Outside the Beltway

Mall Economics

· Sunday, February 22, 2004 · 5 comments

With all the angst about outsourcing, we lose sight of all the exciting new career fields opening up every day. Like retail anthropologist.

FILED UNDER: Economics and Business
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Kate says:
    Sunday, 22 February 2004 at 20:10

    Ok. I’m thinking you’re really bored today.

  2. James Joyner says:
    Sunday, 22 February 2004 at 20:14

    Heh. After reading that dumb story, I was at least going to get some kind of post out of it!

  3. Kate says:
    Sunday, 22 February 2004 at 20:36

    Well, I feel your pain. But at least I’ve been puting a little creative effort into my meaningless content!

  4. Little Miss Attila says:
    Monday, 23 February 2004 at 02:18

    Hey, Kate–I FORWARDED that link to a friend. One with an anthropology degree she may not ever use, of course . . .

  5. Ben M. Schorr says:
    Thursday, 26 February 2004 at 05:22

    I’ve actually read Underhill’s book “Why We Buy” and found it fascinating. I think anybody in the retail business should read it twice.

    It’s really remarkable the depth at which the shopping experience is studied by these “retail anthropologists” to the level that they predict which way a shopper is going to walk when they enter a store, which signs they’re going to look at and so forth.

    I’m not as interested in Underhill’s philosophy of the shopping mall, but his work on consumer behavior is really quite good.

    -B-

    —

Support OTB

Become a Patron

Popular Posts