An Eye-Fixation Analysis of Choice Processes for Consumer Nondurables

J Edward Russo and France Leclerc

Journal of Consumer Research, 1994, vol. 21, issue 2, 274-90

Abstract: The nature of the choice process for commonly purchased nondurables was examined by tracking eye fixations in a laboratory simulation of supermarket shelving. The observed process contains three stages that were interpreted as (1) orientation, (2) evaluation, and (3) verification. Orientation consisted of an overview of the product display, although some initial screening out of alternatives also occurred. The evaluation stage, the longest by far, was dominated by direct comparisons between two or three alternative products. The last stage, devoted to verification of the tentatively chosen brand-size, mainly examined alternatives with few or no previous fixations. Greater familiarity with a product category led to a choice process that was shorter and that focused on fewer alternatives, but these effects were confined to the evaluation stage. The findings are fully compatible with the general view that the choice process is constructed to adapt to the immediate purchase environment. Copyright 1994 by the University of Chicago.

Date: 1994
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (55)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/209397 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:21:y:1994:i:2:p:274-90

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Consumer Research is currently edited by Bernd Schmitt, June Cotte, Markus Giesler, Andrew Stephen and Stacy Wood

More articles in Journal of Consumer Research from Journal of Consumer Research Inc.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().