Utilising eye-tracking data in retailing field research: A practical guide

• Published in: Journal of retailing 2024-03, Vol.100 (1), p.148-160
• Main Authors: Nordfält, Jens, Ahlbom, Carl-Philip
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attention; Behavioural data; Consumer behaviour; Eye-tracking; Field experiments; Field studies; Retailing
• ISSN: 0022-4359; 1873-3271
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jretai.2024.02.005

•Eye-tracking provides fine-grained data key to understanding shopping behaviours.•Field studies using eye-tracking data enable the study of authentic behaviours.•A practical guide for utilising eye-tracking data in retailing research is presented.•Targeted agendas identify high-potential areas across physical and online settings.•Qualitative eye-tracking data use presents opportunities for mixed-method studies. Eye-tracking offers many insights into shopping cognition by capturing proxies to attention patterns, visual processing, and decision sequences. While lab experiments using simulated shopping tasks are becoming more common in retailing research, field research using eye-tracking technology remains scarce despite higher ecological validity. This paper advocates expanding eye-tracking adoption into brick-and-mortar contexts and provides guidelines for researchers interested in conducting such retailing research. The authors discuss different data types that can be used to understand in-store shopping behaviours and argue why eye-tracking offers a compelling opportunity to decode consumer decisions in real-world complexity. Next, they review current literature, highlighting good examples of existing field studies and areas of opportunities for new research. Finally, the authors provide stepwise best-practice guidelines for executing impactful, triangulated field research across the retail landscape using eye-tracking. The paper presents a call to action for expanding eye-tracking research beyond the lab and into real-world retail aisles.