Analyzing a Shopper's Visual Experience in a Retail Store in 3D

摘要

What a shopper visually encounters on a trip to a retail store directly influences both their personal shopping experience, as well as the productivity of the store. Specifically, the layout design of the store plays an important role in determining this visual experience. To evaluate such designs, we develop an analytical approach to estimate the rack faces that may be exposed to the shopper traveling along a straight pathway. We explicitly model the dynamics of a shopper's 3D field of vision (accounting for easy head and eye movements) with the static faces of a system of curved racks. Our preliminary findings suggest that low-to-medium rack curvatures offer the most exposure when placed between 30° and 60° from the travel path. Highly curved racks should be placed more orthogonal or even obtuse to achieve the highest exposure. We believe our findings would better inform store managers and retail executives insights into how a certain layout would perform visually, as well as the ability to know what parts of racks would be seen more often than others, allowing them to better allocate shelf space.