BOSTON (CBS) – Retailers are trying to get into
customers’ brains and they now have the technology to do it.
It’s called consumer
neuroscience and companies are getting valuable shopper intel that can shape
the shopping experience.
To get a firsthand look a reporter went shopping at Betsy Jenney on
Newbury Street with Dr. Carl Marci of Boston-based Innerscope Research.
They were given glasses with a special camera to track my eye movements and sensors
were attached to my fingers to keep tabs on the electricity in my skin.
“What we are collecting here are things we are not
very good at articulating with words,” explains Dr. Marci. Things a shopper
doesn’t even realize are happening subliminally and subconsciously.
In the seconds before we knowingly decide to buy our
brains react. If retailers can tap into those few seconds of subconscious they
can use the information to make crucial decisions on how to sell stuff.
“If we
present that stuff in an engaging and fun way then people have a better
experience and sometimes they buy more,” says professor of neuromarketing, Paul
Zak.
“There is no buy button in the brain and we are not
talking about manipulation. We are talking about using tools to help create a
better retail experience,” says Dr. Marci.
And that’s why many companies are now hiring
research firms to help with store strategy. Like moving a sale sign from the
ceiling to eye level, deciding which outfits to put on the mannequin, or
placing marked down items next to the full price rack.
At Betsy Jenney one-on-one customer service is key.
But, for bigger stores neuroscience could be the new norm. “As the digital
world is taking off more competition in traditional brick and mortar stores
they have to do something to compete,” says Dr. Marci.
And the new playing
field is our own subconscious.
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