time as non-buyers.

3. Interception Rate
The more shopper-employee contacts take place, the greater the average sale. In a large clothing chain studied, the interception rate was 25%, which meant that three-quarters of all shoppers never spoke a word to a salesperson. This meant that in all probability, customers were becoming frustrated, wandering around or just plain confused or in need of information. If the staff was not helping the store sell, then what was it doing?

4. Waiting time
Few retailers realise that when shoppers are made to wait too long in line, their impression of overall service plunges. Busy executives don't like to wait but many people don't realise that normal people feel the same way too. A household goods chain VP was startled when he saw that a woman who had just spent 22 minutes shopping at the store joined a long check-out line and stood there until it dawned on her that she was in cashier hell and abandoned her full cart and exited the place.

5. Not knowing who the customers are
This is a remarkable example of business ignorance. Consider the pet treats manufacturer who stocks his wares too high, unaware that his main buyers are very old people! Worse still was the restaurant owner, whose family outlet had too many tables for two and too few tables for four. The tables were empty even as diners stood in line waiting for tables.
The above considerations clearly indicate that shopping, like every science has its own set of rules that retailers need to abide by.

The First Principle
There are certain physical and anatomical abilities, tendencies, limitations and needs common to all people, and the retail environment must be tailored to these characteristics. In other words, banks, stores and restaurants must be friendly to the specifications of the human animal. Amenability and profitability are inextricably linked.
The first principle goes into every aspect of the shopping experience. Shoppers either see merchandise and signs clearly or they don't. They will reach objects either with difficulty or with ease. They will move through areas swiftly or slowly or not at all. All of these physiological and anatomical factors come into play simultaneously, forming a complex matrix of behaviours, which must be understood if the retail environment is to adapt itself to successfully to the shopper.
For instance, retailers will charge manufacturers for placing their name on the front door, which sounds like a smart use of the marketing dollar…. And then you realise that when shoppers approach the front door, all they are looking for is a sign whether to push or pull.
Once the customer is inside the store, they are busy making adjustments, simultaneously slowing their pace, adjusting their eyes to the change in light and scale, craning their necks to take in all there is to see. They are not truly in the store yet. They are making a transition and whatever they cross during the transition is lost on them. Today, many stores have automatic doors, which make life easier for customers, especially those with packages or baby strollers. The effortlessness of entering only serves to enlarge the transition zone because they is nothing to stop the shopper even a little bit.
There are two things to be done to this zone, either forget about accomplishing anything there or bend the rules. A classic example is that of a store which had placed a large bin of deeply discounted merchandise, a deal so good, it stopped shoppers in their tracks.

Shopfloor Syndromes
* THE BOOMERANG EFFECT
This is a measure of how often shoppers fail to walk completely through an aisle from one end to another. Sometimes, the shopper makes it halfway down the aisle before turning back. For the retailer, a good thing to do would be to put the most popular products in the middle of the aisle. The manufacturer on the other hand has to keep his products as close to the end of the aisle as possible.
* THE BUTT-BRUSH FACTOR
When merchandise is displayed in such a manner that the customer gets bumped into or brushed constantly against, they move away from it even if they want to buy it. This is called the butt-brush factor. Retailers have to ensure that merchandise is placed properly.

Using Signages Effectively
The role of merchandising has become crucial because shoppers with disposable income are giving in to their impulses at every point. In-store media cannot be dumped in empty spaces. First, you have to get the customers attention and having done that, present your message in a clear logical fashion. Escalators are a good option because the customer is moving up slowly. For maximum exposure, a sign should interrupt the natural line of sight in any given area. The number one thing people look at is other people. That is why some of the most effective signs in fast food restaurants are the ones sitting atop the cash registers-more or less at the level of the cashiers face.

Shopping Principles Applied to Various Industries
* FAST FOOD
When a customer enters a restaurant, he is looking for one of two things, the counter or the bathroom. There's no point in placing a sign for people to see on their way to the bathroom because they have more important things on their minds. But a sign facing people as they leave the bathroom works fine.
McDonalds found that 75% of customers read the menu board after they order, while they wait for their food. That's a time when people read anything… they've got their change and there's nothing on their minds. That's a perfect window for a longer message, something you want you customer to know the next time they come.
It is not important that every sign must stand on its own and contain an entire message. The fast-food restaurant is zoned in such a manner that the deeper in the customer is, the longer the message can be.

* BANKS
Banks are probably the worst offenders of sign placement. A California -based bank decided that it would be smart to promote its new free checking policy by hanging outdoor banners visible from the heavily travelled road beyond he door. The banner read "please come in and ask our banker to explain our wonderful new free checking policy. A banner saying "free checking" would have been enough.
Customer writing tables are zones where the customer is concentrating on filling out a deposit slip or endorsing cheques. He is concentrating too hard to think about anything else and once through, races to get into the line. It's a bad place to tell them something. Customers should pass racks containing brochures of services offered as they exit, not as they enter, because they are more relaxed and can afford to take in external data.
Roads teach us the way to use signs. The similarity between people walking and driving is that the best signs are the ones that can be read fast, and positioned so that you can read them while moving.

* CLOTHING
The most obvious arena for touch and trial is clothing. It's a truism that improving the quality of dressing rooms increases sales. The dressing room is not a convenience. It is a selling tool, like a window display or advertising. Shopper conversion increases by 50% when there is a staff-initiated contact and by 100% when there is a staff-initiated contact with use of the dressing room. The furnishings of the trial room should be what you would want in your boudoir, the lighting should make everyone look like a million bucks and the mirrors should be large, plentiful and first-rate. This is after all the 'closing point' of the sale.

Men v/s Women
Most purchasing traditionally falls to women and they usually do it willingly. They take pride in their ability to shop prudently and well. Almost all women go to the supermarket armed with a shopping list. Less than a quarter of men do. 86% of women look at price tags while only 72% of the men do.
Ignoring the price tag is almost a measure of male virility. There is a high level of impulse buying (almost 60 to 70% for both sexes). Women love the experience of shopping whereas men love the thrill of paying.
Male love of technology and gadgetry of course can put women shoppers to shame. Men hate to ask directions or for help, but they like to get their information first-hand as from written material, instructional videos or computer screens. If a retailer were to put up a women's clothing store next to a computer software store, both the sexes would be most grateful.

Kids
Children consume even more mass media than adults. The marketplace wants kids, needs kids and children are flattered by the invitation and want to oblige. A few important tips:

1. If a store is unwelcoming to children, parent-shoppers will get the message and stay away. Stores that depend on female customers need to ensure that all aisles and paths between racks and fixtures are wide enough for a baby stroller to pass.
2. Children can be counted on to be enthusiastic consumers or co-consumers as long as their needs are considered. Conversely, the retailer has to child-proof his shop in order to prevent unhappy situations. The obvious dangers are electrical outlets and sharp-edged shelves.
3. If the parents' sustained attention is required, say by a bank officer or by a car salesman, someone has to take care of a restless, bored child.
4. It is good to have miniature seating but remember that a child is used to the parental lap. It would be advisable to have some comfy armchairs around so that both the parent and the child are comfortable.
The science of shopping is a hybrid discipline, part physical science and part social science and only part science at all because it is also an art. It is a practical field concerned with providing information that can improve the retailer's edge and the odds of making a wrong decision. Much of the value of the science lies in the ability to go beyond collecting data and making educated guesses about what it means and how best to respond.
Even with all this learning, there are creative merchants who throw this science to the wind. Consider the 400 sq. foot store in Toronto called No.6. In that miniscule space, everything from hats, dresses, bags, jewellery, scarves and music are sold. The store is a triumph of energy over space and budget limitations and it is tough not to buy something from there.
For most scientists, the most exciting part of research is the exact moment of discovery. There is much more to be discovered and much more to be learnt.

The above article has been condensed from "Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping" by Paco Underhill published by Simon and Schuster, New York. All rights of the author and the publisher are reserved.