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Shopportunity!: How to Be a Retail Revolutionary
Today's shopping culture is turning the shopper into a zombie—and the thrill of the hunt into the robotic management of inventory. We are in danger of losing a resonant personal ritual, replaced by the boring habitual. For millions of us, the sizzle of a daily shopping experience has devolved into a relentless acquisition of the okay, available, and cheap. Why are we willing to pay $3.50 for a latte at Starbucks, but bristle at a 10-cent increase in the price of toothpaste? Why do we drive miles out of our way to buy a bag of 100 razor blades for 50 cents less than at our local store, and then spend $3.99 on a tub of pretzels that we don't need? We're wasting our time and money at the cost of our patience and good will. In Shopportunity! —a manifesto-cum-exposé—marketing expert Kate Newlin looks behind the aisles of our best-known retailers to reveal that the dopamine rush of getting a good deal is confusing shoppers' wants with their needs. Packed with perceptive reporting, Shopportunity! provides an insider's view of how marketers create a brand and the overwhelming power of retailers to interfere with the transformational joys that great brands bring to our daily lives. It is time for shoppers to revolutionize their shopping experience and take the power away from retailers. One generation of marketers has hooked three generations on the addiction of price promotion, and it has wreaked havoc on our waistlines, credit ratings, and life experience. From Wal-Mart to Macy's, Ralph Lauren, Whole Foods, and the Home Shopping Network, Newlin reveals what the world's leading retailers really know about us, and what it takes to kick the addiction to getting the best deal possible. Culminating in a Shopper's Bill of Rights, Shopportunity! will liberate shoppers—as well as the manufacturers and retailers who serve them—from the tyranny of the cheap.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
18 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 14, 2018
I had such high hopes for this. I thought it would be more about marketing tactics in stores. Instead, it's a New York City elitist, who admits to not shopping in grocery stores, lecturing the rest of America on their weight and where they shop. Seriously.
The author takes some incredible leaps in thinking. My favorite: She says ties the obesity epidemic in America to people who shop at places like Costco, because they're buying large portions of food. However, she also says that wholesale clubs are not much of a big city thing, because people in urban areas don't have the room to store the extra stuff. Hmm... last time I checked, the obesity epidemic had also hit big cities. I'm pretty sure that not every overweight person in America has a Costco card.
This author feels as though we should all be shopping at farmer's markets, independent specialty stores, and fine retailers. If you have to slum it, Target appears to be acceptable. She says that shopping should be a joy and that people should want to shop more often. I like shopping, somewhat, but I don't exactly see it as a joy, not because I don't get good service, but because there are far more enriching things I could be doing with my time. I will derive no extra joy out of buying eggs at the Farmer's Market or having a sales woman suggest a bag to go with the dress I'm trying on.
Though she goes off on these little side notes here and there, this entire book is basically a diatribe against the evils of WalMart. Nothing new; it's the same stuff typically recited by the anti-WalMart crowd, just with more condescension.
There were a few brief histories of retail and some talk of how specific stores or brands had changed. That's what got me through. Otherwise, this book isn't worth reading.
The author takes some incredible leaps in thinking. My favorite: She says ties the obesity epidemic in America to people who shop at places like Costco, because they're buying large portions of food. However, she also says that wholesale clubs are not much of a big city thing, because people in urban areas don't have the room to store the extra stuff. Hmm... last time I checked, the obesity epidemic had also hit big cities. I'm pretty sure that not every overweight person in America has a Costco card.
This author feels as though we should all be shopping at farmer's markets, independent specialty stores, and fine retailers. If you have to slum it, Target appears to be acceptable. She says that shopping should be a joy and that people should want to shop more often. I like shopping, somewhat, but I don't exactly see it as a joy, not because I don't get good service, but because there are far more enriching things I could be doing with my time. I will derive no extra joy out of buying eggs at the Farmer's Market or having a sales woman suggest a bag to go with the dress I'm trying on.
Though she goes off on these little side notes here and there, this entire book is basically a diatribe against the evils of WalMart. Nothing new; it's the same stuff typically recited by the anti-WalMart crowd, just with more condescension.
There were a few brief histories of retail and some talk of how specific stores or brands had changed. That's what got me through. Otherwise, this book isn't worth reading.
January 15, 2015
This was a pretty good book, though unsurprising in its informational content. Clearly it was written for the "greatest common denominator" and is a product of the pre-housing-bust market. However, I think some of the advice is relevant, despite its aim toward the upper middle-class privileged market. The long-and-short of it? Don't shop at Walmart; shop at Whole Paycheck... I mean, Whole Foods. If you have the option to consider these numerous points, by all means. If capitalism is to work, then vote with your dollars. Otherwise we'll have to switch to a "new" marketing model. Shopportunity is a "bittersweet" book that will benefit some and enrage others (really? You hate the dress because it's on discount?? See, this is why we poor HATE the wealthy.... and as far as I'm concerned, if you can shop at Macy's, you're wealthy.)
July 24, 2015
Some ideas are good and helpful but they are trapped in the authors personal stories of shopping at Gucci and BMW and how you absolutely must shop at the top or you are doing life wrong.
August 29, 2017
I listened to this while working. If I'd read the physical book, I know I wouldn't have finished it. The second half is more interesting than the first, but the author... she's so unrelatable. She admits she's never showed in grocery stores, is amazed and horrified the first time she visits a Walmart (okay, I kind of get this one, though I have to wonder where she went that was so sketchy).
Frankly this is just a book about being a better shopper. I thought I was going to get more of the psychology behind the advertising and such. My mistake.
She does make excellent points about supporting stores and brands whose ethics and practices we agree with. I'm a big believer in voting with our dollars.
Frankly this is just a book about being a better shopper. I thought I was going to get more of the psychology behind the advertising and such. My mistake.
She does make excellent points about supporting stores and brands whose ethics and practices we agree with. I'm a big believer in voting with our dollars.
October 29, 2021
I was hoping for more behind the scenes of companies, strategic marketing, etc. I definitely didn't get it here. I should be thankful this was a library book. Overdrive suggested it to me and I figured I'd read it for free. It ends up as a paean to Whole Foods and a screed to "pay a living wage."
February 22, 2017
Warning: skip the introduction; I almost regurgitated several times while going through it. The slow pace, the questionable topic, the extensively worked narration... I almost threw it to the garbage.
Once into the book, I found a book full of great little bits of retail insight. While it will not replace great books like "The Wallmart Effect" or "Why We Buy", it is a good general book about the retail industry and how consumers feel when shopping.
Once into the book, I found a book full of great little bits of retail insight. While it will not replace great books like "The Wallmart Effect" or "Why We Buy", it is a good general book about the retail industry and how consumers feel when shopping.
May 15, 2011
I agree with Newlin that, as consumers, we need to make more conscious choices in our shopping both to support our values up the supply chain, but also to improve the emotional resonance of our shopping experiences. However, Newlin seems to accept unquestiongly our role as consumer society. My only beef with this book is that I don't believe a consumer society can be tinkered with and made into an acceptable and sustainable way of life. Without shifting this underlying paradigm, we're stuck with false shopping choices that will continue to leave us unfulfilled.
July 29, 2015
purchase carefully, locally, for keeps, and rarely.
February 8, 2008
(audio) I thought this might be kind of interesting, but it was just tedious and obvious.
January 4, 2012
t was really hard for me to get into this book. I thought the subject was very interesting but in the end I just found the book quite boring...
December 9, 2012
Makes you think About our consumer culture differently
September 7, 2013
I did not love all of the book, but the author brings up some very valid points.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews