Finger Out Those Eyeballs, Retailers

Watching the ways in which your shoppers move their eyes gives you clues toward figuring out what interests those shoppers. Researchers at University of Minnesota and Chinese University of Hong Kong find this extends to what your shoppers will be interested in later in their shopping trip. Eyeball movement patterns persist. If a consumer tends to look toward the left or look upwards early in the shopping trip, it becomes more likely they’ll be gazing in that same direction later in the trip.
     Further still, the researchers found that finger movements often go in tandem with eyeball movements. The shopper who reaches toward the right when picking up the initial items tends to gaze rightwards when evaluating the rest of the items on the shopping list.
     Usually, people look at and reach for items that favorably impress them. In fact, the cause-and-effect goes in both directions. In the Minnesota/Hong Kong studies, when shoppers looked at items if only because of the carryover movement habit, the shoppers came to rate those items more favorably.
     Put together, these research conclusions emphasize the value of observing shoppers. However, in using the findings, avoid two traps: First, the observation should be subtle or it will spook the shopper. Second, be aware that the interest shown in an item as evidenced in eyeball and finger movements is not always a positive interest. Neuropsychological research at Copenhagen Business School and the Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance discovered that shoppers have enhanced perception of disliked items.
     The researchers began by asking a group of consumers to evaluate their preferences for 104 well-known brand names. Next, study participants were individually shown the brand names, one at a time, for brief intervals and asked to state for each, whether what was shown produced “a clear experience” of seeing it, “a vague experience,” or “no experience.”
     Those brand names a consumer had rated most favorably were the most likely to later receive ratings of being seen clearly. They were seen more clearly than those brands the person rated negatively or neutral.
     But there was another finding: Those brands rated negatively were more likely to have been seen clearly than those with a neutral rating.
     When a retailer notices a shopper looking at an item, the retailer might assume the shopper especially likes that item. However, the truth is that the item might have drawn eyeballs because of negative reactions.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

Click below for more: 
Analyze What Your Shoppers Say and Do
Look It Up: Abstract Benefits Above Shoppers
Keep Your Eye on Merchandising to the Right
Raise Your Right Hand Awareness
Assume Higher Anchors for Right-Side Items
Bifurcate the Implications of Eye Magnets