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You just bought peanut butter. You chose the jar because, well, you’ve always eaten the crunchy variety. In reality, however, something else may have influenced your choice—the product you picked was centrally located on the store shelves.
Researchers tracked eye movements of 67 subjects scanned a 3 by 3 matrix of fictitious brands. The tracking found that consumers tend to focus on the objects in the middle—specifically, five seconds before they make their choice. And they do this for all kinds of products, from vitamins to online movies. The study will be published in December 2012 in the Journal of Consumer Research.
Also, subjects continued to go for the centrally-located brand even if the product was not in the middle of their specific visual field. So it’s not in reference to one’s view, it is literally about the product being central within the entire shelf layout.
Past studies have shown that people tend to make a lot of choices based on central locations, like choosing the middle bathroom stall in a public washroom, a middle seat at a table, or even the middle items in a series of arbitrary objects.
The test consumers had no conscious awareness that they had chosen centrally located brands. Makes you wonder what you’ve taken home without realizing why.
—Christie Nicholson
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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6 Comments
Add CommentSo when I went to Whole Foods last week, I bought a box of cereal from the bottom shelf at one end of the aisle and I bought a box of chocolate graham crackers from the top shelf at the other end of the aisle. What does this say about me?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisStubborn comes to mind! I have that characteristic and I value it as a good trait. Of course it might also say you're a member of the bell curve.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCompanies having been paying large and/or regional grocery store chains shelf fee's for decades to have their product placed in the middle of shelf.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthat you are one to forge your own path. keep it up mate! there's enough sheep as it is.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you bought at Whole Foods, you paid the "Yuppie Tax."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA libertarian founded Whole Foods.
A tax on the sillyn and the innumerate. Good for him. He's laughing all the way to the bank.
This is weird.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAll the mp3 links redirected me to the one with "New Gels Heal Themselves--and Maybe You".
What's going on here?
Zach