A Local Jewellers: Retail Review

A Local Jewellers: Retail Review

I have removed the name of this jeweller from my review because I recognise that on e transaction isn’t a representative sample on which to judge anyone – we all have bad days. However, all my retail reviews do name the retailer when they’re first published, so for the full story please sign up for my E-zine Mindshop! on my home page. I’d finally decided to buy a decent watch. I’d been thinking about it and then my old one died so it seemed like the right time. The only problem was that I had no idea what to get. Should I spend £100 or £1000? I’m not particularly fussed about man-jewellery, but buying one nice watch to own for many years might be a practical option (at least that’s what I’m telling myself). I opted to visit my local town, Saffron Waldon. Cambridge is closer but parking is a nightmare and […]

Meeting a Murderer

The man walked onto the station platform very casually.  Most of the other people around me paid him little or no attention at all, but I found my eyes drawn back to him repeatedly.  In fact, I had to work hard to make sure that he didn’t catch me looking his way a little too often. I tried to size up the situation.  The group around him were standing too far away to be friends, but they were close enough to suggest they weren’t strangers either.  I guessed they were fellow commuters, familiar with one another, but not with each others’ lives.  They didn’t know what I knew about him.  Instead they had been taken in like so many others by his relaxed air and general bonhomie. I considered what it was that had first made me recognise him; what unconscious reference had caused me to notice him, fixate my […]

What Consumer Behaviour Reveals about Sexism

When it comes to observing consumer behaviour, or any aspect of human behaviour, there is an important tip you would do well to keep in mind.  The process of observation needs to be as detached and objective as possible. It’s also worth remembering that you will learn the most when your presence as an observer isn’t something the people you’re observing are aware of: “I’ve just come here to watch, you carry on as normal” is not going to work.  You’ve just raised the question of what “normal” is and virtually guaranteed that someone is going to be consciously aware of their own actions. Yesterday I had a fascinating insight into sexist behaviour.  You know the sort of thing, putting women down, not treating them as equals, pushing people into gender stereotypes.  It can get you a little cross can’t it. Who was guilty of this?  Would you be surprised […]

Is There Really No Such Thing as Bad Publicity?

Following on from my post on the unconscious nature of advertising, Duane Cunninghamasked whether it was fair to say that any exposure was good for a brand?  The old chestnut of “there’s no such thing as bad PR”. Unsurprisingly perhaps, when it comes to consumer behaviour and the workings of the consumer mind, there isn’t a clear cut answer in my opinion.  Let me explain… For the most part exposure to a brand works positively.  As I’ve mentioned previously, the unconscious (largely visual) detection of brands builds unconscious familiarity and this alone is preferable to nothing.  When the brand is encountered consciously, it feels slightly familiar, safer and therefore slightly preferable to a previously unencountered rival. Often there will be some associations with that brand.  It might be a high street sign, in which case the associations are with the environment of that high street (perhaps upmarket, perhaps skanky!).  Even […]