NSSF Report: Mobile Eye Helps Explain What Truly Attracts Customers
National Shooting Sports Foundation 04.23.14
To assist its member companies in better understanding their customer’s shopping experience, the National Shooting Sports Foundation has issued a new report whose findings are based on the use of mobile eye-tracking technology to reveal what really attracts shoppers to products.
The report—“In-store Shopper Research: An Application of Mobile Eye-Tracking and Post-Shop Surveys”—will help manufacturers and retailers make better-informed decisions about packaging and displaying products.
“Turning shoppers into loyal customers is both a science and an art,” said Jim Curcuruto, NSSF Director, Industry Research and Analysis. “This project used technology that literally tracked shoppers, through their eye movement, to determine what products and displays they were most attracted to.”
The report, available for free download to NSSF business members, was conducted by Informed Decisions Group, Inc. using proprietary mobile-eye tracking technology. Recruited shoppers wore specially equipped eyeglasses that monitored their visual attention and tracked and recorded retina movement when shopping for firearms, ammunition and other products in a retail shop. “Eye-tracking research has proven to be of great value to marketers,” said Curcuruto. “It is a valuable tool in improving visual marketing efforts.”
Such research reveals that for each additional second of visual attention a product can attract at retail, its odds of purchase increase anywhere between 43 and 550 percent. The tracking system also shows that what shoppers say they look at is often quite different from what they actually looked at. “This and other insights contained in the report are things marketers need to know,” said Curcuruto.
Manufacturers and retailers can learn why some brands are able to break through shelf clutter and engage shoppers for longer periods, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of certain types of retailer displays, such as the peg-type wall displays of firearms.
The report also includes a post-shopping survey that helps explain shopper behavior and client knowledge.
NSSF members interested in customized research using mobile eye technology can take advantage of a 25 percent discount on initial research by Informed Decisions Group. Inc. NSSF members should contact IDG’s Susan Johnston at sjohnston@idg-consulting.comor 440-454-0399 to learn more.
