Using virtual reality to grasp secrets of buying behavior

A research tool that captures microscopic aspects of customer activity during shopping was developed to shed light on the multifaceted processes characterizing in-store consumer behavior. We explain in detail the steps we followed to create the virtual store and show that it provides a host of empirical observations of shopping behaviour. Since our intent is first of all exploratory, we do not formally provide hypothesis, but let the data speak. Our investigation highlights unanticipated but consistent results with reference to the number and type of purchases made by shoppers during the shopping trip and their navigational path, but most of all it shows that realistic computer-aided purchase scenarios can exploit their power for data retrieval and covert tracking of behavior to help researchers and practitioners investigate the interaction among consumers, products, and service environments.