Visual influence on in-store buying decisions: an eye-track experiment on the visual influence of packaging design

Abstract

This article describes the impact of visual attention on consumers' in-store buying behaviour. Through an eye-track experiment, it demonstrates the advantage of a behaviour model that addresses visual attention and an increase in visual stimuli during the process. It reveals that consumers exhibit a muddled search strategy where packaging design influences the decision process in several phases. Five phases were found in an in-store decision process, and the post-purchase phase seems to be essential for even low-level in-store decision processes. Further knowledge on packaging design elements is needed for a broader understanding of visual influence during in-store purchase decisions.