Author

Paco Underhill

Global. Funny. Visionary. And more. Paco is the son of an American Diplomat. He grew up in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe, before returning to the U.S. for high school. He attended Columbia University and Ehwa University, in Seoul, Korea before getting his undergraduate degree from Vassar College. He has spent the past 40 years as an inventor of tools to understand human behavior and predict the future.

Here’s even more. Founder and former CEO of Envirosell Inc. for 34 years a Behavioral Research and Consulting firm based in New York City with global offices. Paco’s expertise is in the meeting point of the physical and digital worlds, including stores, banks, airports, libraries, museums, shopping malls, offices, cruise ships, model homes, and websites.  His  work has been profiled in The New Yorker Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, and others.

Paco is author of multiple global bestselling books – including Why We Buy:  The Science of Shopping published in 27 languages and used in design schools and MBA programs all over the world.  Other books include Call of the Mall, What Women Want, and How We Eat – The Brave New World of Food and Drink.

The Feel Better Store

The legal cannabis business is opening up new doors for recreation as well as the healthcare industry. Just below the retail radar screen of Walmart ...
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Field Report from the Frontiers of Shopping

The airport in Doha, Qatar is packed at midnight. The arrivals hall has a huge yellow teddy bear in the center. Duty free stores are ...
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Why Women Buy Lingerie

I have watched with interest the travails of Victoria’s Secret. The brand, a historic market leader, as well reported is in trouble. The seminal evolution ...
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The Fall of the Berlin Wall, Redux

The world of information gathering and what we do with the data is in turmoil. This article is my attempt to provide context to this ...
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Walmart POV Updated

Bentonville is now a brash new American City. No longer can you find a $24-a-night hotel room that includes a hot breakfast. Foreign car dealers ...
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The Science of Shopping

I closed the heavy curtain and was alone with the mattress in the mock bedroom. The noise of the shopping mall was muted in the ...
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Urban Icons in Transition

Ponce City Market opened in 1926 as an industrial site in Atlanta built by Sears Roebuck & Company. A massive brick warehouse and distribution center ...
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Amazon and the Parking Problem

Driving from the Jacksonville, Florida airport into downtown, you pass by one of Amazon’s new distribution centers: a mammoth building of more than a million ...
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