What he will say when he gets home

At a household goods shop in Medina, much of the buying is done by people spending someone else's money.

A young man is sent by his mother for a new pressure cooker. A driver arrives with a list. A son-in-law is asked to pick up a gift before a family visit. None of them will use what they buy, and none of them paid for it. They are carrying it home to someone who did.

So the question in their heads is not which pot is best. It is what happens when they walk through the door. Will she ask why this one? Will it look cheap beside the old one? Will the aunt notice where it came from?

A shopkeeper who misses this sells on price and features, and loses to the shop down the road that is a little cheaper. A shopkeeper who sees it sells something else entirely: a sentence to take home. This is the one most families on this street buy. This is the size for Friday lunch with everyone at the table. This one has a two year guarantee, so keep the receipt in the box and show her.

That sentence is the real product. The pot comes with it.

When the buyer does not own the money, he is not looking for the best thing. He is looking for the safest story, one that protects him at home and makes him look careful and respected in front of the person who sent him.

If you cannot hand him that story, you are just another shelf with pots on it, and pots are everywhere.