Dr. Bob Deutsch

Brain Sells (www.Brain-Sells.com), Boston, MA

Lessons from a cultural anthropologist in league with business

Americans love freedom.  Not just freedom of speech and religion, but the freedom to roam uninhibited by limitation.  This was true during our country’s great Westward expansion.  This is true today in the satisfactions many women say they gain in the contemporary off-price retail terrain of big stores such as TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, Target and Walmart.

Beyond finding good quality at a good price, just the idea of being in a large retail landscape ripe with all manner of self-adornments – none of which are beyond their means – provides women with a sense of freedom that has no bounds.  Added to the “high” that freedom endows, clothes and home furnishings are mood enhancers that can erase self-perceived weaknesses in self-image and make women feel more happy and confident.

Women report that shopping in one of these stores secures their world by focusing their involvement, and so stresses of life are left outside.  The result is relaxation and a sense of playful delight.  One woman captured the essence of the many woman I observed or spoke to about shopping in large discount stores when she said, “It airs out my head.  It’s a clearing place.” It’s also ME-TIME, a necessary bracketing of experience in our too-fast world.

Some might hear this and think less of these shoppers.  For me though, a cognitive anthropologist who has been looking at the world of marketing and consumerism with a primal eye, such woman represent aspects of our species that are admirable.  As a population, these women have a positive outlook on life (their glasses, half full), seem open-minded and exploratory, have a capacity for joy and fun, trust their instincts, and are creative in their ability to take time with something and be focused enough to imagine possibilities a detail in an item evoked. 

To a woman they had little pretense and sought out emotion.  Each had a sensory excitability.  As one woman said, “From looking at things you get different feelings and this leads to ideas.”  These women take things a step further and that gets their juices flowing.

Their emotional ties to shopping at large cut-rate stores comes from the variety such stores offer along with their promise of surprise.  A typical sentiment is, “In these types of stores, you’ll always find something that you didn’t even know you’re looking for.”  “And there’s always a great deal, there’s always a great item.  There just always is.  You’re never disappointed.”  This creates a spirit – an attitude – of fun, challenge and success.

Women also talk with insight about two very different kinds of shopping experiences.  One is the ‘Specific Search’ for a particular item – say, a pair of black slacks for evening.  As one woman described, “The best you can realistically expect when looking for a specific item is ‘problem solved,’ as this is usually a compromise due to pressure and frustration and that only ends in a sense of relief.” 

The other shopping experience is ‘Browse n’ Find.’  Here the situation is always pregnant with the possibility of surprise that can come from not having a certain goal, but stumbling upon something “that is me – meaning, it fits me and is a little reach.”  This experience is intensely pleasing.  Browse n’ Find is pure satisfaction, and with it comes the excitement of “I’m victorious.”

Talking about wining, many women employ various in-store strategies of success.  These include holding onto to an item until the very last moment of decision (this can on for an extended period of time), hiding an item (mis-placing or covering with another item or items), peeking into the back room (where the stores have new items before they bring them to the floor), looking in dressing rooms for what’s left behind, and hanging around until 8 p.m. when “Hold” items are returned to floor.  My personal favorite strategy-stories are about women telling of feigning disinterest or disgust, if another woman is looking at the same item they have their eye on. 

The point to remember is shoppers are in a state of high-expectation. Even neurologically speaking, anticipation can be more satisfying then consummation. 

Beyond Black Friday, in stores of the kind we are talking about, there is the expectation of crowds.  In this case, crowds can conjure up a sense of competition, a necessary component of “The Hunt.”  Crowds provide a feeling of urgency – if I don’t get it now, it’ll be gone tomorrow. 

For many, the hunt is not a metaphor, but a literal fact.  Women talk of being on a “fashion expedition,” “I see what’s out there and narrow down my search,” “things pop out of nowhere,” “the racks and bins are like dense foliage,” and “you have to have expert eyes to catch the big bargain.” When walking from check-out counter to the parking lot, carrying “big bags equal the ‘big kill.’ Size matters.”

But it’s not all cut-throat.  Along with showing off what you got and that you know best, women like to share their shopping excitement with other women.  In that way they are showing their power and friendship: I am formidable and I am a good friend.  This is the age-old and ageless promise of the benevolent leader.