Medusa

How We Are Influenced By Retail Displays

<p>We live in a cash-driven consumer society where hardly a day goes by without us buying something&period; Shopping is more than something that we do to pick up necessary food and clothes &&num;8211&semi; for many people it is a hobby&comma; an art or even a form of therapy&period; In our consumer world&comma; choice is king&period; With all this money flowing out of our pockets and into the retail sector&comma; it’s no wonder that brands are using all sorts of tactics to draw our attention to their products while stores are trying to lure us into their doors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Marketing gurus are being paid top dollar to come up with techniques to increase consumer loyalty to specific brands and with new advances in technology&comma; the science and psychology of consumer preference is becoming more sophisticated by the day&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><img class&equals;"aligncenter" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;myblogguest&period;com&sol;forum&sol;uploads&sol;articles&sol;2013&sol;10&sol;419065395&lowbar;84bc8f6c19&period;jpg" width&equals;"510" height&equals;"343" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2><strong>Digger deeper with technology<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Neuroscience – which also deals with the psychology of how the brain functions – has been applied to studies which deal with the way that consumers’ brains react during their shopping experience&period; EEG readings of brain activity can be done inside real or mock stores to see which setups or brands elicit reaction in specific parts of the brain&period; Combined with eye-tracking equipment technology&comma; the readings can tell exactly what chemical responses are created in the brain according to what product the subject is looking at&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Another exciting technology that is being used in retail psychology research is Video Realistic Technology &lpar;VRT&rpar;&period; Instead of a real store&comma; the subject will be walking through a 3D simulation of a store where they can still pick up the virtual products&comma; read labels or interact with other 3D shoppers&comma; all while brainwave readings are being taken&period; The great advantage of this kind of technology is that product placement or store environments can be changed with the click of a button to give researchers infinitely more freedom regarding product&comma; signage or display placement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2><strong>The importance of product placement<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>When retailers are deciding where to place the products on their shelves they draw a lot on the concept of visual merchandising&period; Wikipedia defines visual merchandising as the profession or activity of developing the best floor plans and displays with the purpose of maximizing sales&period; This includes an array of factors&comma; including window- or shelf displays&comma; packaging&comma; colour&comma; lighting&comma; signage&comma; staff uniforms&comma; packaging shape and texture and how the consumer views the store in general&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>From a brand perspective&comma; where your product is placed on the shelves also makes a huge difference&period; Studies have found that we scan products horizontally at eye level&comma; not up and down&period; Products that are sold for the highest margin are usually placed at eye level to ensure maximum profits&period; Further consumer psychology is used when designing aisles&comma; as it’s been proven that we are more likely to buy when we move with products in clear line of sight&period; We also are more likely to pick up products at the end of aisles&comma; especially if they are on special&period; &lpar;http&colon;&sol;&sol;mentallyfine&period;com&sol;the-psychology-of-retail-display&sol;&rpar;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2><strong>The effect of colour and texture<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Products with their colourful packaging mimics an exhibition on display and a well-planned system is followed when designers decide what shapes and colours to use for their brand&period; Texture also plays an important role&comma; as research has shown that our brains prefer natural textures to artificial ones&period; Luckily for the visual marketers&comma; our brains respond the same to synthetic materials that look like the real thing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For brands&comma; the type of colour used in the logo will also elicit a certain emotional response from their customers and it is important to know who exactly your target market is&period; As an example&comma; fast food outlets prefer using the colours red&comma; yellow and white because of the unspoken associations we make with it&period; Yellow is a positive colour&comma; but makes us anxious so in the fast food industry it ensures that people move through fast&period; The red symbolizes excitement and energy and also stimulates appetite&comma; while we associate white with hygiene – something important in the fast food industry&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2><strong>Subtle sleight of hand<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The hidden ways that the retail industry uses to nudge our preferences in a certain direction are incredible&period; By subtle things such as music choice&comma; they encourage us to spend more money than we initially planned to&period; By selling matching products together&comma; for example a salsa with the chips&comma; we often times buy products we don’t need&period; By selling something for 9&period;99 instead of 10&period;00&comma; we softly get fooled into thinking that we are getting a bargain when we are still paying a big margin on the product&period; Every product placement&comma; every colour&comma; every arrangement is intentional and it is all to make us spend more money&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In all fairness – consumerism it is a whole psychology and science and it is continually being researched to refine the art of separating us from our hard-earned money&period; Knowing this could make us feel like victims of sly psychological tricks&comma; but perhaps the real question is why we are allowing ourselves to be manipulated in the first place&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h5>Featured images&colon;<&sol;h5>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"license">License&colon; Creative Commons<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"source">image source<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Marilu Snyders considers herself a smart shopper who isn&&num;8217&semi;t fooled by blatant marketing tactics&period; But she still has the utmost respect for the principles of<em> consumer psychology&comma; so long as as they are used for good by companies such as <&sol;em><&sol;em><em>Trigasystems&period;com and not for evil<&sol;em><em>&period; <&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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