Shop owners are looking for ways to make those shoppers more likely to buy, and turning to companies like Envirosell to help them. Morning Edition host Bob Edwards talks to the head of Envirosell, Paco Underhill, who has studied shopping patterns and discovered ways retailers can improve sales.
Shoppers spend less time in malls than they did five years ago.
At the same time, the amount of space devoted to retail sales is growing. The result is intense competition, forcing retailers to become more efficient. Some merchants are turning to people such as Paco Underhill. The decompression zone is the portion of the store immediately adjacent to the doorway, where in effect, as we walk in a door, we are downshifting. And that may take anywhere from five to 15 paces in the door.