What Retailers Can Learn from Humans

Shopping is sensory. You’re drawn into a store when you see its window display. You walk in. It smells clean. You’re greeted by a human with a smile. You hear music, chatter, footfall. You gravitate toward certain colors or textures or reflective surfaces. Or a mannequin with a cool hat. When all’s said and done — and touched and tried on — you maybe take something home. Or maybe it was all just an experience; a day of discovery.

It doesn’t matter if you’re shopping for a connected security camera, a silk blouse, or nothing in particular, part of the magic of in-person browsing—aka offline shopping—is the experience. It’s tactile. Physical products housed in physical stores beg to be physically handled. Otherwise, why shop offline at all?

The Art of Touching a Cactus: A Metaphor

My whole childhood I was told not to touch. To stop touching and to put that down. I was young, with arguably less adept handling skills, and things were delicate and expensive — like china and tchotchkes at my grandmother’s house — or super dangerous — like firearms and cacti at my uncle’s. Let’s discuss the cacti.

One night my twenty-something uncle threw a party for adults and included his two elder sisters—my mom and aunt—both of whom were married with three children apiece, ranging in age from three to 11 years old. I was six. Super non-ideal for my uncle, I’m sure. But we kids were excited.

Our moms knew better and went into the whole thing with their typical malaise and trepidation. There was the lecture about being quiet. Standard. With the obvious we-won’t-stand-for-rambunctiousness add-on. We expected it. And of course the final DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING YOU SEE schtick.

Yeah, we get it. We’ve been unwanted at adult parties before.

But there was more. It wasn’t just DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING YOU SEE, it was especially and explicitly do not touch the cacti. If we were to see a cactus, we were to stand down. Immediately and without question.

We all gave our word.

Upon arrival I immediately noticed something alluring: a cactus-like object in a small pot.

If those downy red spots were as velveteen as they appeared, by my logic, the plant technically wouldn’t be off limits because cacti are spiny and sharp and dangerous, and this most definitely wasn’t any of those things. And if it weren’t technically a cactus, it technically could be touched.

Within moments of arriving at the party, I tested my theory and also my fate: I touched the cactus-like object with bright red spots.

Let me start by saying this: Nature has a long, storied relationship with the color red. It means a number of things in the wild, including: poison, danger, and I’m a bold, powerful animal. But other times it means ripe and sweet. So six-year-old me hedged a poorly calculated bet.

Through the power of touch, I discovered that the cactus-like object was, in fact, a bona fide cactus, albeit one masquerading deceptively as something far more inviting.

Was I in pain? Yes. Was I in trouble? Far more so.

Humans Discover by Touching Both Dangerous and Non-Dangerous Things

The moral of the story, cacti notwithstanding, is humans are tactile. We touch to learn and discover new things, even if what we take away is don’t touch that again. Simply put, touching is how we experience the world. Restricting it—due to convenience or rules—won’t make us want to do it any less.

The human desire to touch also explains why experiential shopping is rapidly becoming the next big thing in offline retail. Layer on top of that the fact that consumers are beginning to desire experiences over stuff. This isn’t to say stuff is no longer needed or wanted; rather that consumers’ discretionary spending is more likely to go toward a great meal or concert than a new outfit or gadget.

That is, of course, unless retailers can figure out a way to capture offline consumers’ interest with experiences that make discovering and shopping for stuff sensory again.

Online shopping was never meant to be engaging (or fun), it was meant to be convenient. And for those who say the same of offline shopping — that it’s not fun — I hear you. Shopping for things in boxes makes no sense. But a great experience with a product you can actually touch and try is, and as much as retailers can facilitate those experiences in a physical environment, the more they’ll see people shopping for just that.