This was an interesting book for the first couple chapters. I was fascinated by the premise: stores nowadays function as their own advertisement and can affect whether and how much shoppers buy through the judicious placement of signage, merchandise, and staff; however, it's hard to determine what ought to be moved without thorough study of current "traffic patterns" and even then adjustments don't always have their intended effect because "the obvious is not always apparent." Take the "butt-brush effect," for example -- people don't like to hang round a display, no matter how tempting the contents, if they are bumped from behind by through traffic. Therefore, placing a big table of discounts right by the door is not necessarily a good idea; people get jostled out of interest before they can decide what to buy.
After that the book started bogging down in minutiae, and sometimes took on the feel of a bad YA novel, including present tense storytelling. I couldn't see the point being driven at and skimmed the rest of the book, stopping now and then on interesting tidbits like stroller-pushers being effectively barred from many store shelves by the prohibitive narrowness of the aisles. The only other chapter I cared enough about to read mostly through was 18, "The Self-Exam."
In short, I thought the basic point was pretty well summarized up front and the rest was rabbit chasing; I couldn't see the forest (if there was one) for the trees. I recommend reading the first few chapters and then (if your attention drifts) skip over to 18 and close the book. The in-between information doesn't readily distill itself into any basic principles, something you could take away from the book, so I don't think you'd be missing much.
After that the book started bogging down in minutiae, and sometimes took on the feel of a bad YA novel, including present tense storytelling. I couldn't see the point being driven at and skimmed the rest of the book, stopping now and then on interesting tidbits like stroller-pushers being effectively barred from many store shelves by the prohibitive narrowness of the aisles. The only other chapter I cared enough about to read mostly through was 18, "The Self-Exam."
In short, I thought the basic point was pretty well summarized up front and the rest was rabbit chasing; I couldn't see the forest (if there was one) for the trees. I recommend reading the first few chapters and then (if your attention drifts) skip over to 18 and close the book. The in-between information doesn't readily distill itself into any basic principles, something you could take away from the book, so I don't think you'd be missing much.
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