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Using in-store ambulatory eye-tracking, the authors investigate the extent to which lateral and vertical biases drive consumers' attention in a grocery store environment. The data set offers a complete picture of both where the shopper is located and the shopper's field of view and visual fixations during the trip. The authors address two research questions: First, do shoppers have a higher propensity to pay attention to products on their left or right side as they traverse an aisle (i.e., is the right side the \"right\" side)? Second, do shoppers tend to pay more attention to products at their eye level (i.e., is eye level \"buy level\")? The authors utilize the exogenous variations in the direction by which shoppers traverse an aisle to identify lateral bias. The exogenous variation of shoppers' eye-level positions is used to identify vertical bias. The authors find that shoppers pay more attention to products on their right side when traversing an aisle. Contrary to many practitioners' belief, eye level is not \"buy level\"; rather, the product level that has the greatest propensity to capture shoppers' attention is approximately 14.7 inches below eye level (which is around chest level).

In many retail contexts, social interaction plays an important role in the shopping process. We propose a three-stage dynamic linear model that captures the influence of group discussion on shopper behavior within a hierarchical Bayes framework. The model is tested using a video tracking and transaction dataset from a specialty apparel store. The research reveals that group conversations have a significant impact on the shopper’s department or “zone” choice, purchase likelihood, and spending over time. This group influence is magnified by the size of the group (particularly for zone penetration and purchase conversion), and is also moderated by group composition and cohesiveness. The conversations of mixed-age groups and groups who stay together while shopping have a significant influence on shopper behavior across all three stages, while discussions by adult groups exhibit a marginal carryover effect for purchase conversion. When shoppers have repeated discussions in a specific department, they are more likely to return to and buy from this department, while the cumulative number of discussions in the store drives higher spending levels. We also observe that group shoppers visit more departments than their solo counterparts; and mixed-age groups and solo shoppers are more likely to buy than adults-only or teen groups. This study has important implications for how retailers manage shopper engagement and group interaction in their stores.

This research investigates how the social elements of a retail store visit affect shoppers' product interaction and purchase likelihood. The research uses a bivariate model of the shopping process, implemented in a hierarchical Bayes framework, which models the customer and contextual factors driving product touch and purchase simultaneously. A unique video tracking database captures each shopper's path and activities during the store visit. The findings reveal that interactive social influences (e.g., salesperson contact, shopper conversations) tend to slow the shopper down, encourage a longer store visit, and increase product interaction and purchase. When shoppers are part of a larger group, they are influenced more by discussions with companions and less by third parties. Stores with customers present encourage product interaction up to a point, beyond which the density of shoppers interferes with the shopping process. The effects of social influence vary by the salesperson's demographic similarity to the shopper and the type of product category being shopped. Several behavioral cues signal when shoppers are in a potentially high need state and may be good sales prospects.

Retailers are interested in understanding the amount of attention grocery shoppers pay to price information at the point of purchase, as price attention is an important determinant of price perception and purchase behavior. We utilize in-store ambulatory eye-tracking devices to directly measure the extent to which shoppers pay attention to price information as they shop for and consider grocery items for purchase. We find that shoppers visually fixate on price information in roughly 62 % of their considerations. Interestingly, the propensity of price attention changes dynamically during the course of a shopping trip, following an “inverted-U” pattern which peaks about two-thirds of the way through the trip. In addition, while the presence of a price promotion and a larger number of price tags encourage higher levels of price attention, higher purchase frequency is associated with lower levels of price attention. Our findings have important implications for retailers’ pricing strategies. [Display omitted]

For companies to realize the benefits of recent innovations in customer interface technology, they need to understand the value consumers place on technology as part of the shopping process. A national survey of 2,120 online consumers was conducted to explore how people want to shop in both online and in-store environments and determine how interactive and conventional media work together to move consumers through the purchase process. The study investigated 128 different aspects of the shopping experience, from common elements to recent innovations. The results indicated that consumers are generally satisfied with the convenience, quality, selection, and value provided by retailers today. They are less satisfied with the level of service provided, the availability of product information, and the speed of the shopping process. The findings suggest that new technologies can enhance the shopping experience, but applications must be tailored to the unique requirements of consumer segments and product categories.

This article provides a theoretical framework for understanding the communicative effects of product imagery on attention to the brand, specifically, the attentional effects of incorporating a picture or illustration of the product on the packaging of the product. Empirical results from a virtual reality simulation show that package pictures increase shoppers' attention to the brand. However this effect is contingent, occurring only for low familiarity brands (private-label brands) within product categories that offer a relatively high level of experiential benefits. These results suggest that package pictures may be especially useful for private label brands and or lesser tier national brands whose strategic objectives are to improve consumers' perceptions of the brand and enter the consideration set.

Actual supermarket purchases made by consumers over a seven-month period are compared with the choice decisions collected in one sitting in a laboratory simulation. The laboratory simulation was designed to mimic the original market environment. Although there were systematic biases in predictions of true purchase behavior from the simulated data, the \"compressed simulations\" were reasonably valid in predicting market shares and promotion sensitivity for brands across consumers.

This article reports the results of three experiments that examine memory interference in an advertising context. In Experiment 1, consumer memory for a brand's advertising was inhibited as a result of subsequent exposure to ads for other products in that manufacturer's product line and ads for competing brands in the product class. Experiment 2 demonstrates analogous proactive interference effects. The results of Experiment 3 indicate that the presence of advertising for competitive brands changes the relationship between ad repetition and consumer memory. Repetition had a positive effect on recall only when there was little or no advertising for similar products.

The Internet has generated a tremendous level of excitement. High-technology stocks are have soared on investors' expectations of the creation of new wealth and the transformation of existing businesses. Some of the most sensational predictions have been made with regard to electronic commerce. However, the Internet is only one of many tools available to manufacturers and retailers for advertising, selling, and distributing their products to customers. Marketers are most likely to use the Internet in cases where its unique characteristics make it a viable and attractive substitute for the functions of traditional channel intermediaries. Because of its ability to transform information quickly and inexpensively, the Internet will have the greatest impact on marketing communications, a moderate effect on sales transactions, and a minimal impact on logistics. The reasons why it has been so difficult to forecast the impact of new communication technologies on retailing are explored. The ways in which existing retailers might respond to this new technology are discussed.