Brain scans to unlock mystery of shoppers' behaviour

Question 1

            a) True. The mystery of consumers' behavior …. is of crucial importance to retailers who spend millions trying to gain a competitive edge.

            b) False. Researchers from Bangor University and the shopping behaviour specialists SBXL will ask retailers to simulate a normal £80 grocery shop while having their brain imaged by an MRI scanner.       

            c) True. Their theory is that after about 23 minutes of shopping customers will begin to tire and will start making decisions with the emotional part of their brain, which cannot accurately calculate value for money, rather than the cognitive part which governs logical decision-making

            d) False. Some studies have shown that a fifth of shoppers will buy items on special offer even if they are more expensive than the usual product, while nearly half ignore buy-one-get-one free labels and only take one item.

Question 2

            a) The purpose of the study is to find out if shoppers change their way to decide about their shopping once they have been at the shop for a long time.

            b) There will be a virtual grocery shop where customers will choose products from a list. While they are doing this, their brains will be examined by a scanner and later researchers will study the changes in the blood flow in their brains.

Question 3

a)       To browse

b)       retailers

c)       simulate

d)       accurately

e)       labels

Question 4

a)       Anything can influence consumers‘ behaviour.

b)       If shoppers didn’t stay at the shop longer than 23 minutes, they wouldn’t stop making rational decisions.

c)       Although they are being exposed to special offers, some shoppers only buy what they need.