Additional menu

retailgeek.com

Retail, E-Commerce and Shopper Marketing

Recommended Books

Building this list was hard. I love books, and there are many books that have been very influential to my own thinking and career. Sadly, when people ask how to succeed in our industry today, I don’t recomend many books. In general, the publishing cycle is too slow to be relavent for most current topics, and the ecconomics of the publishing industry mosty discourage the people I’d like to hear from, from writing a book.

That being said, there are a few categories of books that have stood the test of time for me.

Disclosure: All links are Amazon affiliate links (if you buy from them I get a small fee, it’s fine if you prefer to support a different seller)

Psychology and Behavioral Economics

Unlike trendy topics that change all the time, this gets to the fundamental way in which humans make purchase decisions. I use the princiapls from this book every day for my entire career, and wish I had understood them much earlier. This is the order I’d read them in:

  • Influence – Robert Cialdini: The seminal book on persuasion, outlining six timeless principles of influence: Reciprocity, Commitment/Consistency, Social Proof, Authority, Liking, and Scarcity. Cialdini, a social psychologist, explains each principle with fascinating examples of how marketers, fundraisers, salespeople (and even con artists) use these tactics to prompt a “Yes. Readers learn why we feel obliged to return favors, how our need to appear consistent can be exploited, or why limited-time offers are so enticing. It was intended to be a “know your enemy” manual to guard against manipulation but has become the goto guide for ethically influencing others. We use all of these in every commerce experience, but Social Proof in particular has emerged as a critical factor to understand for commerce. If you want to understand the psychology that sales and marketing professionals have relied on for decades, this classic is a must-read.
  • Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman: A deep dive into the two systems of thought that shape our judgment – the fast, intuitive System 1 and the slow, deliberate System 2. Kahneman is the only  Nobel laureate on my list, and he explains how our quick, automatic thinking often leads to biases and errors (like overconfidence or anchoring), even as our slower analytical side believes we’re being rational. Packed with decades of research and real-world examples, this book helps readers recognize when to trust their gut and when to question it. It’s ideal for those interested in understanding and improving their decision-making processes.
  • Decoded – Phil Barden: A practical guide to the science behind why we buy, translating cutting-edge research in psychology and neuroscience into marketing strategy. Barden “decodes” purchasing decisions by explaining how consumers perceive value, reward, and pain, and how brands can align with our goals and motivations. He breaks down real case studies (like effective ads and package designs) to illustrate concepts such as implicit associations and cognitive biases in action. It’s an insightful read for marketers who want to ground their work in evidence – or for curious consumers interested in how their brain reacts to branding, pricing, and advertising tricks.
  • Misbehaving – Richard Thaler: A lively chronicle of the rise of behavioral economics, showing how real people often misbehave (act irrationally) in ways traditional economics can’t explain. Thaler shares entertaining experiments and anecdotes from his career to illustrate cognitive biases and quirks – from mental accounting to loss aversion – that consistently drive our decisions away from “rational” models. This book offers both the backstory and the big ideas of behavioral economics, helping readers understand why we really do what we do with money and choices.
  • What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You – Melina Palmer: Translates behavioral economics into straightforward advice for businesses looking to better understand their customers’ minds. Palmer explains concepts like loss aversion, anchoring, and the pain of paying, then shows how to apply them ethically to marketing, pricing, product design, and customer experience. Each chapter tackles a different psychological principle with plenty of real-world business examples. It’s like a cheat-sheet for using brain science to design offerings that feel right to customers – perfect for marketers, product managers, or small business owners who suspect their customers’ decisions are driven by more than what they say in surveys.
  • Predictably Irrational – Dan Ariely: Explores the hidden forces that shape our decisions, revealing that our choices are far less logical than we like to believe. Ariely uses witty experiments to uncover common behavioral quirks – such as why we overvalue “free” things, procrastinate against our better judgment, or succumb to context in pricing. Each chapter delivers relatable examples of our predictable irrationality, making it a fun and enlightening guide for anyone curious about the mental traps that lead us astray (and how to avoid them).
  • The Paradox of Choice – Barry Schwartz: Examines how having too many options can actually lead to anxiety, indecision, and dissatisfaction. Schwartz uses both psychological research and real-life examples (like supermarket product overload or endless dating app profiles) to show that more choice isn’t always better. He introduces the idea of “satisficers” vs “maximizers” and suggests that sometimes limiting options or settling for “good enough” leads to greater happiness. In recently years, some of the studies cited in this book have been partially debunked, and the actual answer on optimal assortment turns out to be more complicated, but this book will make you think.
  • Contagious – Jonah Berger: Explores what makes certain ideas, products, or content go viral and get passed along by word of mouth. Berger distills the formula into six key principles (captured by the acronym STEPPS), such as Social Currency (we share things that make us look good), Triggers (we talk about what’s top-of-mind), and Emotion (we share what we care about). Each principle is brought to life with entertaining examples – from why a $100 cheesesteak became a sensation to how a blender’s “Will It Blend?” videos took off. If you’re looking to understand the secret sauce behind buzz and viral marketing, this book provides research-backed answers in a fun, story-driven way.
  • The Art of Thinking Clearly – Rolf Dobelli An easier read than the others on this list, it’s a handy catalog of 99 common cognitive errors and biases that cloud our thinking. Each short chapter describes a single mental pitfall – such as survivorship bias, the sunk cost fallacy, or confirmation bias – with everyday examples of how it leads us astray. Dobelli’s style is clear and concise, making complex ideas accessible. This is a great pick for readers who enjoy bite-sized lessons and want to recognize (and avoid) the frequent mistakes we all make in reasoning, investing, business, and life in general.

Retail Biographies

I’m adicted to this genre, and can recomded dozens of retail and brand corporate biographies. But these four rise to the top in terms of being both highly engaging stories, that also teach us a lot about how great leaders saw a disruption and solved for a lot of novel problems to develope the recipies that most of us follow today.

  • Sam Walton Made in America by Sam Walton – Mr Sam invented discount retailing and created a lot of our best practices along the way. Still highly relevant today, the smartest retailer leaders I know re-read this every year. It’s required reading before you visit Bentonville.
  • The Everything Store – Brad Stone The biggest disruption to commerce is our lifetime is digital, and Jeff Bezos and the Amazon team were the first to really figure it out and pretty nearly perfected it. Brad Stone tells the definitive version of the story.