Vrechopoulos et al. (2004)

• Sample


  120 Ps recruited from Greece & UK
• Type of Experiment


  Lab experiment
• Procedure


  - Ps given a planned shopping task with money to spend and complete a task in 1 of 3 virtual store layouts

  
  

  - Each participant was given a budget of £20 (or 12,000 Greek drachmas)

  
  

  - Whatever the Ps 'purchased' was subsequently purchased by the researchers and physically delivered to the participants.

  
  

  - The online store offered mainly Euro brands such as Coke, Heineken, Pringles, Tide and Johnny Walker but also included some on-brand products.

  
  

  - To make the experience as similar to real life as possible, Ps were given a blank shopping list and information on what was available in order to plan their purchases
• Results


  - Freeform layout was most useful in terms of finding items on a shopping list (reported as the most fun to use on VR)

  
  

  - Grid Layout was significantly easier to use than other 2 layouts. (Racetrack hardest to use on VR)

  
  

  - Layout significantly affected the length of time that customers went shopping (Racetrack & Free form layouts engaged shoppers for longer as was predicted by conventional retail theory)
• Results 2


  - Results suggested that conventional retailing store layout theory is not readily applicable to online grocery retail

  
  

  - Customers visiting a virtual grocery store prefer a hierarchical/tree structure which is only provided by a Grid layout

  
  

  - The free-form layout was most useful for conducting planned purchases.
• Evaluation


  - Many useful applications: Online retail store need to take care when applying principles and guidelines drawn from traditional retail environments, although increasing the number of hyperlinks makes it easier for customers to find the products they want/need.

  
  

  - Ecological validity: Real shopping task conducted

  
  

  - Generalisability: samples drawn from 2 countries.
• Grid Layout


  - Speed and Convenience

  
  

  - A predictable pattern where consumers weave up and down and browse as they go

  
  

  - Maximises product display, minimises white space

  
• Free Form Layout


  - Exploration

  
  

  - No deliberate attempt to force consumers through predictable traffic patterns

  
  

  - Wandering encouraged

  
  

  - Customers are free to browse at their own leisure

  
• Race Track Layout


  - Closed-loop that exposes customers to certain products

  
  

  - Leads customers from the front of the store, past every piece of merchandise, and then to the checkout

  
  

  - Works better than the grid for designing a shopping experience because you can guide the customer past highlighted promotional items