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Purpose This study is the first to examine consumer’s neural reaction to different merchandising communication strategies at the point-of-sale (PoS) by applying functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). By doing so, the purpose of this study is to extend consumer neuroscience to retail and shopper research. Design/methodology/approach Two experiments were conducted in which 36 shoppers were exposed to a realistic grocery shopping scenario while their brain haemodynamics were measured using mobile fNIRS. Findings Results revealed that mobile fNIRS appears a valid method to study neural activation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in the field of “shopper neuroscience”. More precisely, results demonstrated that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) might be crucial for processing and predicting merchandising communication strategy effectiveness. Research limitations/implications This research gives evidence that certain regions of the PFC, in particular the OFC and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), are crucial to process and evaluate merchandising communication strategies. Practical implications The current work opens a promising new avenue for studying and understanding shopper’s behaviour. Mobile fNIRS enables marketing management to collect neural data from shoppers and analyse neural activity associated with real-life settings. Furthermore, based on a better understanding of shoppers’ perceptual processes of communication strategies, marketers can design more effective merchandising communication strategies. Originality/value The study is the first to implement the innovative, mobile neuroimaging method of fNIRS to a PoS setting. It, therefore, opens up the promising field of “shopper neuroscience”.

The (re-)launch of products is frequently accompanied by point-of-sale (PoS) marketing campaigns in order to foster sales. Predicting the success of these merchandising elements at the PoS on sales is of interest to research and practice, as the misinvestments that are based on the fragmented PoS literature are tremendous. Likewise, the predictive power of neuropsychological methods has been demonstrated in various research work. Nevertheless, the practical application of these neuropsychological methods is still limited. In order to foster the application of neuropsychological methods in research and practice, the current research work aims to explore, whether mobile functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) – as a portable neuroimaging method – has the potential to predict the success of PoS merchandising elements by rendering significant neural signatures of brain regions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), highlighting its potential to forecast shoppers’ behaviour aka sales at the PoS. Building on previous research findings, the results of the given research work indicate that the neural signal of brain regions of the dlPFC, measured with mobile fNIRS, is able to predict actual sales associated with PoS merchandising elements, relying on the cortical relief effect. More precisely, the research findings support the hypothesis that the reduced neural activity of brain regions associated with the dlPFC can predict sales at the PoS, emphasising another crucial neural signature to predict shoppers’ purchase behaviour, next to the frequently cited reward association system. The research findings offer an innovative perspective on how to design and evaluate PoS merchandising elements, indicating fruitful theoretical and practical implications.

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