Measuring dlPFC Signals to Predict the Success of Merchandising Elements at the Point-of-Sale – A fNIRS Approach

Abstract

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.

How Does the Implicit Awareness of Consumers Influence the Effectiveness of Public Service Announcements? A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Study

“…Most of the existing studies of advertising effects via fNIRS chose the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) as the observed brain region. Some scholars have verified the reliability of fNIRS in advertising effect research by repeating previous fMRI experiments (Krampe et al, 2018;Gier et al, 2020;Meyerding and Mehlhose, 2020). Gier et al (2020) repeated Kühn et al (2016) study on the advertising effect of chocolate bars by measuring the neural activity of dlPFC, and obtained a high accuracy.…”

A neurobehavioral account of differential consumer responses to price and in-store display between un/healthy food

“…Building upon neuroscience research bearing on food as a motivated choice, we elaborate a conceptual framework (see Figure 1) focusing specifically on the single and compounded effect of the MS of food and the MS of marketing activities (in-store display and price) and hypothesize the impact on weekly product sales. Consumer neuroscience is recognized for its ability to represent better the impact of marketing on consumers’ decision-making and shed light on novel research variables (Chen et al , 2015; Gier et al , 2020; Krampe et al , 2018; Linzmajer et al , 2014; Lee et al , 2018; Meyerding and Mehlhose, 2020; Plassmann et al , 2012; Plassmann et al , 2015; Yoon et al , 2012). For example, research studying the dopaminergic system found that, contrary to common belief, in the presence of consumption cues such as food sampling, consumers tend to pursue further rewarding goals such as eating rather than satiating and reducing engagement in the behavior (Wadhwa et al , 2008; Yoon et al , 2012).…”

“…Thus, in this research, we build on neuroscience theories to better understand consumer’s food purchase decision at the point-of-purchase (POP) and what drives it. Studying behavior at the POP is highly important (Gier et al , 2020). van der Lans et al (2008), while exploring the effect of brand salience, found that most of the search behavior was predicted by in-store marketing activities such as display and pricing, while a small proportion was predicted by out-of-store activities such as advertising.…”

“…Venkatraman et al (2015) equally noted that brain activities in the ventral striatum were a strong predictor of real-life advertising elasticity. As fMRI studies could be quite expensive and time-consuming (Gier et al , 2020; Krampe et al , 2018; Meyerding and Mehlhose, 2020), incorporating neuroscience indicators such as MS at POP could shed light on the differential influence of marketing activities on food in a real-world setting.…”

“…Marketing activities have been the focus of several research in topics of branding (McClure, 2004; Meyerding and Mehlhose, 2020; Plassmann et al , 2012), labeling (Meyerding and Mehlhose, 2020), pricing (Knutson et al , 2007; Plassmann et al , 2008; Wadhwa and Zhang, 2015), advertising (Daugherty et al , 2018; Plassmann et al , 2007; Venkatraman et al , 2015), assortment (Kahn et al , 2013; Townsend and Kahn, 2014) as well as other in-store promotional activities (Hubert et al , 2013; Gier et al , 2020; Krampe et al , 2018; Kühn et al , 2016; Strelow et al , 2017; Strelow and Scheier, 2018).…”