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　　How to increase sales

　　Published online： Nov 9th 2006

　　From The Economist print edition

　　How shops can exploit people's herd mentality to increase sales

　　1. A TRIP to the supermarket may not seem like an exercise in psychological
warfare—but it is. Shopkeepers know that filling a store with the aroma of
freshly baked bread makes people feel hungry and persuades them to buy more food
than they had intended. Stocking the most expensive products at eye level makes
them sell faster than cheaper but less visible competitors. Now researchers are
investigating how “swarm intelligence” (that is， how ants， bees or any social
animal， including humans， behave in a crowd) can be used to influence what
people buy.

　　2. At a recent conference on the simulation of adaptive behaviour in Rome，
Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani， a computer scientist from the Florida Institute of
Technology， described a new way to increase impulse buying using this
phenomenon. Supermarkets already encourage shoppers to buy things they did not
realise they wanted： for instance， by placing everyday items such as milk and
eggs at the back of the store， forcing shoppers to walk past other tempting
goods to reach them. Mr Usmani and Ronaldo Menezes， also of the Florida
Institute of Technology， set out to enhance this tendency to buy more by playing
on the herd instinct. The idea is that， if a certain product is seen to be
popular， shoppers are likely to choose it too. The challenge is to keep
customers informed about what others are buying.

　　3. Enter smart-cart technology. In Mr Usmani's supermarket every product
has a radio frequency identification tag， a sort of barcode that uses radio
waves to transmit information， and every trolley has a scanner that reads this
information and relays it to a central computer. As a customer walks past a
shelf of goods， a screen on the shelf tells him how many people currently in the
shop have chosen that particular product. If the number is high， he is more
likely to select it too.

　　4. Mr Usmani's “swarm-moves” model appeals to supermarkets because it
increases sales without the need to give people discounts. And it gives shoppers
the satisfaction of knowing that they bought the “right” product—that is， the
one everyone else bought. The model has not yet been tested widely in the real
world， mainly because radio frequency identification technology is new and has
only been installed experimentally in some supermarkets. But Mr Usmani says that
both Wal-Mart in America and Tesco in Britain are interested in his work， and
testing will get under way in the spring.

　　5. Another recent study on the power of social influence indicates that
sales could， indeed， be boosted in this way. Matthew Salganik of Columbia
University in New York and his colleagues have described creating an artificial
music market in which some 14，000 people downloaded previously unknown songs.
The researchers found that when people could see the songs ranked by how many
times they had been downloaded， they followed the crowd. When the songs were not
ordered by rank， but the number of times they had been downloaded was displayed，
the effect of social influence was still there but was less pronounced. People
thus follow the herd when it is easy for them to do so.

　　6. In Japan a chain of convenience shops called RanKing RanQueen has been
ordering its products according to sales data from department stores and
research companies. The shops sell only the most popular items in each product
category， and the rankings are updated weekly. Icosystem， a company in
Cambridge， Massachusetts， also aims to exploit knowledge of social networking to
improve sales.

　　7. And the psychology that works in physical stores is just as potent on
the internet. Online retailers such as Amazon are adept at telling shoppers
which products are popular with like-minded consumers. Even in the privacy of
your home， you can still be part of the swarm.

　　(644 words)

　　Questions 1-6

　　Complete the sentences below with words taken from the reading passage. Use
NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

　　1. Shopowners realize that the smell of _______________ can increase sales
of food products.

　　2. In shops， products shelved at a more visible level sell better even if
they are more _______________.

　　3. According to Mr. Usmani， with the use of “swarm intelligence”
phenomenon， a new method can be applied to encourage _______________.

　　4. On the way to everyday items at the back of the store， shoppers might be
tempted to buy _______________.

　　5. If the number of buyers shown on the _______________ is high， other
customers tend to follow them.

　　6. Using the “swarm-moves” model， shopowners do not have to give customers
_______________ to increase sales.

　　Questions 7-12

　　Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading
passage? For questions 7-12 write

　　YES if the statement agrees with the information

　　NO if the statement contraicts the information

　　NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage

　　7. Radio frequency identification technology has been installed
experimentally in big supermarkets like Wal-Mart.

　　8. People tend to download more unknown songs than songs they are familiar
with.

　　9. Songs ranked high by the number of times being downloaded are favored by
customers.

　　10. People follow the others to the same extent whether it is convenient or
not.

　　11. Items sold in some Japanese stores are simply chosen according to the
sales data of other shops.

　　12. Swarm intelligence can also be observed in everyday life.

　　Answer keys：

　　1. 答案：(freshly baked) bread. (第1段第2行：Shoppers know that filling a store
with the aroma of freshly baked bread makes people feel hungry and persuades
them to buy more food than they intended.)

　　2. 答案：expensive. (第1段第4行： Stocking the most expensive products at eye level
makes them sell faster than cheaper but less visible competitors.)

　　3. 答案：impulse buying. (第2段第1句：At a recent conference on the simulation of
adaptive behaviour in Rome， Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani， a computer scientist from
the Florida Institute of Technology， described a new way to increase impulse
buying using this phenomenon.)

　　4. 答案：other (tempting) goods/things/products. (第2段第2句：Supermarkets already
encourage shoppers to buy things they did not realise they wanted： for instance，
by placing everyday items such as milk and eggs at the back of the store，
forcing shoppers to walk past other tempting goods to reach them.)

　　5. 答案：screen. (第3段第4行：As a customer walks past a shelf of goods， a screen
on the shelf tells him how many people currently in the shop have chosen that
particular product. If the number is high， he is more likely to select it
too.)

　　6. 答案：discounts. (第4段第第1句：Mr Usmani‘s “swarm-moves” model appeals to
supermarkets because it increases sales without the need to give people
discounts.)

　　7. 答案：NO. (第4段第3、4句：The model has not yet been tested widely in the real
world， mainly because radio frequency identification technology is new and has
only been installed experimentally in some supermarkets. But Mr Usmani says that
both Wal-Mart in America an Tesco in Britain are interestd in his workd， and
testing will get under way in the spring. 短语 “get under
way”的意思是“开始进行”，在Wal-Mart的试验要等到春天才开始)

　　8. 答案：NOT GIVEN. (在文中没有提及该信息)

　　9. 答案：YES. (第5段第3句：The reseachers found that when people could see the
songs ranked by how many times they have been downloaded， they followed the
crowd.)

　　10. 答案：NO. (第5段最后两句：When the songs are not ordered by rank， but the number
of times they had been downloaded was displayed， the effect of social influence
was still there but was less pronounced. People thus follow the herd when it is
easy for them to do so. pronounced的词义是“显著的、明显的”)

　　11. 答案：YES. (第6段第1句：In Japan a chain of convenience shops called RanKing
RanQueen has been ordering its products according to sales data from department
stores and research companies.)

　　12. 答案：YES. (最后一段最后一句：Even in the privacy of your home， you can still be
part of the swarm. home应该算是everyday life的一部分)

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