1

A Day in the Life of

Paco Underhill
By: Elliott Warford and Justin Floyd
Marketing 320, Fall 2014

Introduction

For our portfolio project we assumed the role of renowned

ethnographer and expert on global consumer trends, Paco Underhill. Paco
Underhill is one of our eras forefront shopping anthropologists, and conducts
research on consumer behavior for stores looking to gain a competitive
advantage with regards to how they market their product/service. Replicating
Paco Underhill, we conducted our own research on consumer behavior in
order to learn more about the consumer buyer process, strategies employed
by stores to facilitate purchases and consumer trends in the hopes that we
could offer our own explanations and advice to stores as to why the data
resulted the way it did.
We conducted our research at the Haywood Mall in Greenville, SC right
off the intersection of I-385 Greenville. Haywood Mall is a popular venue in
Greenville with over 150 specialty shops of a wide variety. On any given day
there are thousands of consumers that visit Haywood mall, making it an ideal
location to track consumer behavior. We chose to conduct our study on
Saturday December 6, 2014 between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. We
chose this date and time frame because we expected there to be a large
number of consumers at the mall on a Saturday (easing our research), and
because we expected little variation in the number of consumers that would
be at the mall between the hours of 11:30-5. Additionally, we should note
that the weather was cold and rainy on the day we performed our
experiment, but this seemed to have little to no effect on the mass crowds
entering the mall.

For our study we conducted our research at 3 thematically related

stores: 1) American Eagle, 2) Banana Republic and 3) J.Crew. These stores
are labeled as Men and Womens Fashion stores in the Haywood mall
directory, and offer similar apparel for approximately the same prices. After
selecting the 3 stores we wished to observe, we decided on 3 consumer
behaviors we wished to track: a) customer response upon entering the
twilight or decompression zone, b) the number of purchases made by
teens in a group vs. the number of purchases made by teens when
accompanied by their parents, and c) whether a purchase was made by a
consumer given the number of interactions they had with an employee. From
observing and analyzing the data from these 3 behaviors, as well as
accounting for other details such as store layout, gender etc. we were able to
make some interesting discoveries and explanations as to why consumers
behaved the way they did.
Data Collection
For our 3 consumer behaviors, we performed a total of 30 observations
(n=30) for each behavior at each store. Statistically, having n=30 is the
smallest sample size you can use to reliably draw conclusions with a good
degree of confidence. We tracked each customer entering a store
consecutively until we reached 30 observations and then we moved on to
tracking the next behavior. Meaning no one consumer was used more than
once throughout all of our observations.

We would both remain outside of the store and individually observe a

given behavior, after which we would discuss what we interpreted the
behavior to be and then recorded it. (Note: Interestingly, we both agreed on
every observation made probably in large part due to the objectiveness of
the data we were collecting). While observing our data, we remained in
locations outside of the store from inconspicuous vantage points. While these
vantage points varied for each store (whether they were on a different level
or at a distance), they were chosen because they enabled us to accurately
track our consumer behaviors while remaining unaware to the consumers.
This was perhaps the most crucial aspect of conducting our research
because we did not want to influence consumer behavior by causing them to
feel as if they were being watched, and we certainly did not want to be
thrown out of the mall. Research data shows that individuals that feel they
are being watched will behave differently than they would have normally in a
given setting (Hawthorne Effect). Because this effect would have skewed our
data, we took cautious measures to make sure this did not occur.
Unintended Variables/Issues
Given the nature of our experiment, we went to great lengths to
reduce unintended variable influence as much as possible in order to
produce more reliable results. Factors that we could not control that could
have potentially influenced our results were: the poor weather conditions,
the close proximity to Christmas, misestimating teenagers ages (explained
later), the extremely small chance that consumers did in fact notice us

observing data, potential sales the stores were offering or mall promotions.
Having said that, we believe that our data does accurately reflect the typical
consumer that visits the Haywood mall, and that these variables did not have
much or any influence on our findings.
Observational Behavior I
What is it? : The first consumer behavior we observed was customer
response upon entering the twilight or decompression zone. These zones
are one in the same, and are essentially the zone immediately inside of the
store where consumers slow down and make a decision about where to go.
What does Paco Underhill say about it? : Paco Underhill notes the
importance of trying to avoid a build-up of consumers in the twilight zone.
This he says, will lead to crowding, a decrease in consumer purchasing and a
decrease in the number of consumers that enter the retail space. He offers
several tips on how to decrease the build-up, such as increased lighting,
doors to slow the amount of people that can enter the store at one-time
down, and limiting the number of promotional displays in the twilight zone
because, Paco believes that customer interaction with any product or
promotional display in the Decompression Zone will increase at least thirty
per cent once its moved to the back edge of the zone, and even more if its
placed to the right, because of the fundamental rules of how human beings
shop and reflexively turn to the right (Gladwell, The Science of Shopping).

Parameters: Our only parameter for this observation was that we would
only track individuals that were alone upon entering the store. If a person
was in a group or with another individual, we would simply not record their
actions. This was done because we were interested in single consumer
reactions, whose reaction would not be effected by the presence of others
(say for example, a child).
Data/Findings for American Eagle: (All data from Appendix E, p.32-33)
Out of the 30 customers that entered 13 were male and 17 were
female. Upon entering the store, customers had the option to go left, right or
stop (defined by remaining in the zone for more than 5 seconds). Males went
left the most (6/13), while females stopped the most (11/17). Males spent an
adjusted mean average (removing outliers) of 7.08 seconds in the
decompression zone, while females spent an adjusted mean average of
9.125 seconds. From the data, we can conclude that females confirmed the
null hypothesis (Paco Underhills findings), that consumers typically
reflexively turn to the right upon entering the decompression zone, whereas
the males rejected the null. A possible explanation for this is that mens
clothing was situated on the left side of the store, while the promotional
displays in the decompression zone contained largely female clothes.
Data/Findings for Banana Republic: (All data from Appendix E, p.33-34)
Out of the 30 customers that entered 8 were male and 22 were female.
Upon entering the store, customers had the option to go left or right. Males

again went left the most (6/8) while females again went right the most
(15/22). Males spent an adjusted mean average of 1.57 seconds in the
decompression zone, while females spent an adjusted mean average of 2.47
seconds. From this data, we see that men again rejected the null hypothesis
(reflexively turning to the right), while females overwhelmingly confirmed it.
However, this data is interesting because womens clothing was located to
the left in the store while mens was located to the right. Additionally,
females yet again spent a longer average amount of time in the
decompression zone than the men.
Data/Findings for J.Crew: (All data from Appendix E, p.34)
Out of the 30 customers that entered 11 were male and 19 were
female. Upon entering the store, customers had the option to go left, right,
or straight. Males went straight the most (6/11) while females went right
again the most (13/19). Males spent an average adjusted mean of 2.9
seconds while females spent an average adjusted mean of 4.77 seconds.
From this data, we see that women again spent far more time in the
decompression zone than men and again confirmed the null hypothesis,
while men spent less time and again rejected the null hypothesis. Mens
clothing was located in the back in this store, while womens was in the front.
This could have explained why men walked straight in order to get to the
back, but it fails to account for why women would so frequently turn to the
right upon entering the store.

What does this data tell us?

First, we see that in all cases women spend a longer average time in
the decompression zone than men. Second, we see that women confirm the
null hypothesis that consumers reflexively turn right upon entering the store,
but men tend to walk to where their clothing is located (with the exception of
Banana republic). Third, we see that Banana Republic and J.Crew do an
excellent job of limiting the amount of time consumers spend in the
decompression zone, while American Eagle falls staggeringly behind. We
would advise American Eagle to employ the techniques suggested by Paco
Underhill to combat this potential problem.
Observational Behavior II
What is it? : The second consumer behavior we observed was the
number of purchases teens made in a group vs. the number of purchases
made by teens when accompanied by a parent(s).
What does Paco Underhill say about it? : This is actually loosely based
off a similar study performed by Paco Underhill in 2000, where he analyzed
the amount of time and money spent in clothes shops by teenagers in
groups and teenagers accompanied by their parents (Desai, p.20). The
groups of teenagers spent longer in the shops, and examined more products,
but were half as likely to buy anything as the teenagers accompanied by
their parents (Desai, p.21). Underhill hypothesized that this was occurring
because teenagers would visit with their friends to choose what they wanted

and once they had decided, they would make a quick visit with their walletbearing parents (Desai, p.21). Therefore, Underhill concluded that retailers
should not discourage groups of teenagers from browsing without their
parents because it facilitates future purchases.
Parameters: We were forced to infer ages in this situation. We tracked
anyone that we perceived to be between the ages of (13-19). Teens that
were in a group and with parents were discounted to ease the observational
process. We observed the total number of purchases from a location that
enabled us to see the checkout register. This allowed us to accurately
observe how many merchandise products were bought while being able to
stay in the hallway and out of notice.
Data/Findings for American Eagle: (All data from Appendix E, p.35)
Out of the 30 groups, 17 were without a parent and 13 were with a
parent. Of those that entered the store with a parent, the mean average
number of items bought were 2. Of those that entered the store without a
parent, the mean average number of items bought were .58. Based on this
data, we see that consumers at American Eagle confirmed the null
hypothesis to a very large degree.
Data/Findings for Banana Republic: (All data from Appendix E, p.35-36)
Out of the 30 groups, 13 were without a parent and 17 were with a
parent. Of those that entered the store with a parent, the mean average
number of items bought were .411. Of those that entered the store without a

10

parent the mean average number of items bought were .61. This data rejects
the null hypothesis, and shows that in some cases teens in groups will buy
more than teens accompanied by parents.
Data/Findings for J.Crew: (All data from Appendix E, p.36-37)
Out of the 30 groups, 13 were without a parent and 17 were with a
parent. Of those that entered the store with a parent, the mean average
number of items bought were 1.59, while those without a parent bought an
average of only .77. This data confirms the null hypothesis.
What does this data tell us?
This data shows that the null hypothesis provided from the 2000 Paco
Underhill study is largely confirmed. That is, teens are more likely to make a
purchase when accompanied by an adult than when in a group. While this
finding is not always true (Banana Republic as an example), in general, we
believe this is a safe assumption to make.
Observational Behavior III
What is it? : The third and final consumer behavior we measured was
whether a purchase was made by a consumer given the number of
interactions they had with an employee.
What does Paco Underhill say about it? : Underhill says one of the key
determinants in deciding whether a customer will make a purchase and how
much is whether there is interaction with staff. This assumes that consumers

11

who create some form of a bond with an employee (even on the most basic
level) are more likely to make a purchase because of their sense of obligation
and possibly their degree of comfort. Underhill argues that the likelihood of a
consumer making a purchase is much higher when there is interaction with
an employee.
Parameters: We counted all interactions between customers and
employees regardless of who initiated it (although it was virtually always the
employee), and then we recorded whether a purchase was made. (Note:
quantity of merchandise bought is irrelevant for our study).
Data/Findings for American Eagle: (All data from Appendix E, p.37)
For American Eagle, we counted the number of times a customer was
approached by an employee for 30 different customers. Customers at
American Eagle were approached 4 times once (1/30), 3 times (3/30), 2
times (3/30), 1 time (15/30) and were not approached (8/30). The likelihood a
purchase was made (in the form of a percentage) based on the number of
interactions are as follows: 100% of individuals approached either 2,3 or 4
times made a purchase, 13.3% of individuals approached 1 time made a
purchase, and 12.5% of individuals who were not approached made a
purchase. From this data we can see the significance of employee-customer
interaction for facilitating the buying process.
Data/Findings for Banana Republic: (All data from Appendix E, p.37-38)

12

Customers at Banana Republic interacted with an employee 3 times

once (1/30), 2 times (6/30), 1 time (12/30), and did not interact (11/30). The
likelihood a purchase was made (in the form of a percentage) based on the
number of interactions are as follows: 100% of individuals approached 2 or 3
times made a purchase, 25% of individuals approached 1 time made a
purchase, and only 9% of individuals not approached made a purchase. From
this data we can again see the importance of employee-customer
interaction, however, we also see the emergence of a general trend that the
likelihood a customer makes a purchase given they were interacted with at
least 2 times, is significantly higher than only interacting 1 time or not at all.
Data/ Findings for J.Crew: (All data from Appendix E, p.38)
Customers at J.Crew interacted with an employee 4 times once, 3
times (3/30), 2 times (6/30), once time (11/30), and did not interact (9/30).
The likelihood a purchase was made (in the form of a percentage) based on
the number of interactions are as follows: 100% of individuals approached 3
or 4 times made a purchase, 83% of individuals approached 2 times made a
purchase, 36% of individuals approached 1 time made a purchase, and only
11% of individuals who were not approached made a purchase. This data
again confirmed the general trend we had been noticing from the previous 2
stores.
What does this data tell us?

13

This was perhaps the most striking data we collected during our
observations. We certainly confirmed the null hypothesis that consumers
were more likely to make a purchase if they interact with an employee, but
we also found that there needed to be at least 2 interactions before a
purchase became very likely. As the empirical data shows, consumers
interacting at least twice with an employee were very likely to make a
purchase and those who interacted 3 or more times made a purchase 100%
of the time. While we can reasonably assume this will not always be the
case, it does present some interesting trends regarding consumer behavior
when approached by employees. We would also offer advice to each of the
stores to try and increase the number of interactions their employees have
with consumers as much as possible.
Conclusion
Our data ultimately revealed several interesting findings based off the
empirical data, including women spend a longer average time in the
decompression zone than men and reflexively turn right upon entering the
store the majority of the time. We also found that teens are more likely to
make a purchase when accompanied by an adult than when in a group, but
stores should encourage teens shopping together because they will
eventually come back with their parents to actually make the purchase.
Additionally, we found that the more interactions a customer had with an
employee the more likely they were to make a purchase; particularly if 2 or
more interactions took place. We believe our data has value to Men and

14

Womens retail clothing stores that are looking to modify the structures and
policies of their store to better facilitate the buying process. We would
suggest to all of the stores to limit the decompression zone (by limiting the
amount of merchandise in this area), encourage a teen friendly environment,
and encourage workers to approach customers with greater frequency.
In virtually all of our findings we confirmed Paco Underhills findings
(null) and we were able to accomplish our goal of taking his research and
expanding its breadth to make some interesting findings about consumer
behavior. If we were to change anything about the way we performed our
experiment, we would have collected more data and possibly added more
consumer behaviors to track in order to learn more about the psychology of
consumers. We found the most difficult part of our observational research to
be the amount of time and focus it takes to collect, quantify and produce
meaningful data that can be used for market research. This project certainly
gave us an all new appreciation of the work required for effective
observational research, and truly changed the way we view consumer
behaviors when shopping.

15

Sources
Gladwell, Malcolm. The Science of Shopping. The New Yorker Archive, 4 Nov.
1996. Accessed 10 December 2014. http://gladwell.com/the-science-ofshopping/
Desai, Philly. Methods Beyond Interviewing in Qualitative Market Research.
SAGE publications, 2002. Accessed 10 December 2014.
http://books.google.com/books?
id=GcZ40SFWj30C&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=paco+underhill+observational
+methods&source=bl&ots=xWahhDAisT&sig=Q6TicnIPxgSBWONThQ9oNdPq
3lM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Eex8VLSIFseeNum4gcgJ#v=onepage&q&f=false

16

Project Data: Paco Underhill

Appendices A-E
Elliott Warford and Justin Floyd

17

Appendix A
Data Collection Sheet
Store: American Eagle
Date: December 6, 2014
Time: 1:30-3:15 p.m.
Observational Behaviors
A. Customer Response upon entering the twilight or decompression
zone.
Parameters: We will track individuals that are alone when entering this store.
What descriptive statistics are we interested in measuring?

18

a) Number of males, number of females, which direction males took upon

entering store, which direction females took upon entering store, xx (mean)
time for males/females in store, (standard deviation) for male/female
times, (n) number of individuals in each population, The min, Q1, median,
Q3, max, outliers and adjusted means of each data set (explained in
appendix D).
Table:
(n) customer #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

Male/Female
(M/F)
M
F
M
F
F
F
F
M
M
F
M
F
M
F
M
F
F
M
F
M
M
F
F
F
M
M
F
M
F
F

Direction taken
(Left/Right/Stop)
S
R
L
S
R
S
S
L
R
R
R
S
L
S
S
S
S
L
R
L
L
S
L
S
S
R
S
S
R
S

Time spent
(seconds)
182
2
3
30
2
2
15
2
3
2
3
65
2
16
10
10
17
3
2
2
2
17
2
7
10
5
10
40
2
10

B. We will track the number of purchases made by teens in a group vs.

number of purchases made by teens when accompanied by their
parents.

19

Parameters: Age must be inferred in this situation, we will track anyone that
we perceive to be between the ages of (13-19). Teens that are in a group
AND with parents will be discounted to ease the observational process. We
will observe the total number of purchases from a location that enables us to
see the checkout register. This will allow us to accurately observe how many
merchandise products were bought while being able to stay in the hallway
and out of notice.
What are we interested in measuring?
a) Number of groups (teens only), Number of groups (teens with parent),
other variable statistics (explained in appendix D) for the each data set.
Table:
(n) customer #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

Group or with Parent (s),

# of people in group
Group (4)
Group (2)
Group (3)
Group (3)
Parent
Parent
Parent
Group (2)
Group (2)
Parent
Group (2)
Group (3)
Parent
Parent
Group (4)
Parent
Group (2)
Group (2)
Group (2)
Parent
Group (3)
Parent
Parent
Parent
Group (3)
Group (5)
Parent
Group (4)
Group (2)
Parent

Number of purchases
0
0
0
1
1
2
0
0
0
4
0
2
2
1
1
0
0
0
3
4
0
3
6
0
1
0
2
2
0
1

20

C. Interaction with staff. Specifically, the number of interactions a

customer has with an employee.
Parameters: We will count all interactions regardless of who initiates it. We
will then record whether a purchases was made or not (quantity is irrelevant
in this case).
What are we interested in measuring?
a) How many times each number of interactions occurred i.e. % from
(0-4), % likelihood a purchase was made based on the number of
interactions.
Table:
(n) customer #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29

Number of interactions
0
0
1
2
0
1
3
1
1
2
1
1
1
0
0
2
1
0
1
1
3
4
1
0
1
1
3
0
1

Purchase made? Y/N?

N
N
N
Y
N
N
Y
Y
N
Y
N
N
N
N
N
y
N
Y
N
N
Y
Y
n
N
N
Y
Y
N
n

21
30

Notes: 8 employees were working at the time the data was observed.
Womens clothing was located to the right, and Mens clothing was located to
the left.

Store Layout:

22

Appendix B
Data Collection Sheet
Store: Banana republic
Date: December 6, 2014
Time: 11:30-1:30 p.m.
Observational Behaviors
D. Customer Response upon entering the twilight or decompression
zone.
Parameters: We will track individuals that are alone when entering this store.
What descriptive statistics are we interested in measuring?
a) Number of males, number of females, which direction males took upon
entering store, which direction females took upon entering store, xx (mean)
time for males/females in store, (standard deviation) for male/female

23

times, (n) number of individuals in each population, The min, Q1, median,
Q3, max, outliers and adjusted means of each data set (explained in
appendix D).
Table:
(n) customer #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

Male/Female
(M/F)
M
F
F
F
M
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
M
F
F
M
F
M
F
F
F
M
F
M
M
F
F
F
F

Direction taken
(Left/Right)
L
L
R
R
L
R
L
L
R
R
R
L
R
R
R
R
L
R
L
L
R
R
L
R
R
L
L
R
R
L

Time spent
(seconds)
1
2
1
1
10
20
1
2
1
1
5
5
7
1
1
3
1
1
5
5
1
1
1
7
1
1
4
1
1
1

E. We will track the number of purchases made by teens in a group vs.

number of purchases made by teens when accompanied by their
parents.
Parameters: Age must be inferred in this situation, we will track anyone that
we perceive to be between the ages of (13-19). Teens that are in a group

24

AND with parents will be discounted to ease the observational process. We

will observe the total number of purchases from a location that enables us to
see the checkout register. This will allow us to accurately observe how many
merchandise products were bought while being able to stay in the hallway
and out of notice.
What are we interested in measuring?
a) Number of groups (teens only), Number of groups (teens with parent),
other variable statistics (explained in appendix D) for the each data set.
Table:
(n) customer #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

Group or with Parent (s),

# of people in group
Group (3)
Parent
Parent
Parent
Group (4)
Parent
Group (5)
Parent
Parent
Group (6)
Parent
Parent
Group (2)
Group (3)
Parent
Group (4)
Parent
Parent
Parent
Group (4)
Group (3)
Parent
Group (2)
Group (4)
Parent
Parent
Parent
Group (2)
Parent
Group (3)

Number of purchases
0
0
1
0
1
0
5
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0

25

F. Interaction with staff. Specifically, the number of interactions a

customer has with an employee.
Parameters: We will count all interactions regardless of who initiates it. We
will then record whether a purchases was made or not (quantity is irrelevant
in this case).
What are we interested in measuring?
b) How many times each number of interactions occurred i.e. % from
(0-4), % likelihood a purchase was made based on the number of
interactions.
Table:
(n) customer #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

Number of interactions
0
0
1
1
0
2
1
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
2
1
0
1
0
3
0
0
2
2
1
2
0
1
2
1

Purchase made? Y/N?

N
N
N
N
N
Y
Y
N
Y
N
N
Y
N
N
Y
N
N
N
N
Y
N
N
Y
Y
N
Y
N
N
Y
Y

26

Notes: 5 employees were working at the time the data was observed.
Womens clothing was located to the left, and Mens clothing was located to
the right.
Additional observations:
a) General trend exiting from the left and entering on the right (facing
store).
b) Often found customers coming back to the front table. Noticed that
most people going left were in a hurry and already knew what they
were looking for.

Store layout:

27

Appendix C

28

Data Collection Sheet

Store: J Crew
Date: December 6, 2014
Time: 3:15-5 p.m.
Observational Behaviors
G. Customer Response upon entering the twilight or decompression
zone.
Parameters: We will track individuals that are alone when entering this store.
What descriptive statistics are we interested in measuring?
a) Number of males, number of females, which direction males took upon
entering store, which direction females took upon entering store, xx (mean)
time for males/females in store, (standard deviation) for male/female
times, (n) number of individuals in each population, The min, Q1, median,
Q3, max, outliers and adjusted means of each data set (explained in
appendix D).
Table:
(n) customer #

Male/Female
(M/F)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

F
M
F
F
F
M
F
F
F
M
M
F
M
F
F
F
M
M
M
F

Direction taken
(Left/Right/Straight
)
R
S
L
L
S
S
R
R
S
L
L
R
S
R
R
R
S
L
S
R

Time spent
(seconds)
2
2
6
2
4
2
3
6
15
2
3
5
3
3
2
10
7
2
4
6

29
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

F
M
F
M
F
F
F
M
F
F

S
L
r
S
R
R
S
L
R
R

2
2
12
10
6
4
2
2
6
5

H. We will track the number of purchases made by teens in a group vs.

number of purchases made by teens when accompanied by their
parents.
Parameters: Age must be inferred in this situation, we will track anyone that
we perceive to be between the ages of (13-19). Teens that are in a group
AND with parents will be discounted to ease the observational process. We
will observe the total number of purchases from a location that enables us to
see the checkout register. This will allow us to accurately observe how many
merchandise products were bought while being able to stay in the hallway
and out of notice.
What are we interested in measuring?
a) Number of groups (teens only), Number of groups (teens with parent),
other variable statistics (explained in appendix D) for the each data set.
Table:
(n) customer #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Group or with Parent (s),

# of people in group
Group (3)
Group (2)
Parent
Group (5)
Parent
Parent
parent
Group (2)
Group (4)
Parent
Parent
Group (2)
Parent
Group (6)

Number of purchases
1
0
2
0
1
0
4
1
0
2
3
2
3
5

30
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

Group (2)
Parent
Parent
Parent
Parent
Group (3)
Parent
Parent
Group (2)
Group (2)
Parent
Group (4)
Parent
Parent
Group (3)
Parent

0
2
1
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
1
1
3
2
0
1

I. Interaction with staff. Specifically, the number of interactions a

customer has with an employee.
Parameters: We will count all interactions regardless of who initiates it. We
will then record whether a purchases was made or not (quantity is irrelevant
in this case).
What are we interested in measuring?
c) How many times each number of interactions occurred i.e. % from
(0-4), % likelihood a purchase was made based on the number of
interactions.
Table:
(n) customer #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Number of interactions
0
0
1
2
0
1
4
2
1
1
1
0

Purchase made? Y/N?

N
N
N
Y
n
Y
y
y
n
N
Y
n

31
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

2
3
2
1
1
1
1
0
2
3
2
1
0
0
3
0
1
0

Y
Y
N
N
N
Y
N
N
Y
y
Y
Y
n
y
Y
n
N
N

Notes: 4 employees were working at the time the data was observed.
Womens clothing was located in the front, and Mens clothing was located in
the back.

Store layout:

32

Appendix D

33

Note: For our descriptive statistics we input data into a TI-83 model graphing
calculator and utilized the 1-Variable Stats function to provide us with the
statistical measures.
Symbol Meanings for Appendix E data collection:
xx (The mean or average of a set of data)
(The standard deviation or a calculation of the deviance of a group as a
whole)
(n) (the population size of a sample)
Min (the lowest number in a data set)
Q1 (interquartile range, middle of 1st half of data)
Median (The middle number in a set of data)
Q3 (interquartile range, middle of second half of data)
Max (the highest number in a data set)
Outliers (Numbers that were statistical abnormalities in a data set.
Note> these were defined as any number thats inclusion in the data set
would significantly skew the results away from the average. There were not
outliers in every data set, but the outliers that did occur were almost always
the Max.)
Adjusted xx (the adjusted mean after removal of the outliers)

34

Appendix E
Descriptive Statistics Data Collection (3 parts)
Part I: Compares the statistics for the 3 stores regarding customer response
upon entering the twilight or decompression zone.
Store:

American Eagle

Number of males: 13/30

Number of females: 17/30
Direction taken:
Males
Left: 6/13
Right: 3/13
Stop: 4/13
Females
Left: 1/17
Right: 5/17
Stop: 11/17
MALES DATA (in seconds)
xx = 20.54
= 47.65
(n)= 13
Min= 2
Q1= 2
Median= 3
Q3= 10
Max= 182
Outliers= 182
Adjusted xx = 7.08
FEMALES DATA
xx = 12.41
= 15.23
(n)= 17
Min=2

35

Q1=2
Median=10
Q3=16.5
Max=65
Outliers=65
Adjusted xx =9.125

Store: Banana Republic

Direction Taken:
Males
Left: 6/8
Right: 2/8
Females
Left: 7/22
Right: 15/22
MALES DATA
xx = 2.625
=3.07
(n)= 8
Min=1
Q1=1
Median=1
Q3=3
Max=10
Outliers=10
Adjusted xx =1.57
FEMALES DATA
xx =3.27
=4.16
(n)= 22
Min=1
Q1=1
Median=1
Q3=5
Max=20
Outliers=20

36

Adjusted xx =2.47
Store: J. Crew
Direction Taken:
Males
Left: 5/11
Right: 0/11
Straight: 6/11
Females
Left: 2/19
Right: 13/19
Straight: 4/19
MALES DATA
xx = 3.54
=2.49
(n)= 11
Min=2
Q1=2
Median=2
Q3=4
Max=10
Outliers=10
Adjusted xx =2.9
FEMALES DATA
xx =5.3
=3.49
(n)= 19
Min=2
Q1=2
Median=5
Q3=6
Max=15
Outliers=15
Adjusted xx =4.77

37

Part II: Compares the statistics for the 3 stores regarding the number of
purchases made by teens in a group vs. number of purchases made by teens
when accompanied by their parents.
Store: American Eagle
Number of Groups (without parent): 17/30
Number of Parent Groups: 13/30
Stats (Without Parent)
xx =.58
=.911
(n)= 17
Min=0
Q1=0
Median=0
Q3=1
Max=3
Outliers=none
Adjusted xx =N/A
Stats (With Parents)
xx =2
=1.75
(n)= 13
Min=0
Q1=.5
Median=2
Q3=3.5
Max=6
Outliers=none
Adjusted xx =N/A
Store: Banana Republic
Number of Groups (without parent): 13/30
Number of Parent Groups: 17/30
Stats (Without Parent)
xx =.61
=1.33
(n)= 13

38

Min=0
Q1=0
Median=0
Q3=1
Max=5
Outliers=none
Adjusted xx =N/A
Stats (With Parents)
xx =.411
=.49
(n)= 17
Min=0
Q1=0
Median=0
Q3=1
Max=1
Outliers=none
Adjusted xx =N/A
Store: J. Crew
Number of Groups (without parent):13/30
Number of Parent Groups: 17/30
Stats (Without Parent)
xx =.77
=1.36
(n)= 13
Min=0
Q1=0
Median=0
Q3=1
Max=5
Outliers=5
Adjusted xx =.41
Stats (With Parents)
xx =1.59
=1.19
(n)= 17

39

Min=0
Q1=.5
Media2n=
Q3=2.5
Max=4
Outliers=none
Adjusted xx =N/A
Part III: Compares the statistics of the 3 stores regarding the number of
interactions a customer has with an employee, and their likelihood of making
a purchase.
Store: American Eagle
Number of Interactions.Example (5=1/30 means out of 30 customers, only
1 was approached 5 times).
0=8/30
1=15/30
2=3/30
3=3/30
4=1/30
Purchase made based on number of interactions (yes/total)...Example (5=2/2
or 100% means that of the 2 people that interacted with an employee 5
times, both made a purchase. Therefore, 100% of people approached 5 times
made a purchase).
0=1/8 or 12.5%
1=2/15 or 13.3%
2=3/3 or 100%
3=3/3 or 100%
4=1/1 or 100%
Store: Banana Republic
Number of Interactions
0=11
1=12
2=6
3=1
Purchase made based on number of interactions (yes/total)
0=1/11 or 9%
1=3/12 or 25%
2=6/6 or 100%

40

3=1/1 or 100%
Store: J. Crew
Number of Interactions
0=9
1=11
2=6
3=3
4=1
Purchase made based on number of interactions (yes/total)
0=1/9 or 11%
1=4/11 or 36%
2=5/6 or 83%
3=3/3 or 100%
4=1/1 or 100%