In-Store Mobile Phone Use and Customer Shopping Behavior: Evidence from the Field

This research examines consumers' general in-store mobile phone use and shopping behavior. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that mobile phone use decreases point-of-purchase sales, but the results of the current study indicate instead that it can increase purchases overall. Using eye-tracking t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of marketing Vol. 82; no. 4; pp. 102 - 126
Main Authors Grewal, Dhruv, Ahlbom, Carl-Philip, Beitelspacher, Lauren, Noble, Stephanie M., Nordfält, Jens
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA American Marketing Association 01.07.2018
SAGE Publications
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Cellular telephones
Consumer behavior
Marketing
Point of sale
Shopping
Studies
attention capacity
distraction
in-store mobile phone use
retail purchases
eye tracking
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Summary:This research examines consumers' general in-store mobile phone use and shopping behavior. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that mobile phone use decreases point-of-purchase sales, but the results of the current study indicate instead that it can increase purchases overall. Using eye-tracking technology in both a field study and a field experiment, matched with sales receipts and survey responses, the authors show that mobile phone use (vs. nonuse) and actual mobile phone use patterns both lead to increased purchases, because consumers divert from their conventional shopping loop, spend more time in the store, and spend more time examining products and prices on shelves. Building on attention capacity theories, this study proposes and demonstrates that the underlying mechanism for these effects is distraction. This article also provides some insights into boundary conditions of the mobile phone use effect.
ISSN:0022-2429
1547-7185
1547-7185
DOI:10.1509/jm.17.0277