Faculty News

Professor Adam Alter underscores brick-and-mortar retailers' advantages over online retailers

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Excerpt from The New Yorker -- "'In part, it’s the distinction between browsing and searching,' Adam Alter, an associate professor of marketing at N.Y.U., said. 'You can’t browse online very well. There isn’t room for serendipity online.' There’s no thrill of the hunt when you can bring up something instantly on Amazon, but out in the world, as we browse the shelves at a bookstore or a record shop, we get a randomized reward similar to a gambling win when we find something that we suddenly have to buy, Alter said."

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