Posted on: January 12th, 2010 by Reuben Turner

If you’re in the Eastbourne area in the next few weeks I’ve got a hot shopping tip for you. Farah cardigans are on sale at the TJ Hughes department store for just £15.99.

I snapped one up on a day trip there over Christmas. For one thing, Farah cardigans represent an important era of my youth when 15-year olds uniformly wanted to dress like portly middle-aged golfers – all Farah slacks, Pringle sweaters and Lacoste loafers. It was a style everyone aspired to and few could afford on a paper round.

For another, I love a bargain. Go to Oxford Street this afternoon and a Farah cardie will set you back about eighty notes.

Why? Because the same humble (and it really is humble) cardie appeals to two different audiences in two distinctly different contexts.

One is retired accountants who still manage nine holes now and again, wear comfortable slacks and like to wrap up warm – men who used to shop at ‘gentlemens’ outfitters’ when they still existed. The other is label-obsessed trendy slackers. They still have an outfitters, and it’s called Urban Outfitters.

Consider me at TJ Hughes and the next person in the queue to buy a Farah cardie (on sale at £15.99, remember). Same behaviour (same cardie), completely different motivations and values. What would the transactional data tell you about these decisions? Very little. The reasons for me buying that cardie at TJ Hughes are rich, complex and contradictory. I’d like to pretend the reasons the next chap bought one are simpler – but the truth is, they’re probably not.

Transactions are simple. Sometimes they’re all we have to go on. But the motivations behind them are messy, complex and human.

Don’t read too much into transactions. I can’t stand golf.