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RESEARCH PRODUCT

“You look at it, but will you choose it”: Is there a link between the foods consumers look at and what they ultimately choose in a virtual supermarket?

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Most of the studies that showed a link between gaze allocation and consumer's food choices were performed on food products belonging to a same category. However, consumers usually make food choices in more complex environments, between many different products, and different factors can influence their choices. Therefore, our study aimed to understand the link between gaze behavior and food choices in a complex and realistic situation of choice. Participants (n=99) performed a food choice task in a virtual supermarket. They had to choose three food products to create a dish in four scenarios evoking different motivations (focus on health, environment, food pleasure, and daily scenario as control). 48 products belonging to four food categories (animal products, pulses, carbohydrates, vegetables) were randomly presented in a virtual shelf. Gaze behavior measurement was collected throughout. Products choices were significantly linked to fixation duration, yet we identified two distinctive behaviors: (i) either a product was frequently chosen but shortly gazed (e.g., vegetables in the health scenario) or (ii) participants fixated products for a long time but barely choose them (e.g. pulses in the hedonic scenario). The food choices also significantly depended on the scenario, the food group, and the interaction scenario x food group. These results suggest that (i) participants could consider some products as adapted to a specific situation, without much visual attention, (ii) some eye-catcher products are unfrequently selected, either because of a negative image, unfamiliarity, dislike, or because they are considered “inappropriate” to the motivation evoked by the scenario. Overall, our results evidence a relationship between gaze behavior and choices, but this link is more complex than expected. Studying gaze behavior is not enough to understand choices, which also depend on other factors such as the context and motivations of choice, and the variety of options considered by the consumer.