How to create effective retail activations
through the undertanding of neuroscience
and consumer behaviour
By Seen Displays — February, 2017
One of the most significant impacts on the retail
industry will be the use of neuroscience in all aspects
of the supply chain (Todd 2015). From online shopping
to store navigation, product packaging to deliveries
to the consumer - retailers are desperate to find
new ways into the mind of the consumer. This can
be to the point of retailers creating decisions for
the consumer, trying to engineer the situations
for consumer choice. Whilst this approach makes
total sense from the retailer’s perspective, it is not a
plausible output for neuroscience. Neuroscience cannot
help retailers anticipate or predict consumer choices.
What it can do is create a deeper understanding of the
processes behind a consumer choice.
Neuroscience is the study of the brain and the central
nervous system, and explores answers to three central
questions. What networks are involved in certain
cognitive or motor processes, such as memory,
attention, sight, or coordination? How do these
different networks work together to achieve cognitive
or motor processes? How do we, as humans, put our world
together, and what are the neurobiological drivers behind
our actions, choices, and perceptions?
Neuroscience has mainly operated within academic and
clinical contexts, examining neurodegenerative diseases,
traumatic brain injuries, and attempting to understand
brain abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder,
depression, and schizophrenia. With the newfound
mobility of knowledge between disciplines, industry
is asking more and more questions of neuroscience,
however some of these are outside the discipline’s
potential as it currently stands. The brain networks
and their dialogue with the central nervous system
is so complex that we only have had the technology
to map one percent of the brain and recreate one second
of activity (Sparkes 2014).This means that any claims
of predicting consumer behaviour or choice is out of
the remit of legitimate science. What neuroscience
can shed light on, is how the brain interacts and makes
sense of the world, it can explain the relationships
between behaviour and brain networks, and it can help
us understand what it is to be human.
In regards to the retail industry it can help set design
heuristics for the retail environment that ensure the
customer is getting the most optimised experience
of the brand. Secondly, it can help us understand how
the consumer is cognitively and structurally changing
due to environmental factors, like digital technology.
This allows us to help brands adapt their communication
to the emerging cultural environment.
The science in this report is based on a range of studies,
which have been reviewed and identified as being
of sound quality, based on scientific methods, and
robust pools of participants. The science has been
translated and contextualised to a retail audience
for better comprehension and application.
The report is divided into three chapters - the first will
be an overview of how the brain works and how people
perceive retail environments. The second chapter will
cover how technology is changing consumer habits
and the retail industry. Finally, the third chapter will
be show a breakdown of a Seen Displays case study using
neuroscience as a tool for discovery and design.
seendisplays.com
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