Paco Underhill

Paco Underhill is the founder and Managing Director of Envirosell, a New York-based global research and consulting firm, and one of the world’s foremost experts on consumer shopping behavior. His groundbreaking book Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping has been published in 27 languages and has sold more copies than any other retail book in history, establishing him as the leading authority on the science of how and why people shop.

Pioneering Consumer Research
Paco has spent more than 25 years conducting research on shopping behavior, helping stores, banks, consumer product manufacturers, cultural institutions, and commercial space developers understand what motivates today’s consumers. His research reveals how factors like gender, human anatomy, sensory experience, and the physical layout of spaces shape purchasing decisions and customer engagement.

Media Authority on Retail
Paco is a regular contributor to NPR and BBC Radio, with columns and editorials appearing in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, London Times, and Christian Science Monitor. He and Envirosell have been profiled by The New Yorker, Fortune, Fast Company, Business Week, and Smithsonian Magazine, and featured on ABC’s 20/20 and CBS’s 48 Hours. His second book, Call of the Mall: The Geography of Shopping, was published by Simon and Schuster.

Keynote Topics
Paco speaks on consumer behavior, the future of retail, customer experience design, and the science behind why people buy.

What does Paco Underhill speak about?

Paco Underhill is the founder of Envirosell and one of the world’s foremost experts on consumer shopping behavior, having invented much of the methodology behind modern in-store consumer research over a four-decade career. He speaks on consumer behavior, retail trends, and the future of shopping, drawing on his bestseller Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, published in 27 languages and the subject of Malcolm Gladwell’s landmark 1996 New Yorker profile.

What is Paco Underhill’s background?

Paco Underhill is known for: Founder of Envirosell, author of four Simon & Schuster titles including Why We Buy and the newly released How We Eat, subject of Malcolm Gladwell’s 1996 New Yorker profile “The Science of Shopping,” currently booking through 2027.

Who books Paco Underhill to speak?

Meeting planners book Paco Underhill for retail and consumer-behavior conferences that want the person who literally invented the observational research methodology the entire field now uses.

Consumer Behavior

Retail Trends

Shopping Patterns

Positioning

Financial and Banking consumer trends

The Consumer of the 21st Century

Marketing