What can the invention of the shopping cart teach us about persuasion?
Subject: Social Proof - Goldman’s Shopping Cart
Event: Birthday of grocer Sylvan Goldman, 1898
To function, individuals rely not only on knowledge stored within our skills but also on knowledge stored elsewhere: in our bodies, in the environment, and especially in other people. -Steven Soman and Philip Fernbach
Today is the birthday of grocer Sylvan Goldman in 1898. Observing customers shopping in his grocery stores in Oklahoma in the 1930s, Goldman noticed a problem: his customers stopped buying groceries as soon as their handheld baskets became full. To create more carrying capacity and more sales of groceries, Goldman created folding carts with wheels, which allowed customers to move and shop more freely. The only problem was that the shopping carts were such a novelty that none of the customers would use them.
In order to get his customers to use the carts, Goldman needed a strategy that would show his customers the utility of the carts. To do this he hired a number of people to pose as shoppers, pushing the wheeled carts through the store. Goldman’s plan worked, and soon his customers began to use the carts. Not only that, Goldman sold his carts to grocery stores across the nation, making millions.
In his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert B. Cialdini tells Goldman’s story as a classic example of social proof, the psychological principle that says that “we determine what is correct by finding out what other people think is correct.” Therefore, Goldman’s strategy was so effective because his shoppers became more comfortable with shopping carts once they saw other people using them.
Humans are social animals, and we survived as a species for thousands of years by operating and living in groups. Today, therefore, whether we realize it or not we possess a herd instinct that makes us feel better when we are mirroring the behavior of others. This is why some comedy programs have a laugh track and why so many products are marketed based on their popular appeal. Both fashion and fads are fueled by social proof.
Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason: How we can use Goldman’s shopping cart and the laugh track of a television comedy to illustrate the meaning of social proof?
Challenge - Supermarket, Superpersuasion: Think about how marketers use social proof to sell other items you might put in your shopping cart. Take a trip to a supermarket. Look at the signs and read the words on the packaging. What is a good example of how marketers attempt to make a sale by persuading you that other people are buying and using the product?
Sources:
1-Cialdini, Robert B. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. New York: Harper Business, 2021.
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