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Marketing Buzz 07/02 A retail lab to figure out how shoppes shop and saving money after the postal rate hike

By Nichole L. Torres

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Spy Games

Tina Wilcox knows shoppers--and it's her mission to helpretailers get to know shoppers as well. Wilcox, founder of FAME, aretail brand agency in Minneapolis, has created a retail lab whereshe and her clients watch how consumers shop in a real storesetting. Her laboratory is a home and gift store called Once Famousin downtown Minneapolis equipped with cameras,microphones and anobservation room behind mirrored glass. (Recordings are alwaysannounced to customers.)

Since opening the store in 2001, Wilcox has observed interestingthings about shoppers: They buy blue and green items the most,women gravitate toward the left side of the store while men tend togo to the right, women tend to humanize objects (such as "Icame to visit my painting"), and shoppers will pay more for aproduct in a more upscale environment.