Can You Read the Sign? Consumers’ Utilization of Water Use Information and Price as Sign Cues

Abstract

The purpose of our study was to employ a retail garden center context and the use of eye-tracking technology to analyze the relationship between attention to signage information cues and likelihood to buy (LTB) garden center products. We examined the influence of conservation effort and location (drought vs. non-drought) on this relationship. We hypothesized that consumers who exert more effort to conserve water on their lawn and outdoor landscape plants will (a) be more likely to purchase plants grown under water-saving practices, (b) attend to water-saving information faster, (c) look more often at, (d) have a longer first look and (e) spend more time viewing the information about water-saving practices on a point-of-purchase sign than consumers who exert less effort to conserve water. Participants from drought-prone regions (FL, TX) will (a) be more likely to purchase plants grown under water-saving practices, (b) attend to water-saving information faster, (c) look more often at (higher fixation counts), (d) have a longer first look and (e) spend more time viewing the information about water-saving practices on a point-of-purchase sign than consumers from less drought-prone areas.