Reviews (1)

Great guidebook
This is an excellent introduction into all facets of gold and platinum.Easy for the novice to follow, it's full of helpful, clear photos.Very interesting book for anyone wanting to learn more about the fundamentals of gold and platinum, and what traits to look for when making a purchase. ... Read more

Amazon.com

As one toy-company executive put it in the early '90s, "The color of money is green, and you get it from whatever skin tone has got it." Accordingly, with the annual buying power of minority customers exceeding $1 trillion, U.S. companies now spend $2 billion each year on advertising specifically designed to attract and engage these "New American" consumers. Who are they? More importantly, who do they think they are? And how are they expressing that self-identification through what they buy? In Shopping for Identity, Marilyn Halter explores these and other questions with an academic's critical eye and illustrates her research with an engaging variety of statistics, examples, and anecdotes.

Until well into the second half of the 20th century, America was seen as a cultural melting pot. Immigrants were expected to assimilate into the mainstream culture, and cultural pluralism wasn't officially recognized, let alone encouraged. That changed significantly with the passing of the Ethnic Heritage Act of 1974, which contributed to the growth of "ethnic celebrations, a zeal for genealogy, increased travel to ancestral homelands, and great interest in ethnic artifacts, cuisine, music, literature, and, of course, language." At the same time, corporate America began moving away from mass marketing and toward segmented marketing techniques, and these newly demonstrative ethnic constituencies quickly became one of the most targeted and profitable marketing segments.Multicultural marketing experts have proliferated and act as their companies' in-house ethnographers, learning and responding to the cultural nuances of their audiences. At the same time, ethnicity in itself is becoming increasingly optional and malleable, as individuals choose to take on certain identifying aspects of their cultural group while rejecting others. Halter's book poses some interesting questions: How does commercialism both enhance and make a commodity of ethnic identification?And what is authentic ethnic identification? Consider the non-Jewish. fourth-generation Irish leader of the organization for fostering Yiddish culture and education, who has immersed himself in living and promoting a Yiddish identity; or the way that certain ethnic peculiarities have become so ingrained in the culture that they've lost their obvious differences.Demonstrating the extent of cultural hybridism in the U.S., Halter quotes a Newsweek article as stating that "As the United States' Muslim community grows, so does the availability of halal products and pro-Islam tchotchkes." The Yiddish term for knickknacks hardly seems appropriate for pro-Islamic merchandise, and yet today's cultural hybridism often blinds us to such ironies.

Halter's extensive research calls attention to these everyday marketing techniques, which no longer seem strange in our pick-and-choose cultural milieu. In its examination of how Americans express their ethnicity in and through a commodity-driven, consumer culture, Shopping for Identity is a revealing study of how far we have come from the days when Margaret Mead could pronounce that "Being American is a matter of abstention from foreign ways, foreign food, foreign ideas, foreign accents." As Halter shows us, money does indeed talk in many different languages; her examination of both sides of the ethnic dollar is informative, provocative, and surprisingly entertaining. --S. Ketchum ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Fabulous
Shopping for Identity is a great book. It has humor embedded into a well-documented research about culture diversity.It leads right to the heart of issues that we are dealing with in our society.I learned so much from it.What does make it more exhilarating while you are reading through the chapters, is that it applies automatically to our real life.True, the concepts are sophisticated, but the writing is so accessible.Even though an academic has written it, it can be read by all of us. Highly recommended.

Great idea, lousy execution
There is little doubt that Marilyn Halter has hit upon an important concept: the part-time indulger in ethnicity, who buys products that resonate with her/his heritage. Halter shows how many companies ally themselves with new marketing schemes to appeal to an increasingly diverse American market. This is a solid sociological insight, and Halter's work mines this theme for all its worth.

However -- many of the chapters are nothing but an endless list of examples; and because the thesis of her work is all-pervasive, what you end up with is an entire book of near indistinguishable chapters. There seems to be virtually no progression to the writing here. I'm not sure if this is a new strain of pop market sociology, but this is not an example of good writing. Where the main thesis should be explored, there is instead a barrage of examples that shift rapidly (e.g., one moment it is the kosher foods market, the next it is new wedding services), and IMHO real analysis is sacrificed in favor of bowling the reader over with a collection of information that is supposed to be hard research. Yes, it is impossible not to ask important questions about one's own ethnicity while reading the book; but, this seems to come at the expense of Halter really digging in to some meaty cultural analysis and instead surrending to more journalistic approach.

While I am deeply interested in this topic, I have to express an overall disappointment with 'Shopping for Identity.' It's a book that reads like chaotic mush.

An important look at consumer culture.
This is an excellent study of consumer culture.Many investigations assume a monolithic "consumer" and Halter adds subtlety and nuance by looking at the ways ethnicity impacts consumption.Highly recommended.

questions for mom???
I read Mariyln Halter's book, Shopping for Identity and found it fascinating. Not only is the book about the marketplace but it touches the emotions of being an American and loving your own heritage.After reading about the Boston Irish firefighters I called my mother and asked very specific questions about my forebears and the struggles they had overcome.Shopping for Identity gave me permission to explore my own personal ethnic identity.I have shared the book with others because it is a great read and an important contribution to understanding the current trends in American culture.

Serious and enjoyable reading
I read Marilyn Halter's Sopping for Identity and liked it so muchI couldn't keep myself from sharing my enthusiasm with others.First of all because it is really enjoyable reading. I read the book as I would read a good novel, in spite of being the outcome of serious research. And this is rare. Then I liked it because it helped me understanding American society. As an European who admires American culture, reads a lot of American books and sees a lot of American films the book was an eye opener. I can now understand things that didn't make sense to me for lack of knowledge on a changing society. In this global world we tend to think it's enough to read some books and watch CNN and we'll know what is going on. Reading Marilyn Halter I realized that's not enough, but one book can make the difference. And Shopping for Identity made the difference for me. I hope it will be translated soon, so more people in this part of the world can enjoy it the way I did. Congratulations Marilyn, it's a great book! ... Read more

Book Description

* A unique exploration of children's relationships with consumer brands * Fully revised paperback edition of a bestseller * Packed with previously unpublished data, numerous case studies and exclusive interviews with the world's brand leaders * Fully integrated with the Internet: every page of the book has an individual web address offering FREE weekly updates on hot topics."You can't live without BRANDchild!" -- Bloomberg"A must-read book if you want to communicate with and market to young people. Lindstrom provides fascinating data and stories taking you into the mental and emotional life of this new generation, who are distinctly different from us Baby Boomers."-- Philip Kotler "Simply shocking . . . it is no coincidence BRANDchild has been voted Book of the Month!"-- The TimesOver $25 billion is spent every year on advertising to kids. How do the likes of Disney, PlayStation, Nike and Lego make psychological and emotional connections with vast numbers of children across the globe?Based on an exclusive global study comparing children's consumer behavior across North America, Europe and Asia, BRANDchild reveals the forces and phenomena that drive the trends. It highlights the new ways of marketing to an increasingly powerful and demanding consumer group: the children of the future. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Compelling Effort
A compelling work relating consumerism with religions. deChant delves into comparisons between shaman, priests, etc. as they exist within the today's religion of economy (he says economy serves the same function as nature did in relgions of old-- that is, it is an uncontrollable power that must be appeased).

The main point-- Christmas has not been desacrilized. Rather, it has become a sacred holiday of the emerging dominant religion, consumerism.

This is a splendid work for anyone interested in religion, post-modern culture or sociology.

Sacred Santa Delivers
Dell deChant's The Sacred Santa: Religious Dimensions of Consumer Culture, is a fascinating study of America's most dominant religion: consumerism. With just enough academic emphasis to lend credibility without becoming boring, deChant paints a picture of how our acquire-consume-dispose oriented society resembles cosmological religions of the past. Using the latest research combined with examples of how we participate in consumerism's myths and rituals, the author explains the underlying psychological forces that compel us to buy merchanidise throughout the calendar year, but especially during the "high holy days" of Christmas. Christmas and other holidays will never look the same to those who read this book. I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Book Description

When this classic work was first published in 1976, its central tenet--more is not necessarily better--placed it in direct conflict with mainstream thought in economics.Within a few years, however, this apparently paradoxical claim was gaining wide acceptance. Scitovsky's ground-breaking book was the first to apply theories of behaviorist psychology to questions of consumer behavior and to do so in clear, non-technical language.Setting out to analyze the failures of our consumerist lifestyle, Scitovsky concluded that people's need for stimulation is so vital that it can lead to violence if not satisfied by novelty--whether in challenging work, art, fashion, gadgets, late-model cars, or scandal.

Though much of the book stands as a record of American post-war prosperity and its accompanying problems, the revised edition also takes into account recent social and economic changes.A new preface and a foreword by economist Robert Frank introduce some of the issues created by those changes and two revised chapters develop them, discussing among others the assimilation of counter-cultural ideas throughout American society, especially ideas concerning quality of life.Scitovsky draws fascinating connections between the new elite of college-educated consumers and the emergence of a growing underclass plagued by drugs and violence, perceptively tracing the reactions of these disparate groups to the problems of leisure and boredom.

In the wake of the so-called "decade of greed" and amidst calls for a "kindler, gentler" society, The Joyless Economy seems more timely than ever. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Euro-blah blah blah
I read this in a comparative economics class at Hope College back when Jimmy Carter was President, and it was "in" to deride the U.S. as suffering from too much over-psychologized materialism, the cure for which was to read this book to see how much happier we would be if we switched paradigms to a slower paced, more natural, Euro-way of doing socialism, which would include more frequent trips to the market to buy bread without preservatives, taking fewer showers to conserve water, and waking up later, taking longer lunches, and staying up all night drinking cappucino with interesting people. In short, more like then-"third way" Yugoslavia. What happened to Yugoslavia, and who has subsequently had to go clean the place out, is a metaphor for how the preachings of this book have turned out to fit with reality. What a relief to see that the current generation of college econ students seem to have totally rejected this type of over-phsychologized incoherent "economics" and have instead pursued business careers while simultaneoudsy waking up late, and staying up all night drinking cappucino with interesting people. Lunch can take all day, too. So Tibor got some of it right but most of it wrong. Ronald Reagan got more of it right, but partisans of the left will never admit it. So read this book if your 60's reject professor forces you to, but challenge the paradigm of Veblenesque, dead-to-the-market stupidity which masquerades for "economics" in this book. I still hate thinking about it 20 years after reading it!

Excessive Stimulation or Excessive Comfort?
This bifurcated question lies at the core of this excellent classic. The assumption that all choice is rational, that rationality choses freedom apriori, and freedom is its own intrinsic good has been the foundation of contemporary economics and liberal political theory for more than a century? This book challenges this and other assumptions, demonstrating that the true human "need" is not for freedom in itself, but instrumentally, so that our choices to bring about the right mixture of stimulation in our lives is balanced by an appropriate dose of comfort. Too much stimulation produces pain, too much comfort produces boredom, the excess of which lies outside the "mean."

This book goes beyond challenging our most basic presumptions; it argues coherently, cohesively, and cogently that the summa bonum of human life is not merely choice, but the right choices that balance our conflicting desires for something "new" with our desire for "stability." Most theories gravitate toward one extreme or the other; Scitovsky demonstrates the Aristotlean "mean."

Sadly, this book is only available in hardback at and is very pricey. Not that this book isn't worth the high cost Oxford Press demands, rather that it will unfortunately limit widespread access to this treasure. For those wanting a preview of this book's contents, see "Critical Review" Vol 10, No.4.

A classic, provocative ideas
"The Joyless Economy" is a classic attempt to assess the postulates of neoclassical economics (the sort of economics taught in schools and universities!) in terms of evidence about human behaviour from Behavioural Psychology.

Definitely worth a read, particularly if you have reservations about the neoclassical orthodoxy!

From a technical economic viewpoint, he fails to make his case forcefully enough to convince orthodox economists on their own turf, but that is to take nothing away from the strength and worth of the ideas. ... Read more

Book Description

A revealing examination of shopping, consumerism, and mall design in America.

Loved and hated, visited and avoided, seemingly everywhere yet endlessly the same, malls occupy a special place in American life. What, then, is this invention that evokes such strong and contradictory emotions in Americans? In many ways malls represent the apotheosis of American consumerism, and this synthetic and wide-ranging investigation is an eye-popping tour of American culture's values and beliefs. Like your favorite mall, One Nation under Goods is a browser's paradise; and in order to understand America's culture of consumption you need to make a trip to the mall with Farrell. This lively, fast-paced history of the hidden secrets of the shopping mall explains how retail designers make shopping and goods "irresistible." Architects, chain stores, and mall owners relax and beguile us into shopping through water fountains, ficus trees, mirrors, and covert security cameras. From food courts and fountains to Santa and security, Farrell explains how malls control their patrons and convince us that shopping is always an enjoyable activity. And most importantly, One Nation under Goods shows why the mall's ultimate promise of happiness through consumption is largely an illusion. It's all here—for one low price, of course. 32 b/w photographs. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

One Nation Under Goods a Durable Good
In One Nation Under Goods, Jim Farrell takes readers on a tour of American malls to discover the cultural patterns they display. As Farrell steers readers up escalators, he calls attention to the ways that shopping center executives plan the spaces of consumerism. As he parades them in front of dressing-room mirrors, he illustrates ways that consumer goods contribute to construction of identity. As he points out malls' potted plants, he reveals the processes through which shopping centers alter their ecological surroundings. Farrell notes in his introduction that American malls are variety stores-they sell a wide variety of goods to a vast diversity of people that make multiple meanings from those objects. One Nation Under Goods similarly provides a cornucopia of good ideas on American culture; it's a kind-of sales rack of ideas from which readers can pick and choose. It's even replete with intellectual display cases (tables, photos, and cartoons), that help provide opportunities to browse quickly for the most value-able concepts and lessons to be learned.

Farrell's book, like the best mall merchandise, is neither out-of-date nor too faddish for scholars to take note. One Nation Under Goods provides an original and important perspective on the aesthetics, economics, ethics, and politics of American shopping malls.

Three elements of the book that seem particularly successful and that, in combination, distinguish the book from others in its field: its emphasis on spatial analysis; its ability to communicate playfully difficult concepts in concrete terms; its challenge to create an ethical framework for American consumerism.

First, I like the way that Farrell draws attention to the physical spaces of American malls. Malls take place-and Farrell asks readers to consider both the indoor and outdoor places transformed by shopping centers. Part of Farrell's success in illuminating indoor spaces comes from his close reading of documents overlooked by many mall scholars-the retail design manuals and marketing magazines that shopping center executives use to create retail spaces. Farrell also considers the environmental impacts of malls on water quality and indigenous vegetation and contemplates the ways in which mall-goers experiences shape the ways in which they conceptualize their spaces. As he notes, "It's interesting that the endangered species and ecosystems that are featured in the mall are not generally the ones we live in." The Mall of America in Bloomington, has a Rainforest Café, but he notes that it "doesn't have a Prairie Café, or a Corn-and-Soybeans Cabaret or a suburban Back-Yard Bistro." (238-239) By engaging in cultural and physical geography, Farrell's study recognizes how American values are embodied and sited in place.

Secondly, Farrell skillfully uses concrete objects and instances to illustrate complex theories. You could say that Jim Farrell writes about Rainforest Café in One Nation Under Goods, and it's true, but only partly right. What he's really doing by writing about Rainforest Café is playing with big ideas: primitivism, exoticism, cosmopolitanism, and authenticity. You could hand a student a stack of densely-written classics from Jean Jacques Rousseau to Edward Said to David Hollinger to address these big ideas; but until the students become graduate students, I think they'd find Farrell's chapter titled "The World in a Shopping Mall" equally provocative. One Nation Under Goods playful-ness grants us access to these ideas in a fresh way.

Finally, I like the way that Farrell reveals the ethical and political decisions that take place in shopping centers. He notes that "The mall, explicitly about aesthetics and economics, is also implicitly about ethics and politics." (xxi) My favorite part of the book, Part IV, makes explicit the ethics and politics of economic and aesthetic interactions that we take for granted. Jim Farrell's consideration of the ethics of shopping comes through parables, not prescriptions. He argues that "ethics is a way of telling stories about the goodness of the good life" and suggests that Americans could demand better stories for our money. Rather than telling just-so stories of economic exclusion and environmental degradation, he asks readers to try to tell different stories from their products-stories of sustainable society, social justice, and political responsibility. He provides readers with practical tools: like a shopping list for considering purchasing decisions that includes questions like "what good is this thing? Could I borrow one? Who lives well as a result of this purchase? Who lives poorly?" But most of all, he provides practical tools by pointing out the impracticalities of American life as it currently works at the mall.

One Nation Under Goods is not academic planned obsolescence. It's a durable good. One that I highly recommend you try on for size.

The Value of Values in Shopping
With good wit and numerous plays on words, Farrell reveals the implicit value statements of shopping and buying, exposing the price we pay (above the sticker) in consumer society. The book isn't anti-consumer, but points to the hidden costs of various purchases, such as the implicit acceptance of sweatshop labor in buying many brands of shoe or the acceptance of environmental degradation for buying paper. He's also effective at illustrating how, despite the American affinity for shopping, a doubling of our material possessions in the past 50 years has not made us any happier. A thoughtful and insightful look at the meaning of malls in the making of the American Dream.

LIstened to the Minnesota Public Radio Interview
I have not ordered the book yet. But I must say, I found the presentation and the interview by this author and professor to be one of the most balanced and insightful programs I have heard. The author introduced many ideas that I had not considered before in my life - like "How did you learn how to shop?"

This author moves far beyond simplistic analysis of whether the phenomenon of the mall is good or bad for us. He provokes thinking and insights that reveal the core of what we value. He sums up his view of shopping and malls as being "about stories." According to the interview, we all want to ba a part of a story. The author calls for reflection and choices about the kinds of stories we want to be a part of and how to make choices to elevate our stories to benefit community and the planet.

If the book is anything like the interview, I welcome this author's thoughts. ... Read more

Book Description

"In the dangerous jungle of consumer research, Bonnie Goebert is the ultimate guide. A few hours and the price of this book will quadruple your consumer research investment." —Melinda Davis Wingate, President, The Next Group

"A lot of marketing books start with interesting points, then dissolve into a theoretical realm, but Bonnie Goeberts work is consistently rooted in real world experience. Her case study examples make this book very worthwhile for any professional who wants to get inside the head of the consumer." —Justin Harrington, Senior Partner, Account Services Bozell

In Beyond Listening, focus group expert Bonnie Goebert explains how to interpret consumer response and turn that information into hard-core benefits for any size company. She presents case studies of her household-name clients, such as Excedrin, Tropicana, and DuPont, to illustrate how companies leverage consumer information to meet changing consumer needs and strengthen loyalty to products. Any merchant, marketer, or retailer will find Beyond Listening invaluable in the ongoing struggle to gain insight into consumer behavior. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Really insightful
I usually don't write reviews, but this book compelled me. I have read a lot of books, but I really learned something from this one. My advertising approach will be different from now on.

People Insights for Marketing Mavens
Warm, well written, insider's book based on thirty years of focus group research. Written with a voice that listens. Bonnie Goebert obviously likes people and likes listening. Her insights into customer motivation would help anyone who wants to sell anything to anybody, especially corporate types who sometimes forget that the consumer is us.

Sell More Product, Read This Book
I loved this book and I wish all those high flying ad agency people would read it. What are the thoughts that float through a homemaker's mind as he pushes his cart through the supermarket? You know what yours are, but do you know what his are? Bonnie Goebert says listen, ask the right questions. Don't try to con, talk down to or objectify the consumer because the consumer is us. This is the perfect book for account executives, art directors, copywriters, market researchers and anyone who's ever wondered how people make the decisions they do when they go to buy a product, any product. It's full of interesting anecdotes about human behavior, insightful observations and common sense conclusions that could help any company looking to jump start their business. It's lively, well written, and as the culmination of thirty years of focus group moderating, impecably researched. If more ad agencies and CEO's read this book, they'd find out who we really are...and what we really want. Wouldn't that be nice? ... Read more

Book Description

This book explores the many facets of consumer behavior. Its current coverage and engaging writing style reflect the latest research and hip trends.Chapter topics look at consumers as individuals and decision-makers, income and social class, various subcultures, and cultural influences on consumer behavior. This edition expands its focus on online consumer behavior and contains new topics such as virtual communities, virtual marketing, e-commerceFor individuals with an interest in the attitudes and activities of today's buyer in the marketplace. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Complete Work on Consumer Psychology
I read this book, during my first course in business.

After reading the book my thoughts on consumer psychology were better furnished; I was able to write a paper for my course evaluation that got me 99.25% and top rank.

The textbook is a strong reference that will be valuable to anyone working in Marketing. People, however, tend to find this science in particular more difficult than the other marketing sciences. The book, however, makes Consumer Behavior easy to understand.

Another related book although too simplistic in comparisson is Why We Buy by Paco Underhill.

Great insight of the marketplace and excellent examples
I am taking a college course titled after this textbook. It is very informative and gives helpful real life examples of how the principles are used in marketing today. My only problem with it is the information required to answer the questions at the end of the chapter is often not included in the chapter. My exams are given from those questions and many times I can't find the answers in the book. That can also be good because it makes me think for myself, but I wish I knew for sure if my exam answers are correct. ... Read more

Book Description

Take a Tour Through the Mind of a Shopper

"What’s my test of a book I’ve been asked to review?Pure selfishness.How intense are the underlinings?How many quotes can I add to my presentations? How often are the things I believe ‘for sure’ effectively challenged?Phil Lempert’s Being the Shopper is off the charts on all three counts. And not-so-incidentally, though Phil is a ‘supermarket guru,’ this book will inform anyone who markets anything."
––Tom Peters, coauthor, In Search of Excellence

"Being the Shopper is gourmet reading . . . a delicious and healthy resource for the smart shopper and forward-thinking marketer. Set your taste buds for Lempert’s cutting-edge insights and pragmatic advice on the one experience we all share!"
–– Chip Bell, author, Customer Love and Customers as Partners

"Phil Lempert convinces me I’m something called a consumer. It seems I’m obtuse, savvy, sensual, and picky––and that my dynamics and demographics are constantly changing. So if you want me to buy something, you ought to try and understand me. reading Being the Shopper seems (to me) a real good place to start."
––Barry Gibbons, former Chairman/CEO of Burger King
author and entrepreneur

"Rarely do you come across a book that’s as meaningful to students and 25-year marketers alike. Being the Shopper delivers to both audiences by enlightening the reader on how to approach critical issues if you want to succeed in today’s incredibly demanding environment.It’s easy to talk about listening to the voice of your customer, but Mr. Lempert provides a refreshing guide as to how you really can do it."
–– Brian Perkins, Worldwide Chairman, Consumer Pharmaceuticals and Nutritionals Group, Johnson & Johnson

"Is there anything more American than choice? We expect it, we demand it, we revel in it.Phil Lempert understands what your customers really want, and how you can help them find it."
––Steve Rivkin, President, Rivkin & Associates
coauthor, IdeaWise and Differentiate or Die ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Its about time!
Finally a book that is easy and fun to read that marketers and consumers can learn from. I tried to read Why We buy - lots of great info - but couldn't get through it. Lempert's book is timely, chock full of facts and has already made me a better marketer [and shopper]. I've heard him interviewed before on radio and this is one smart guy who should be listened to.

Anyone who markets needs this book!
I have seen Lempert's reports on the Today Show for years and always enjoyed them - but WOW! I had no idea just how intuitive he is. This is a marketer's dream book. I for one [working as a brand manager for a major CPG] will use this as my bible and it has forced me into the stores and given me the tools on how to listen to a consumer instead of listening to my own predisposed [and antiquated] ideas. ... Read more

Book Description

"You say you want a webolution? Read this book." —DON TAPSCOTT, best-selling author of The Digital Economy and Growing Up Digital; co-author of Digital Capital

"Excellent bedtime reading - except it prevents you from sleeping!" —YRJO NEUVO, Executive Vice-President & Chief Technical Officer, Nokia Mobile Phones

"A pleasure to read, providing new insights into the future impact of the Internet on our personal and professional lives." —JANICE M. SCITES, Vice-President, Internet Implementation Strategy, AT&T Corp.

"Frank Feather knows how to get under the skin of every consumer company with the message: change or suffer." —KEVIN MANEY, Technology Columnist, USA Today

"A 'must read' for any executive who expects to be employed in 2010." &mdashJOHN BRANDT, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Industry Week and Industry Week.com ... Read more

Reviews (9)

GREAT VALUE: Updated 2nd Edition is EVEN BETTER than the 1st
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This book is a winner and well worth your time and money. I found the 1st edition of "Future Consumer.Com" extremely useful in my work as a strategic planning and marketing consultant, referring to it often. And so did my clients.

But I just read the new, updated, 2nd Edition (in softcover), and it is even better! I fully agree that the first book was worth *5 Stars* but this is worth more and is bound to be successful. I remember the 1st edition was on Amazon's business best-seller lists for several weeks when it first came out. This one should do even better.

Not only has the material been updated to account for the dot-com shakeout (with the author explains in compelling detail) but new case study material has been added. As well, Feather has updated all his forecasts for e-commerce sales, by category, and basically is sticking with his original forecasts to 2010. And, based on the ongoing trend in e-commerce, I think he will be proven correct.

The 2nd edition also has some brand new material in the form of an Introduction that was not in the 1st edition. This 20-odd page chapter alone is worth the modest price of the book. It is an articulate, well-argued, but blistering critique of Harvard strategy guru Michael Porter who, in 2001, wrote a strategy paper in Harvard Business Review that basically claimed that the Internet changes nothing as far as strategy goes. When I read Porter's piece, I felt he was being very defensive of his own strategy model and failed to support his arguments, dismissing succesful online business models such as AOL and Amazon as exceptions to the rule. Feather brilliantly takes Porter's feeble argument apart, and shows why and how the Internet changes the rules of competition and, hence, business models and marketing strategy -- both in the online and offline world. I repeat, this chapter alone is worth the price of the ticket.

One final point worth noting is that the new 2nd edition retains the excellent layout and design of the 1st edition. So it is relatively easy to compare the two texts to see what's new and different. As well, the few typos that one reviewer found annoying in the earlier edition have all been fixed.

In short, this is a crisp, clean, up-to-date and easy-to-read book that everybody in business strategy and marketing should be reading. Feather's out-of-the box thinking not only stretches your mind but suggests concrete ways to achieve greater marketplace success. Whether you're selling products and services on Main Street or over the Web, this book points the way.

I would give it "7 Stars out of 5" but I am restricted to 5. Do yourself a favor and put this book, not on your bookshelf, but on your desktop. And get your colleagues to buy one too. Your business will only benefit.
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Great E-Biz reference book!
I have my own internet business and I use this book to promote the future of the internet and business. It is a great window into the future! Great E-Biz book!

THE FUTURE IS HERE
FRANK FEATHER HAS BEEN A VISIONARY FOR MANY YEARS. THIS BOOK PROVES HE HASN'T LOST HIS TALENT! HE EXPLAINS WHAT HAS BECOME OF OUR NATIONS CONSUMERS AND WHAT IS YET TO COME - VERY EXCITING PREDICTIONS - I LOOK FORWARD TO EXPERIENCING THE FUTURE CONSUMER.COM PHENOMENON -

Open your mind and buckle your seat belt!
Books on future economics are interesting reading and require an open mind given that the author is providing assistance to the reader to think in another dimension. Author Feather does an excellent job of providing an understandable framework for his futuristic economy.

Most books on future economics are seemingly quite strange and require a big stretch in reader imagination (e.g. "The Third Wave"). Other books on the Internet predict the Internet will be everything to everybody, an obvious hyperbole.

Feather walks the line between a George Jetson-like future and overblown exaggeration of the Internet. From this reader's perspective, Feather's observations and/or predictions make a great deal of sense and seem to fit a resonable extrapolation of today's events in the crucible of the free market and the unfolding of time.

No, you won't find Feather predicting that all products and services will sell extremely well over the Internet and you won't find a death sentence for bricks and mortar retailing. What you will find, however, is a thoughtful analysis of broad product lines and a different expected outcome of these product lines based on current and predicted consumer behavior. Sometimes the analysis is in favor of an Internet solution (with say 50% of the sales from the Internet) and sometimes the Internet is expected to be less prone to be the "ultimate" selling machine (with say 10% of the sales from the Internet). Don't think the book is just a big broad stroke either; Feather breaks down each of the product lines into sub-groups so that you are not only clear as to his thought process but also find yourself searching the sub-groups for your own industry or market to determine Feather's prognostication.

If you have a business today, or you are employed by a business today, a small investment in this title could stimulate thinking that can assist in positioning you and your business for future success.

It's a very stimulating ride and one that should contribute to creative thought on the impact of the Internet in the reader's private and business life.

To caught up in the hupe
Despite all the glowing reviews for this book, it is fairly average.

The author writes about how the internet will become an essential par of our lifestyles. Some of his notions are very interesting and could very well come true. But others are caught up in the hype surrounding the internet.

One example is that furniture.com will be one of the 5 main retailers on the internet for home furnishings. He must have only read their press releases because this company has since filed for bankruptcy.

This is an ok book that could have a must read if the author had been a bit more objective. I suppose only time will tell ... ... Read more

Book Description

Tying together of several distinct cultural patterns during this century to create a culture of respectability and its impact on popular culture, trade, politics, social dynamics, and literature, this original and thoughtful work provides a comprehensive and much-needed understanding of the origins of modern consumption and all of its cultural implications. ... Read more

Book Description

It's undeniable. The earth is warming. For the first time since the dawn of civilization, the earth's temperature is rising. Scientists and governments around the world, including the United States, not only agree that global warming is happening, they assert that we must do something about it fast. Yet while Gallup polls indicate that 70 percent of Americans are concerned about global warming, most people are unaware of what they can do to help fix the problem.51 Easy Ways You Can Prevent Global Warming (and Save Money!) converts this public concern into positive action, providing simple, everyday things you can do to minimize global warming-and save yourself money at the same time! Global warming may seem like an overwhelming and insurmountable problem. But there are easy things you can do around your home, in your backyard, and with your automobile that will help the planet and your pocketbook. While the book contains 51 topics, there are actually hundreds of tips and suggestions within the book that will help you address this global problem.Whether you are one of the nearly three-quarters of Americans who consider themselves environmentalists, or you're interested in practical ways you can save money each year, the straightforward tips packed within 51 Easy Ways You Can Prevent Global Warming (and Save Money!) will make this one of the most important and useful books on your bookshelf. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Simple ways to save money
51 Easy Ways You Can Prevent Global Warming converts this public concern into positive action, providing simple, everyday things you can do to minimize global warming-and save yourself money at the same time! Global warming may seem like an overwhelming and insurmountable problem but there are easy things you can do around your home, in your backyard, and with your automobile that will help the planet and your pocketbook. While the book contains 51 topics, there are actually hundreds of tips and suggestions within the book that will help you address this global problem.
Whether you are one of the nearly three-quarters of people who consider themselves environmentalists, or you're interested in practical ways you can save money each year, the straightforward tips packed within 51 Easy Ways You Can Prevent Global Warming (and Save Money!) will make this one of the most important and useful books on your bookshelf.

One of the best books I have ever read!
The thing that I enjoyed most about this book was the fact that you didn't have to start with the first chapter and continue all the way through form start to finish, instead you could pick a topic that interested you and read about that. I also liked the fact taht they included a website with links about things such as how to install dimmers on your lights step by step as a do-it yourself weekend project. The book seemed like it would be a fantastic educational tool for all levels of education all the way form elementry school to high sicool and even beyond. In two words the book was tremendously empowering for all ages!

Great tips for ordinary people to prevent global warming
This book is well-organized, and provides practical information about how the average person can reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. There actually are a lot more than 51 tips since each tip gives a lot of other action steps you can take. It not only rates each action as to whether it's no-cost, low-cost, or an investment item, but also provides financial savings info and - most important - the amount of CO2 emissions prevented by taking the action. Considering the huge financial savings possible by implementing these tips, the book is a bargain. But considering what's at stake, the financial savings are irrelevant. As the book's dedication page states, we take these actions for "... the members of the next generation, who must live with the decisions we make today."

This book is totally worth the money...
I bought this book expecting the usual (impractical) tips about saving money and the environment at the same time. What I found was a book full of VERY EASY suggestions. For those of you about to make a major purchase (house, refrigerator, washer/dryer, etc.), there is plenty of information for you as well. But the majority of the tips (and $$$ savings) come from things that anybody can do. Definitely worth the investment. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Men & Women Love it
The first no nonsense book on making shopping a breeze for Men's clothing in the USA. All the retailers now need to be aware that there are more than 1200 hundred stores men can shop from.
The Bench Mark for Best Customer Service in the USA is now Fairfield Clothier's in Fairfield CT. A must read.

Find out what "business casual" really means
"The Men's Clothing Guide" proves to be an indispensible shopping guide while travelling. Information is broken down regionally, and even includes contacts at certain stores by employee name. It helped me a lot when I was looking for a hard to find pair of shoes; with the contact in the book I found a store in DC where the salesperson had them shipped to me in NY.
Also great for the beginner who is just getting into dressing professionaly. Read to find out what the confusing "business casual" really means. This book is a great resource for college students entering the business world for the first time.

A Complete Shopping Guide
I represent a Europian clothing company in the US and before this book it was a struggle to find information on retailers. A complete resource with all the necessary information I need. A great guide for industry people and men who "just want to dress nice".

A Great Help
I am aworking man without the time and ability to find great deals on mens clothing. This book gave me some great tips. I enjoyed it so much I bought a copy for my brother and a couple of friends and I went to the signing to get a copy. This book proves men can dress nice without having to be slave to the local department stores. Thanks Steve Brinkman.

Waste of time
The author's only experience is working in medical equipment sales for 20 years, then "researching" clothing and stores for a couple of years. He offers unhelpful, difficult to read charts and advice bordering on patronizing ("don't wear suspenders and a belt at the same time"). The bulk of the book is not advice at all, but simply a list of men's clothing stores at high-end malls. You can just wander around your local nice mall, glance at the storefront window and learn just as much.

Take a close look at the five star reviews for this book. Do they look like canned marketing blurbs? ... Read more

Book Description

Shopping. For some, it is a veritable sport.For others, it is a dreaded experience which they try to avoid at all costs.No matter which group you fit in to, chances are when you do shop you're looking for a bargain.Bargain Hunter's Secrets to Online Shopping is your one-stop-shop for finding the best bargains on the Internet in over 35 shopping categories.Over 1000 of the best Web sites for online bargain shopping are listed in this comprehensive, how-to guide.Nervous about making purchases online?You'll also learn how to identify reputable merchants, how to shop safely and the best ways to pay for an online purchase.Let your fingers do the walking through this guide and the world's largest shopping mall!

Book Description

The butt of endless jokes and the focus of considerable anguish, shopping offers significant insights into contemporary social relations and their nuances. This book is about shopping for ordinary things. It is also about love and devotion manifest within families and about the nature of sacrificial ritual. A significant contributor to material culture studies, Daniel Miller is an acute observer and an exceptional storyteller. He approaches shopping not as an end in itself but as a means to discover what people's practices, closely observed, reveal about their relationships.

The ethnographic sections of the book are based on a year's study of shopping on a street in North London. This provides the basis for a sensitive description ofhow shoppers develop and imagine the social relationships most important to them through the medium of selecting goods. Among the characteristics of these shopping expeditions are the concept of "the treat," and the centrality of thrift. Miller juxtaposes on his account of shopping various theories that anthropologists have brought to bear on the ritual of sacrifice, including that of the French philosopher George Bataille. He then integrates these elements to postulate his theory of shopping as sacrifice in terms as original and as utterly engaging as the stories he tells of individual shoppers. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A theory
This book contains a personal theory of shopping based on an ethnographic study of household provisioning in a North London neighborhood in the mid-1990s. Miller begins by describing some of the households and some of the results from his interviews on shopping. In the second chapter, he explores the literature on sacrifice, and in the third final chapter, he makes an argument that shopping and sacrifice, if not the same thing, can at least be considered comparable. His reasoning, if I understand it, is that both acts involving giving something of oneself or one's resources for the greater good.

I remain unconvinced, however. I've never given much thought to sacrifice before, but it seems to me that sacrifice involves giving something back to the deities as partial payment for a unearned favor. On the other hand, shopping seems more to be choosing to trade earned resources. For me, the comparison between shopping and sacrifice just doesn't go through, and since two thirds of the book is spent arguing for the comparison, I was a little disappointed.

Some minor quibbles: the book is definitely written from a British point of view, and some terms or expressions used in the book to describe living situations or shops will be unfamiliar to North American readers. Also, Miller puts great emphasis on the fact that most of his shoppers tend to be women, and that shopping in the environment where he did his work is an activity associated with the female gender. He relates this back to his sacrifice theory and also to feminist studies of housewives sacrificing themselves for their families. He gives very brief consideration to the fact that a predominance of female shoppers may be culturally-based, but doesn't seem to consider it seriously. Nevertheless, there are many cultures, particularly in Muslim areas and parts of Asia, where it would be unseemly for a woman to appear in the marketplace, and where men do all of the shopping, even for their families' clothing. Much of Miller's argumentation would not hold in such an environment. Thus, even if he does have something with his sacrifice/shopping comparison, it is only an artifact of the culture where he did his study, and should not be generalized beyond the shoppers of this North London neighborhood.

WOOFY SOCIOLOGIST RAMBLINGS
This book is about ten good pages and the remainder is a stream of rambling woofy ideas with very little to hold it together.

Beyond the first chapter, the content varies from the social impact of social sacrifice to how the Greek philopshers would rate modern thoughts on mass consumption.

It has very little to do with WHY people would go to a supermarket and HOW they act while they are there - nothing on causality, just lots of words joined together.

Be careful about buying this book. It's a waste of space as far as a text book to assist anyone in business - it's a first year university book for liberal arts time wasters.

An extremely accessible academic text
I couldn't believe it when I laughed out loud whilst reading this text. A strong theoretical base supports this amusing ethnography of shopping - the sort that is done week in, week out, rather than 'leisure' shopping. I highly recommend reading it from cover to cover, rather than trying to skim it as one might other academic texts. It will be of use to anyone studying material culture, social anthropology, and sociology, in that it indicates clearly not only its specific content, but also its methodology. Reading this text makes Miller's classic "Material Culture and Mass Consumption" a lot more accessible to those of us who are just starting to research this area. ... Read more

Book Description

Rand McNally's "big book" is the first place to look for up-to-date business planning data. The 2004 Commercial Atlas & Marketing Guide contains population, economic, and geographic data for more than 120,000 US Places, complete with large-scale, detailed maps that are thoroughly indexed for easy cross-referencing. Thematic maps complement the raw data listings, which cover every angle of geographical marketing that you could need. Features include:

• 2000 census information, 2004 population estimates, and 2009 population projections
• Latest estimations on population for the US, states, counties, cities, MSAs, CBSAs, RMAs, trading areas, and ZIP Code Service areas
• Data from 1997 Censuses of Retail and Wholesale Trades as well as Manufacturing
• Information on income, buying power, and sales
• Mileage and driving time information
• Information on automobile registrations
• Military, higher education, and agricultural data

Two volumes: Atlas (11.25" w x 15" h x 1" d; 322 pages) and Index (11.25" w x 15" h x 1" d; 330 pages). ... Read more

Book Description

This new concept in financial training guides novices through the often complex and challenging world of derivatives. Full of definitions, concise descriptions, quizzes, and examples, it is primarily a study of financial instruments. Topics covered include futures, options, and swaps from the very basic to the applications in trading, hedging, and arbitrage. This book will be of particular interest to novice traders, investors, and trainers in financial institutions looking for a key introductory text.

Este libro constituye un nuevo concepto para el aprendizaje de los derivados. Para ello, parte de los conceptos más básicos y llega a las aplicaciones de futuros, opciones y swaps relacionadas con la contratación, cobertura de riesgos y arbitraje. Con el fin de que cada contenido quede más claro, se incluyen definiciones, cuestionarios, y ejemplos. Se trata de una obra de gran utilidad para los que desean comprender cómo funcionan los mercados de derivados (contratos a plazo, futuros, opciones swaps). ... Read more

Book Description

With general discussions from focused case studies, and academic and popular sources, Exchanges engages students and teachers in an analysis of consumer culture.Through readings that explore the intersection between consumerism and key themes-such as group and personal identity, education, entertainment, and place-the book documents the social space we inhabit. Pre-writing exercises, group work, and writing assignments involving Internet research explore consumer culture and illustrate how human beings are consumers, biologically and socially. For anyone interested in consumer culture. ... Read more