Orlando, FL, April 6, 2006--A fascinating keynote address delivered by Paco Underhill, the renowned retail anthropologist, sent Coverings 2006 attendees into the exhibition hall primed to shop this show-of-shows for ceramic tile and stone.
With a 10 percent increase in exhibitors and a completely sold out exhibition floor, this year’s expo and conference is a history-making event.
When it comes to shopping, and especially to successful selling, the eyes have it—and they, like science, don’t lie. So Underhill believes, and so he convinced a rapt audience. Underhill’s keynote was part of the commitment by Coverings to offer a comprehensive educational program for the 32,000 tile and stone professionals who attend annually. Over the course of the four-day show, more than 70 free accredited continuing education and live demonstration sessions are conducted for all of the various tile and stone industry constituencies.
Underhill, the author of the best selling book “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping," knows better than most how truly complex and quantifiable these deceptively simple truths really are. As the founder and managing director of Envirosell, a New York-based market research and consulting firm, he makes a celebrated career of teaching his clients, among them the world’s 50 or so largest merchants, how to see.
For the last 20 years, Underhill, a self-described refugee from academia, has obsessively studied the science of shopping with a wonk’s delight in telling detail and a conceptualist’s capacity to formulate a viable unified theory for successful selling in a world of constant change. He shared both in this morning’s keynote as he passed along to the audience the tools he uses for understanding what he looks at when he is conducting research and collecting data.
After identifying the issues that are creating what he terms a “nervous time for merchants, and a challenged core retail culture,” he walked the audience through the shopping experience. Topics of note included the importance of really understanding your customer, the role of body language and eye contact, the need for knowing your competition, the psychology of spatial layout and merchandising, and the critical role that commitment and consistency play in what he termed “the theater of closing.” As Underhill said, “In going from strategy to execution, you need to understand the in-store experience,” from door to door.
As for Underhill’s finale, it was grand. “I believe that amenability and profitability are linked. I believe in giving good store. And I believe in rubber soled shoes: the way to build a business is to think standing up.” The audience was all ayes.
