Avoid a retail rut, consider shopping backwards for savings

Remember that movie, The Truman Show, where a guy's entire life was secretly filmed and broadcast world wide? In the movie, it was possible to catch Truman's every action on tape because his habits were so predictable.

We think that would never happen to us, but it does. Every day. Retailers have got us pegged. Turns out, according to Envirosell, a New York-based research and consulting firm specializing in studying retail and service environments, as shoppers, we like to enter a store and go to the right -something Envirosell refers to as, "invariant right". We're more likely to reach for products at eye level and most of us are (unconsciously) big fans of symmetry in store layouts. Envirosell has also discovered that consumers prefer a "decompression zone" approximately 12 to 14 feet square, just inside the front door of the store devoid of display or merchandise. All of this adds up to a comfortable, welcoming "feel." Good vibes.