Name: using a virtual store as a research tool to investigate consumer in-store behavior
Uploaded: 2017-07-24T12:30:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Using a Virtual Store As a Research Tool to Investigate Consumer In-store Behavior at JoVE.com

The authors would like to acknowledge the Royal Thai government, the European Regional Development Fund, and the Dutch provinces Gelderland and Overijssel (Grant number 2011P017004) for financial support. The content of the paper reflects only the views of the authors. The authors also appreciate help from Andrea Poelstra of GreenDino and Tobias Heffelaar of Noldus Information Technology for their valuable input on technical topics.

The protocol adheres to the &#34;Generic Protocol Food Choice Simulator,&#34; which complies with the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Scientific Practice and has been approved by the Social Sciences Ethics Committee of Wageningen University.
1. Setting Up the Virtual Store Equipment
<ol>
	<li>Prepare a sufficiently spacious location for the virtual store display. Prepare all equipment for both the virtual store and the data management program. 
	Note: The equipment includes two computer...

<ol>
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The virtual store is one of the more advanced computer technologies that have been developed to create virtual environments in which people can experience and react to close-to-reality objects. Generally, the desktop virtual store consists of user-friendly interfaces that require a short time to understand. However, a number of critical points need to be accounted for. First, clear research objectives are needed beforehand to specify the starting points when building the virtual store. This includes a plan about the prod...

It is undeniable that understanding consumers&#39; in-store behavior is of critical importance to achieve effective retail marketing. To aid in this understanding, advanced virtual reality technology, known as the virtual store, can enable studies of consumer behavior using computationally created virtual environments. The virtual-store approach uses a virtual reality system to generate realistic and immersive three-dimensional virtual store environments in which people can interact with the objects in the store. In such virtual store environments, people experience artificially created sensory experiences. Virtual store environments can be either realistic representations of store environments that exist in reality, or imaginary store environments. In addition, the virtual store can be seen as an intermediate tool between traditional consumer research (i.e., text-based surveys, focus groups, or lab experiments), controlled field experiments (i.e., in mock store environments), and field studies (i.e., video captures, personal observations, or tests of product sales promotion)1.
Virtual reality applications have considerable research history. As early as 1965, Sutherland2&#160;described his &#34;ultimate display&#34; concept, which includes a virtual world that provides sound and tactile feedback. Originally, attention was mainly focused on the technological hardware, but as this does not provide insights into the effects of virtual reality systems, attention has shifted to the human experience3,4. The sense of &#34;presence,&#34; of being in the computer-generated world, has consequently become a key to virtual-reality experiences5,6. Presence has been defined as the &#34;subjective experience of being in an environment, even when one is physically situated in another&#34;.7 From this point of view, &#34;sense of presence&#34; can be retrieved from a participant and refers to the extent to which a person perceives him/herself to be in an environment. Alternatively, Slater8 has distinguished between the concepts of presence and immersion, called &#34;place illusion&#34; (PI) and &#34;plausibility illusion&#34; (Psi). PI relates to having a sensation of being in a real place. It is assessed by a set of valid actions or responses that participants can perform to change their perceptions or the environment (e.g., moving the head and eye to change the gaze direction or grasping some object to move it). PI is high when a similar set of responses to change perceptions are required in the virtual reality system compared to the response expected in an equivalent physical environment. Psi accounts for what is perceived in the virtual reality, referring to the illusion that it is actually occurring. A vital component that can lead to Psi is for the virtual reality to provide the illusion that events in the virtual environment over which a participant does not have direct control refer directly to him/herself. Psi can be measured by tracing any actions or responses that people manifest in response to changes in the virtual reality that originated from outside. For example, if people&#39;s heart rates increase when they see an avatar in the virtual environment, this can represent a similar reaction to the real world. Thus, this virtual reality system provides high Psi.
The virtual store technology has been introduced in business and academics to serve several purposes. It can be used as a managerial aid, for instance to assist category managers of companies in developing a shelf plan for their products. Virtual stores also have their use in clinical settings, to measure emotional responses to food for patients with an eating disorder1 or as a screening tool for mild cognitive impairment9. A more common use of virtual stores in research, however, is to assess consumer in-store behavior and consumer responses to changes in the store environment, such as price changes10,11,12, different setups of point-of-sale displays13, different packaging options14, different nutritional labels on the backsides of product packages15, and stock levels16. In addition, the virtual store is currently used to help create and test public health interventions to stimulate healthier food choices among children17. Due to various benefits stated previously, virtual store technology and hardware are in rapid development. Therefore, this paper will focus on the human experience and describe the essential elements of studies using virtual reality in general. All essential information obtained from the current virtual store system will be demonstrated.
Currently available virtual store systems can be briefly categorized as: 1) non-immersive (e.g., desktop), 2) semi-immersive (e.g., projection, CAVE-systems), and 3) fully-immersive (e.g., head-mounted displays). Each system likely brings different levels of immersion, presence, PI, and Psi depending upon the support system. However, because the measures of immersion, presence, PI, and Psi are bound to the specific sensorimotor contingencies that each system supports, a comparison of these indicators across different systems has been deemed impossible8. In recent years, desktop virtual stores have received more attention and have been used increasingly in research. Even though the virtual store has been regarded as a promising tool for in-store consumer behavior research, expertise on how to use such a virtual store is required to ensure the timely and correct preparation and implementation of experiments. However, up to now, reported studies that comprehensively describe the procedure to conduct virtual store experiments are very scarce. Therefore, this work aims to describe a protocol for conducting consumer research with the desktop virtual store, which is of vital importance.
Generally, research with a virtual store requires: 1) equipment to display the virtual environment, 2) an editor program to enable researchers to build the virtual environment, 3) a virtual representation of the studied object (e.g., several elements of a store and products), 4) a consumer interface to navigate the virtual environment and make choices, 5) procedures for running the data collection itself, and 6) a data management system that facilitates data storage and analysis. Most of these will likely be managed by a virtual shop company and a programmer. Researchers should know: 1) how to create a retail store for an experiment in an editor program, 2) how to run data collection with the consumer interface, and 3) how to organize all outputs in the data management program and export outputs to be put into a statistical program. The current paper will address this information by giving detailed protocol steps for conducting experiments with the desktop virtual store. Additionally, advantages and limitations of using the virtual store in consumer research will be discussed. The detailed protocol described in this paper can be used to help researchers start and conduct virtual store research.
The desktop virtual store used in this paper requires hardware (i.e., personal computers (PC), liquid-crystal display (LCD) screens, a three-dimensional (3D) space navigator, a mouse, and a keyboard) and software (i.e., to design a shop and to shop like a consumer in a 3D virtual store). This particular system has been used in prior studies14,18.

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			<td height="63" style="height:63px;width:196px;">Virtual Supermarket Software</td>
			<td style="width:89px;">GreenDino BV</td>
			<td style="width:143px;">http://www.greendino.nl/virtual-labs.html</td>
			<td style="width:229px;">This software consists of editor, product library and consumer interface.&#160;</td>
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		<tr height="105">
			<td height="105" style="height:105px;width:196px;">Data Management Software: Observer XT&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:89px;">Noldus Information Technology</td>
			<td style="width:143px;">http://www.noldus.com/human-behavior-research/products/the-observer-xt&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:229px;">This software records observational data and facilitates the exportation of researcher-specified data sets using filters</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="130">
			<td height="130" style="height:131px;">3D SpaceNavigator</td>
			<td style="width:89px;">3Dconnexion</td>
			<td style="width:143px;">http://www.3dconnexion.eu/index.php?id=26&#38;redirect2=www.3dconnexion.eu</td>
			<td style="width:229px;">A 3D SpaceNavigator allows participants to walk and make turns in the virtual store. In addition, it can be used by participants to adjust their eye-level during a shopping trip.</td>
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			<td height="126" style="height:126px;width:196px;">3D moddeling software (e.g. Blender or 3DS Max)</td>
			<td style="width:89px;">Blender Foundation / Autodesk</td>
			<td style="width:143px;">https://www.blender.org/ http://www.autodesk.nl/products/3ds-max/overview</td>
			<td style="width:229px;">In case 3D models need to be made or adjusted 3D modeling software is needed. Many objects can be found online under different licencing agreements.&#160;</td>
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			<td height="105" style="height:105px;width:196px;">Contract Reseach&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:89px;">Wageningen Univeristy and Research</td>
			<td style="width:143px;">http://www.wur.nl/en/Expertise-Services/Research-Institutes/Economic-Research.htm</td>
			<td style="width:229px;">The socio-economic research institute (Wageningen Economic Research)&#160; with experience in conducting the consumer research with the virtual store.&#160;</td>
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using a virtual store as a research tool to investigate consumer in-store behavior

People&#39;s responses to products and/or choice environments are crucial to understanding in-store consumer behaviors. Currently, there are various approaches (e.g., surveys or laboratory settings) to study in-store behaviors, but the external validity of these is limited by their poor capability to resemble realistic choice environments. In addition, building a real store to meet experimental conditions while controlling for undesirable effects is costly and highly difficult. A virtual store developed by virtual reality techniques potentially transcends these limitations by offering the simulation of a 3D virtual store environment in a realistic, flexible, and cost-efficient way. In particular, a virtual store interactively allows consumers (participants) to experience and interact with objects in a tightly controlled yet realistic setting. This paper presents the key elements of using a desktop virtual store to study in-store consumer behavior. Descriptions of the protocol steps to: 1) build the experimental store, 2) prepare the data management program, 3) run the virtual store experiment, and 4) organize and export data from the data management program are presented. The virtual store enables participants to navigate through the store, choose a product from alternatives, and select or return products. Moreover, consumer-related shopping behaviors (e.g., shopping time, walking speed, and number and type of products examined and bought) can also be collected. The protocol is illustrated with an example of a store layout experiment showing that shelf length and shelf orientation influence shopping- and movement-related behaviors. This demonstrates that the use of a virtual store facilitates the study of consumer responses. The virtual store can be especially helpful when examining factors that are costly or difficult to change in real life (e.g., overall store layout), products that are not presently available in the market, and routinized behaviors in familiar environments.

The virtual store displayed using a PC with three 42-in LCD screens has been applied to examine the effects of supermarket layout on consumer shopping behavior (e.g., total shopping time, movement duration and speed, total number of products examined, and total number of products purchased) and perceived shopping experience. The virtual store enables the researcher to flexibly modify the attributes of store shelves (i.e., shelf length and shelf orientation) and to examin...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Using a Virtual Store As a Research Tool to Investigate Consumer In-store Behavior at JoVE.com

Using a Virtual Store As a Research Tool to Investigate Consumer In-store Behavior

This paper describes the use of a desktop virtual store to create virtual shopping environments to investigate in-store consumer behavior. A description of the protocol to build and run experiments, example results from an experiment concerning store layout, and important considerations when conducting virtual store experiments are presented.

People&#39;s responses to products and/or choice environments are crucial to understanding in-store consumer behaviors. Currently, there are various ...

The overall goal of this protocol is to provide information on when a virtual supermarket can be helpful in consumer research and how the virtual supermarket software can be used. The virtual store help answer key questions about how consumer respond to in-store marketing tactics, especially when these are difficult to share in real life, such as store layout. The main advantage of this technique is that the virtual store enable the study of in-store consumer behavior in a realistic and flexible, yet highly controlled environment.The relevance of the virtual store in studies of consumer behavior extends beyond traditional retailing, because virtual reality is not limited to actual or current shopping environments. Generally, individuals new to these methods will struggle because the virtual store consists of many features and functions. Visual demonstration of this method is critical, because preparation and data collection steps can be difficult to learn.Many details require expertise to ensure correct preparation and implementation. Begin by opening the virtual store builder interface by double-clicking on the VirtualShop editor icon on the desktop. Open a store template that is suitable for the study by clicking File and clicking Open.Select the desired store template. To make modifications to the store based on the experimental conditions and research plan, use the right mouse button and move the mouse to zoom in and out. Use the left mouse button and move the mouse to change the viewpoint.Replace existing products with products of interest by double-clicking on an existing product and subsequently pressing the Delete button on the keyboard to delete this product. Then, click on the blue arrow in the menu bar to open the product library. Click Product Category, and then select the product category of interest.For example, fruit. Drag a selected product by holding the left mouse button, and place the product on the desired shelf. To set up for the main experiment, first select the name of store condition on the ShopConfig box, and type the name of store environment in the Environment box, such as Supermarket001.Click on Reload shop to open the store for the main test. Then the Begin box will appear. Next, open the data management program on another computer.Create a new observation by clicking on Observe in the top menu bar, and then clicking on Observation and New. Name the observation and click OK.Start recording by pressing the red circle button, and fill in user-defined variables such as an experimental condition, then click OK.Ensure that the program starts recording data by checking that the status data plugin and status event plugin windows show green check marks, that time is elapsing, and that the number of sample column in the status data plugin window is growing. Now that the setup is ready for the main task, seat a participant who has already completed the practice task in front of the middle LCD screen and at a short distance from the middle screen.Adjust the chair until the participant's eye level matches the position of the screens. Next, instruct the participant to press Begin to start visiting the store. Inform the participant to use the joystick to move in the store or to change the level of eye view.Tell them to use the mouse to select, buy, or return products, and to select their walking direction at an intersection. Then leave the participant alone to shop without interruption. Check the data management program again to ensure that the data is recording by checking the status data plugin and the status event plugin windows, showing an increasing number of samples and events.Wait until the participant finishes shopping in the virtual store. Remind the participant to check the shopping cart by pressing F1, and to press Escape to complete the shopping task. Next, press the stop button of the data management program on the other computer to stop recording.Escort the participant to another area and have him or her fill out a questionnaire measuring their shopping experiences, perceptions about the store, and willingness to revisit the store. Finally, return to the data management program and click on the Visualize button to check the recorded data. Ensure that the graph and data of bought products are shown.Set up a data filter for the shopping-related behaviors by clicking Data Profile under the Analyses folder on the left menu column. Following that, select the Nest over Behaviors box under the Select Intervals heading, which will pop up the box of nested behaviors. Then, select all the behaviors of interest and click OK.Drag the nested behaviors box and drop it between the Start and Results boxes.Then ensure that all boxes are connected with arrows and that the Results box shows the correct number of observations. Under the Analyses folder, click on Behavior Analyses, and then click New Behavior Analysis to open the table of behavior-related results. Click on Calculate on the top left of the menu bar to extract the results.Ensure that the shopping behaviors for participant are shown in separate rows. Finally, click the Export button to export the data, and name the exported file. In this study, supermarket stores were built using four different layouts in which shelf length, short versus long shelves, and shelf orientation, paralleled versus unparalleled arrangements, were varied.Results indicated that when shelves were placed in parallel, the length of the shelves did not affect the number of products examined, nor the number of products purchased. In contrast, when the orientation of the shelves was unparalleled, shorter shelf lengths stimulated a higher number of products examined and purchased than longer shelf lengths. In addition to product choice behaviors, the virtual store also recorded the total shopping time and the walking distance, which indicated significant differences between parallel and unparalleled shelf orientations.Lastly, results revealed that consumers with a hedonic motivation searched for and purchased more products than consumers with a utilitarian motivation. They also spend more time in the store and walked longer distances. While attempting this procedure, it's important to remember that the practice session is vital to familiarize participant with the virtual store and minimize biases generated from different computer skills.Moreover, clear instructions on what the participant should or should not do are extremely important the help the participant complete the experiment. Following this procedure, others tools like an eye tracker can combined in order to answer questions like what information consumers use to make choices. This technique paves the way for researchers in the field of consumer studies to examine consumer responses to in-store marketing strategies and to new products that are not yet on the market.After watching this video, you should have a good understanding of how to use a desktop virtual supermarket to create virtual shopping environments and study in-store consumer behavior. Don't forget that the virtual store is a new computer technology in development. The searchers should be cautioned to save data as frequently as possible to avoid data loss.

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