Communicating nutrition information at the point of purchase: An eye‐tracking study of shoppers at two grocery stores in the United States

Providing nutrition information at the point of purchase is one approach that can be used to help consumers adopt and maintain a healthy diet. Previous research has examined consumer self‐reported notice and use of the information as well as how the design of the information affects its attention and use in a laboratory environment using eye‐tracking methodology. This study advances the literature by applying eye‐tracking methodology to explore consumer visual and choice behavior in a real shopping environment, and by recognizing that nutrition information competes with other visual stimuli in the store and consumers are vulnerable to a “limited attention span” for nutrition information in a shopping setting. Data came from a cross‐sectional survey conducted in two grocery stores in the United States in July 2014 with a convenience sample of 60 grocery shoppers while they were selecting and buying items from one of three product categories (ready‐to‐eat cereal, snacks, and soup). The study finds that point‐of‐purchase nutrition information faced strong competition for participants’ attention from other visual elements in a real shopping environment and the attention is dominated by nonnutrition elements, particularly brand/product name, product imagery, and product pricing. Nutrition‐related information, on the other hand, received much less attention, with claims and front‐of‐package nutrition symbols seen by more participants than the Nutrition Facts label. The study suggests that to more effectively enable nutrition information to “catch the eyes” of shoppers at the point of purchase, increasing consumer exposure to the information and enhancing shopper education may merit further investigation.     

Product classifications,consumer characteristics,and patronage preference for online auction

An important unanswered question in the area of Internet auctions is what dynamics influences consumer preferences for shopping on these online auctions. Two key aspects of studying what sells on the Internet auctions are (a) the characteristics of products to be purchased and (b) consumer characteristics. This research focuses on the relationship between product purchase preference, prior experience, and socioeconomic characteristics for the online auction participants. It uses product classification theory rooted in information economics and marketing. The study results are based on a US national sample of online auction participants. The findings suggest that product class affects online auction patronage, yet socioeconomic characteristics may not be as influential as once perceived. The online merchants can benefit from the inquiry to improve auctions for search, experience, and credence goods. The five key contributions of the findings add value to the theory and practice of consumer behavior.     

Window displays and consumer shopping decisions

Window displays are an ubiquitous and prominent but under-researched element of retail strategy. This paper explores how the store and product category information communicated by a store's windows are related to consumers’ shopping decisions, such as store entry and product purchase, and how these relationships vary for consumer segments that differ in terms of their knowledge of the retailer's product(s). Results of a study conducted in the context of clothing retailers demonstrate that the store entry decision is related both directly as well as indirectly (through acquisition of inferred, store-related information) to the acquisition of observed, store-related information from window displays. However, it is product category-related information (e.g. fashion and product-self fit) rather than store-related information (e.g. merchandise and store image) that is more strongly associated with the product purchase decision. Moreover, consumers with medium levels of clothing knowledge are more influenced by windows in their shopping decisions than those with low or high levels.     

Online Repurchasing: The Role of Information Disclosure,Hope, and Goal Attainment

The emergence of online purchasing has changed the relationship between consumers and brands. Our research focuses on online information disclosure and consumer hope in an online shopping environment. Two studies are undertaken to test the theoretically derived hypotheses. Study 1 evaluates the causal relationship between information disclosure and hope via an experiment in an online shopping context. Study 2 involves an online survey to test the nomological network presented in this research. The models identify the moderating effect of consumer product knowledge on online information disclosure and consumer hope. For academics, this research advances knowledge of how consumers' confidence in sharing personal information develops hope, consequently enabling them to attain their goals and repeat their purchases. For practitioners, it offers a better understanding of how investments are successful in aiding consumers to attain their goals and generate repeat purchase intentions in an online shopping environment.     

Omnichannel-based promotions’ effects on purchase behavior and brand image

This paper examines the effects of utilizing consumers’ digital shopping traces when designing in-store promotions on purchase behavior and brand image. In two experimental studies with 526 and 550 espondents, the authors examine the effects of omnichannel-based promotions (e.g. using digital shopping trace to offer a promotion when the consumer enters the physical store) in two different product categories (utilitarian vs. hedonic), spontaneous/planned purchases and two different retail industries (durable good vs. travel). The results show that retailers benefit from using digital shopping traces as it increases purchases and enhances brand imagery. The effects are moderated by product category and type of purchase.     

The role of the Internet on free-riding: An exploratory study of the wallpaper industry

This study discusses the role of the Internet on possible free-riding activities for product categories where retail services are a critical part of the completed consumer purchase transaction. The study investigates free-riding in terms of consumer pre-purchase activities during the information search stage (how they process shopping information) and actual purchase decisions with a literature review. The study's empirical findings indicate that full-service retailers’ beliefs about online consumers’ choice of purchase outlet are predominantly influenced by online retailer prices rather than availability of a variety of products (place) on the Internet. This, in turn, indicates the possibility of strong free-riding opportunities in the sample wallpaper market. The study, in this context, proposes strategies and policies to eliminate many of the destructive effects of the opportunities for free-riding provided by the Internet for long-lasting channel and market effectiveness and efficiency.     

Food shopping behavior in the Arabian Gulf region: a comparative study

In the context of an online apparel setting, this study examined the effects of amount of information and music on consumers’ affective states (i.e. pleasure and arousal) and cognitive states (i.e. perceived risk and attitude toward the site), which in turn may affect consumer shopping response (purchase intent). The moderating role of situational involvement with online shopping on the relationship between music/amount of information and affective/cognitive stateswas further examined. Results revealed significant effects for amount of information and music in relation to consumer situational involvement with online shopping. In addition, results revealed a significant effect for pleasure on perceived risk and attitude toward the site which in turn affected purchase intent. The findings of this study provide valuable managerial insights to online retailers by indicating the importance of the amount of information available on an apparel website. Additionally, this study is a springboard in determining the significant effect of music on affect and shopping responses on online shopping websites.     

Drivers of consumer adoption of e-Commerce: A meta-analysis

E-commerce has significantly reshaped consumers’ shopping processes and habits. The need to understand the key drivers of online shopping has received keen attention and fueled a rich strand of studies. To help managers and researchers synthesize this growing body of evidence, we conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis to unearth the factors that influence consumers’ online shopping. Our main takeaways reveal that the most important drivers of online shopping (a) conform to the TAM and TPB theories, in addition to (b) website characteristics and past experience. In particular, the multiple predictors are strongly related to online purchase intentions and purchase behavior, where attitude and convenience show the strongest impact. Furthermore, moderator analyses indicate that cultural traits have specific moderating effects on the links between purchase intention and some of its drivers. For instance, power distance and uncertainty avoidance have a positive effect, while individualism, indulgence and masculinity have a negative one. Finally, we apply meta-analytic structural equation modeling to test a conceptual framework including four groups of drivers (consumer–channel interactions, website characteristics, social influence, and consumer characteristics) and different aspects of online shopping. The findings provide valuable insights for online shopping research and practice.     

Use of persuasive techniques on Internet shopping sites

Huge strides in technological development combined with marketing strategies have led to dramatic changes in the way information is transmitted and communicated to the consumers, and subsequently used by the consumers. Information has become a dominant factor in determining why, where, what, and how consumers shop, process information, and make decisions. While marketing information has always been an important factor in consumer decision‐making, its provision on demand and added convenience via the Internet has created a need to research the nature and amount of information that these technologies provide. Advertisements use different forms of persuasion to gain consumer attention, meet their economic and emotional shopping needs, to create a positive image of the product, brand, and the shopping medium, and influence consumers to purchase the product. Persuasion may be classified as functional congruity and self‐congruity routes to persuasion (Johar & Sirgy, 1991). Fifty websites were studied for utilitarian and value‐expressive forms of persuasion by product differentiation. The websites were classified as those selling tangible products only and those selling intangible products only, and those selling both tangible and intangible products. The paper will present results of the study along with a discussion and conclusion with implications on consumer well‐being.     

Conceptualizing smart shopping with a smartphone: implications of the use of mobile devices for shopping productivity and value

This conceptual paper addresses the implications of the use of mobile devices in an omni-channel retail environment for consumer shopping productivity and shopping value. We reconsider the existing literature on shopping productivity and adopt the perspective of bounded rationality paradigm rather than the classical assumption of customers’ perfect rationality. It enables us to consider both maximizers (those who seek the best outcome) and satisficers (those who stop their information search as soon as an appropriate option is available). After a thorough review of shopping productivity literature, we propose a conceptualization of shopping productivity including four dimensions: time/effort savings, right purchase, money savings, and hedonic benefits from shopping. We then present a conceptual framework relating use of mobile devices in an omni-channel retail environment to consumer shopping productivity and shopping value. The type of goods and consumer tendency to maximize are included in the framework as possible antecedents of the use of mobile devices in an omni-channel retail environment and moderators of the relation between consumer shopping productivity and shopping value.     

The influence of college students' shopping orientations and gender differences on online information searches and purchase behaviours

Using the data collected from a survey of 1277 US college students, this study investigated college students' shopping orientations, and examined the relationships between their shopping orientations and searches for information about and purchases of apparel products online and the differences between male and female students in their shopping orientations, online information searches and purchase experiences. Seven shopping orientation constructs were identified: shopping enjoyment, brand/fashion consciousness, price consciousness, shopping confidence, convenience/time consciousness, in‐home shopping tendency and brand/store loyalty. Results showed that participants' shopping orientations were significantly related to their searches for information about and purchases of apparel items online. In addition, male and female participants showed significant differences in their shopping orientations, online information searches and purchase experiences. This study provided suggestions for apparel e‐tailors to develop effective marketing strategies to reach their target market, for consumer educators and for educators in the retail merchandizing area to prepare their students for future careers.     

Consumer product search and purchase behaviour using various retail channels: the role of perceived retail usefulness

The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of consumers' perceptions of retail usefulness for product information search and their previous purchase satisfaction on their frequencies of product information search and product purchase behaviours for apparel products. These relationships were investigated in five retail settings – Internet shopping, catalogue shopping, television shopping, local retail shopping, and non‐local retail shopping. One hundred seventy‐six students in a US Midwestern university provided usable responses. The results of causal model analyses showed that the proposed model fits the data well for all five retail channels. Consumers who perceived a certain retail channel more useful for product information search searched for product information more frequently via that retail channel, and purchased products more often via that retail channel. Consumers who were more satisfied with apparel purchases from a retail channel purchased the products more frequently via that retail channel. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Building Shopping Arousal through Direct Marketing in Retail Environment

This article attempts to analyze behavioral drivers which influence consumers’ leisure shopping behavior and measure customer value through empirical investigation in Mexico. The study reveals that outsourced salespeople significantly stimulate customer interest toward buying products and trigger shopping arousal. Product attractiveness and pre-purchase arousal generated by the sales promoters influences consumer buying decisions. The study reveals that pre-purchase arousal is felt by the consumers through product advertisements, inter-personal communications, and product simulations provided by the sales promoters. Consumers experience post-purchase arousal as an extended benefit associated with purchase of the product.     

Exploring the core factors of online purchase decisions by building an E-Commerce network evolution model

With the continuous development of the Internet and information technology, online shopping has become a popular purchase mode. The in-depth analysis of consumer decision-making in online shopping is an important issue. Our purpose is to study how the factors of the shopping web pages corporately affect online purchase decisions and determine which are the core factors that affect consumer purchase decisions. We screen the influencing factors on the shopping webpage and deploy e-commerce network evolution based on various weight combinations of these factors to generate sales distributions of online products. By comparing these simulated sales distributions to the real data, the optimal weight of each factor is obtained. The results show that sales volume and the number of high-quality negative comments are the most important factors influencing consumers' decision-making, the number of comments and the number of comments with pictures are relatively minor factors, store type and video presentation of the products have the least impact. The optimal simulated sales distribution is very close to the real case and verifies that the introduced network evolution technology is applicable. The proposed model can be used as a uniform evaluation platform for correlational study, which is an important link in the purchase research chain.     

Food shopping behaviour in Scotland: the influence of relative rurality

Despite a number of studies investigating consumer food purchase behaviour, few studies actually address the nature of the rural consumer. This may have implications for the generalization of much research on food purchase behaviour, as official estimates of the UK rural population vary between 8.5% and 24%. This paper compares and contrasts the food shopping behaviour of customers in rural and urban areas in Scotland. Particular focus is given on respondent characteristics, attitudes towards rural and urban locations, distance travelled for food shopping purposes and store patronage. Results from the research emphasize the notion that rural and urban retailing should be conceptualized as a continuum rather than being regarded as dichotomous, and a conceptual framework is proposed.     

Hedonic and utilitarian use of user-generated content on online shopping websites

The Internet has made it possible for consumers to share reviews, opinions, and thoughts about products and services on online shopping websites. This user-generated content (UGC), which can be considered to be part of social commerce, is likely to influence other consumers’ attitudes toward a product and subsequent purchase intentions. The purpose of this study was to investigate two major uses of UGC: hedonic and utilitarian, and how they impact purchase intentions, along with users’ trust for different types of comments and reviews. Also investigated are associations between hedonic use, utilitarian use, and trust, with purchase behavior at online shopping websites. Results of this study will add to the domain knowledge related to marketing and how it impacts consumer psychology and behavior. From a practitioner perspective, marketers need to understand the impact of UGC so they can monitor this method of marketing communication as it can impact trust and purchase intentions.     

Impact of different types of in-store displays on consumer purchase behavior

Research on consumer in-store shopping behavior does not account for the existence of different types of display locations (e.g. storefront, store rear, secondary, front end cap, rear end cap, and shelf displays). This article focuses on accounting for and understanding the impact of various displays on consumer purchase behavior based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) theory. Specifically, we study how displays closer to and farther from the main location of the focal category influence consumer purchase behavior. Furthermore, within the different types of displays we investigate the impact of specific types of displays on consumer's category purchase and brand choice and the moderating role of price and discounts. A hierarchical Bayesian model is estimated using scanner panel data for a large U.S. grocery chain that contains unique information on the number of product facings at multiple display locations within a store. We find that displays closer to the focal category have a larger impact, with front end cap displays having the largest impact on category purchase and shelf displays having the largest impact on brand choice. We also demonstrate the synergistic impact of price and discounts in enhancing the impact of displays on consumer purchase behavior and brand choice. Equipped with these findings we propose a display allocation optimization that results in an average increase in revenue of about 11.15% and a strategy to distribute displays across all locations in the store rather than letting one location dominate.     

Greater patience and monetary expenditure: How shopping with companions influences purchase decisions

Shopping with companions plays a crucial role in daily consumer activities. However, only a few studies have explored the influence of this factor on consumers’ patience. We conducted four studies, including two field studies, to investigate the effects of shopping with companions (e.g., friends and peers) on purchase decisions. We found that consumers exerted greater effort when shopping with friends and peers by spending more money and being willing to wait longer for a product. This effect could be explained by three mediators: positive emotions, negative emotions, and perceived value, in which the hedonic and social value, unlike the utilitarian value, played essential mediating roles. This study elucidates the underlying psychological processes involved in purchase decisions shaped by companions. Retailers should encourage shopping with companions to increase sales and customer retention.