Published online： Nov 9th 2006
From The Economist print edition
How shops can exploit people's herd mentality to increa sales
1. A TRIP to the supermarket may not em like an exerci in psychological warfare—but it is. Shopkeepers know that filling a store with the aroma of freshly baked bread makes people feel hungry and persuades them to buy more food than they had intended. Stocking the most expensive products at eye level makes them ll faster than cheaper but less visible competitors. Now rearchers are investigating how “swarm intelligence” （that is， how ants， bees or any social animal，including humans， behave in a crowd） can be ud to influence what people buy.
2. At a recent conference on the simulation of adaptive behaviour in Rome， Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani， a computer scientist from the Florida Institute of Technology， described a new way to increa impul buying using this phenomenon. Supermarkets already encourage shoppers to buy things they did not reali they wanted： for instance， by placing everyday items such as milk and eggs at the back of the store， forcing shoppers to walk past other tempting goods to reach them. Mr Usmani and Ronaldo Menezes， also of the Florida Institute of Technology， t out to enhance this te
条款英文ndency to buy more by playing on the herd instinct. The idea is that， if a certain product is en to be popular， shoppers are likely to choo it too. The challenge is to keep customers informed about what others are buying.
3. Enter smart-cart technology. In Mr Usmani's supermarket every product has a radio frequency identification tag， a sort of barcode that us radio waves to transmit information， and every trolley has a scanner that reads this information and relays it to a central computer. As a customer walks past a shelf of goods， a screen on the shelf tells him how many people currently in the shop have chon that particular product. If the number is high， he is more likely to lect it too.
4. Mr Usmani's “swarm-moves” model appeals to supermarkets becau it increas sales without the need to give people discounts. And it gives shoppers the satisfaction of knowing that they bought the “right” product—that is， the one everyone el bought. The model has not yet been tested widely in the real world， mainly becau radio frequency identification technology is new and has only been installed experimentally in some supermarkets. But Mr Usmani says that both Wal-Mart in America and Tesco in Britain are interested in his work， and testing will get under way in the spring.
5. Another recent study on the power of social influence indicates that sales could， indeed， be b
oosted in this way. Matthew Salganik of Columbia University in New York and his colleagues have described creating an artificial music market in which some 14，000 people downloaded previously unknown songs. The rearchers found that when people could e the songs ranked by how many times they had been downloaded， they followed the crowd. When the songs were not ordered by rank， but the number of times they had been downloaded was displayed， the effect of social influence was still there but was less pronounced. People thus follow the herd when it is easy for them to do so.
暗门子
6. In Japan a chain of convenience shops called RanKing RanQueen has been ordering its products according to sales data from department stores and rearch companies. The shops ll only the most popular items in each product category，and the rankings are updated weekly. Icosystem， a company in Cambridge， Massachutts， also aims to exploit knowledge of social networking to improve sales.gund
7. And the psychology that works in physical stores is just as potent on the internet. Online retailers such as Amazon are adept at telling shoppers which products are popular with like-minded consumers. Even in the privacy of your home， you can still be part of the swarm.
（644 words）
Questions 1-6
Complete the ntences below with words taken from the reading passage. U NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
1. Shopowners realize that the smell of _______________ can increa sales of food products.
2. In shops， products shelved at a more visible level ll better even if they are more _______________.
3. According to Mr. Usmani， with the u of “swarm intelligence” phenomenon， a new method can be applied to encourage _______________.
4. On the way to everyday items at the back of the store， shoppers might be tempted to buy _______________.六级新题型
5. If the number of buyers shown on the _______________ is high， other customers tend to follow them.
6. Using the “swarm-moves” model， shopowners do not have to give customers _______________ to increa sales. Questions 7-12
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage？ For questions 7-12 write
YES if the statement agrees with the information
NO if the statement contraicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this in the passage
7. Radio frequency identification technology has been installed experimentally in big supermarkets like Wal-Mart.
8. People tend to download more unknown songs than songs they are familiar with.
9. Songs ranked high by the number of times being downloaded are favored by customers.会计知识
10. People follow the others to the same extent whether it is convenient or not.cultureshock
outlander
11. Items sold in some Japane stores are simply chon according to the sales data of other shops.
12. Swarm intelligence can also be obrved in everyday life.
Answer keys：
1. 答案：（freshly baked） bread. （第1段第2⾏：Shoppers know that filling a store with the aroma of freshly baked bread makes people feel hungry and persuades them to buy more food than they intended.）
shao 2. 答案：expensive. （第1段第4⾏： Stocking the most expensive products at eye level makes them ll faster than cheaper but less visible competitors.）
3. 答案：impul buying. （第2段第1句：At a recent conference on the simulation of adaptive behaviour in Rome，Zeeshan-ul-hassan Usmani， a computer scientist from the Florida Institute of Technology， described a new way to increa impul buying using this phenomenon.）
4. 答案：other （tempting） goods/things/products. （第2段第2句：Supermarkets already encourage shoppers to buy things they did not reali they wanted： for instance， by placing everyday items such as milk and eggs at the back of the store， forcing shoppers to walk past other tempting goods to reach them.）
queenie 5. 答案：screen. （第3段第4⾏：As a customer walks past a shelf of goods， a screen on the shelf tells him how many people currently in the shop have chon that particular product. If the number is high， he is more likely to lect it too.）
6. 答案：discounts. （第4段第第1句：Mr Usmani‘s “swarm-moves” model appeals to supermarkets becau it increas sales without the need to give people discounts.）
7. 答案：NO. （第4段第3、4句：The model has not yet been tested widely in the real world， mainly becau radio frequency identification technology is new and has only been installed experimentally in some supermarkets. But Mr Usmani says that both Wal-Mart in America an Tesco in Britain are interestd in his workd， and testing will get under way in the spring. 短语 “get under way”的意思是“开始进⾏”，在Wal-Mart的试验要等到春天才开始）
8. 答案：NOT GIVEN. （在⽂中没有提及该信息）
9. 答案：YES. （第5段第3句：The reachers found that when people could e the songs ranked by how many times they have been downloaded， they followed the crowd.）
10. 答案：NO. （第5段最后两句：When the songs are not ordered by rank， but the number of tim
低值易耗品科目
es they had been downloaded was displayed， the effect of social influence was still there but was less pronounced. People thus follow the herd when it is easy for them to do so. pronounced的词义是“显著的、明显的”）
11. 答案：YES. （第6段第1句：In Japan a chain of convenience shops called RanKing RanQueen has been ordering its products according to sales data from department stores and rearch companies.）
12. 答案：YES. （最后⼀段最后⼀句：Even in the privacy of your home， you can still be part of the swarm. home应该算是everyday life的⼀部分）
