The ‘secret’ patterns on shops’ f loors that make you linger longer (much ) ...and spend more
New tactic could help stores speed you to their most expensive aisles
THEY are already facing fierce competition from internet interlopers, with consumers spending billions worldwide on Black Friday. But High Street stores have a new tactic to help persuade shoppers to spend their hard-earned cash – by slowing the pace at which people walk along the aisles.
Researchers found that if they taped lines across the floor, people spent longer to get to the end of the aisles, thus browsing longer and spending more. And the closer together the lines, the longer they dawdled. By contrast, researchers found shoppers sped up when the gaps between the lines were wider – a useful technique for clearing bottle-necks like entrances or getting consumers to the most profitable shelves faster.
The academics, who observed 4,000 individuals in a series of experiments, said that changing the distances tapped into people’s subconscious desire to reach their ‘goal’, in this case the end of the aisle. If the lines were close – just 50cm apart – they created an optical illusion making the end of the aisle appear to be further away, and the walker tended to slow their pace by up to a fifth to conserve energy.
Such slower shoppers were found in subsequent tests to be much better at recalling what products they had seen than those who sped through, making them far more likely to reach for their wallets.
The research is likely to inform supermarkets and retail chains who are constantly trying new ways to attract and retain customers while encouraging them to maximise their in-store spend.
The findings are revealed in a study by academics in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, entitled ‘Altering Speed of Locomotion’. One of the authors, Prof Nico Heuvinck of the IESEG School of Management in France, said stores may want to slow shoppers down in aisles containing high profit margin goods, but speed them up in other areas to avoid crowding by putting in lines 100cm apart.
Prof Heuvinck said humans were influenced by the so-called ‘goal gradient effect’. It can also be seen in the way people use coffee shop loyalty cards. While customers are in no hurry initially to fill the cards with stamps, they speed up as they near the final stamp. The same seemed true as
‘It makes you more likely to reach for your wallet’
they approached the end of an aisle. He said similar techniques were used to avoid accidents at black spots by painting lines closer and closer together on the road, giving motorists the impression they were driving faster.