[techmind (OP)]

I've just been re-listening to the Naked Scientists episode from 10/10/2010 and the special extended excerpt on neuromarketing.

A year or two ago the papers got all worked up over "shopping rage" - basically people being antisocial and rude to other customers and to shop assistants.

While it could just be bad manners and general increasing 'pace' of life, I do wonder whether the excessive use of neuromarketing techniques will exacerbate the problem. Do you know of any research on this possible connection?

I tend to do my regular shopping at an upmarket supermarket with wide aisles and a pale green dominant colour-scheme. On the occasions when I do find myself in an Asda or Tesco's I do feel 'mentally assaulted' as soon as I walk in the door - I find the massive discount offers on multibuy bread or bagels or whatever (often when I've barely picked up a basket) quite offensive. To me, this screams "we don't care what you came for - BUY THIS" - which I find arrogant and disrepectful. Similarly, butting random (out of place) things on the ailse-ends with big discounts just feels like a deliberate attempt to hijack my train of thought. In contrast, I find the pale-green themed store a relative oasis of calm.

What does anyone else think?
Do you become more immune to the visual assualt and clutter if that's your regular store?

[CliffordK]

"Shopping Rage"? 
I suppose most people I meet in the store are courteous.  However, I could imagine things would get more complex when hunting for that rare last on the shelf Christmas toy.

I don't mind seeing a few sale items, many of which I just pass up.  I suppose it is like non-targeted internet or TV ads, I just learn to tune them out.  Sometimes it is best to find where the end of the aisle sale items belong, just to see if there is a better deal on the shelf.  The biggest problem is the next time one goes to the store, one can't always find those choice "special" items anywhere in the store.

There are a couple of things that I can not stand.  There are some stores that have TVs at the checkout lines that I found were extraordinarily intrusive, and worth hunting for a more pleasant store. 

The other thing is membership discount stores that are all the rage here.  I tend to avoid those stores.  If they don't want to sell stuff to me, then I don't need to shop there.  I presume they use the membership program for targeted ads and sending out junk-mail which I don't want, and I NEVER read grocery store ads anyway.

I also dislike coupons.  I believe the store should select the price-point to sell items, and sell them at that price to everyone.  It is just inappropriate for the coupon cutters to get items below cost, and mark them up for everyone else.  I would wonder the economics of the coupons.  In theory they are used to introduce people to a new product, but many of the coupon cutters won't buy them at the full price anyway.

[chris]

I think people are just antisocial these days. Everyone seems to have a very short fuse, and a sense of entitlement and empowerment; this translates into demanding behaviour.

[chris]

Speaking of shopping behaviour, fuel crises spring to mind and the wonderful "Matt" cartoon in The Daily Telegraph recently when snowy weather was forecast across the north of the country. It showed a man turning up at home with a pack of dogs and his wife looking aghast from the doorway. "I heard that bad weather was on the way," he says. "So I panic-bought a team of huskies..."

[RD]

shopping rage + car [road] rage ...

Driver wrecks Nissan dealership showroom after waiting 20 minutes.

[Gordian Knot]

Well there was that crazy lady last Black Friday waiting to get into a Walmart, who pepper sprayed people around her so she could get in faster. No. I am not kidding!

[Don_1]

Retailers commission and make great use of research into customer opinions and mind set. It tells them the best places within a store to promote products. Any retailer will tell you that eye level shelves are better to promote a product than ankle level shelves and know where the customer's eye is drawn to as they enter the store.

But do they take into account the possibility that the research could be flawed by the very nature of customer research. What I am getting at here, is that it could be that only certain types of shopper will actually agree to take part in the research, so the results could be predictable. What might be the outcome of the research if those shoppers who never take part in such research were to do so on one occasion? Might the retailer then find that they offend or insult many of their customers by their practices?

I, for one, do not take part in any such research; I just want to get the shopping done and get out ASAP. Could people like me change the attitude of large stores by actually taking the time to participate in research?

I will say this, there is a certain Swedish retailer of flat-pack furniture and home wares which I had the misfortune to visit a year or so ago. 'er indoors wanted to go there for something and I, foolishly, agreed to go with her. The store is laid out in such a way that every customer who walks through the 'In' door has no alternative but to go around the entire store. There is no main aisle off of which other aisles run. You must go up and down every single aisle in turn. Even if you only want to pick up a kitchen stool, you must still go through the bedroom section, bathroom section, lounge section, kitchen appliances section...... THE WHOLE BL***ING LOT!!! And having picked up your kitchen stool, you must still go around the entire remainder of the store; you cannot go straight to the checkout.

This retailer has obviously concluded that every single customer who has the misfortune to walk in their store will look at every single product they sell every time they come. I found this method of retailing abusive and tantamount to pressure selling and have vowed never, ever to return to that store. I think retailers often alienate themselves by refusing to take into account what the customer wants.