Abstract

This thesis examines the effects of product display organization on consumers' visual attention to attributes underlying display organization. Although research has demonstrated that the features consumers base their decisions on are affected by product display organization, the mechanism by which consumers' choices are affected remained unknown. This thesis addresses this limitation by using eye-tracking methodology to measure consumers' visual attention to and processing of specific features at the point of purchase, and posited that this attention, in turn, affects consumer choice. The findings represent an important contribution to the literature by examining how consumers' decisions are affected by display organization while making decisions at the point of purchase. This study was the first to uncover that significant visual attention is paid to product characteristic information and that this information is examined more often and for longer than brand or price information. Consistent with past research, this study supports the relationship between increased visual attention and purchase likelihoods. The results lend support to the idea that after examining display organization, consumers use other available information to make their purchase decisions. Although the relationship between display organization and visual attention was not found to be significant, there is some evidence that this link warrants further investigation