Choose with your eyes closed. Shopping behavior in visually impaired and sighted people: the contribution of neurophysiological, behavioral and self-reporting measures

The literature on the consumption patterns of specific categories of consumers, such as people with disability, remains limited to date. This study explored the explicit and implicit consumer experience of visually impaired (VI) consumers in-store. A group of VI and a control group explored three different product shelves and manipulated target products inside the supermarket, while their neurophysiological and autonomic activity was measured. Also, behavioural and self-report data were collected in relation to three main different phases of the in-store shopping experience: i) the identification of a product (recognition accuracy and time); ii) the style of product purchase (predominant sense used for shelf exploration, store spatial representation and orientation ability); iii) the consumers experience. For the VI group, higher levels of disorientation, difficulty in finding products, and repeating the route independently were found. Accuracy and recognition time vary by product category. Despite touch was the sense that most guides product recognition for the VI, it was also found to be significantly used by the controls across product categories, perhaps suggesting that in-store marketing strategies to be truly inclusive should consider developing tactile touchpoints.