nickshanagher

The Art of Shopping by Siemon Scamell-Katz is the second book this year to challenge the way that most retailers set up their shops. Like Phillip Adcock, whose book Supermarket Shoppology I recommended last time out, Scamell-Katz has built a career out of studying what shoppers actually do in store. Independent retailers should read this book to help them do two things. Firstly, it will help them to understand how big manufacturers operate and to make informed opinions about which promotions to support and how to build their categories. Remember, there are about 250,000 products that you can stock but most shoppers will only use 300 in a year and only 150 regularly. Where Scamell-Katz is very strong compared to similar authors is he names names and tells you who he has worked for. When he says that the typical brand manager will be in post for two or three years and the best way to make an impact is to redesign the brand, the independent operator may feel that some of their c...