The importance of product display is well-known to retailers, but new research suggests that, when faced with an assortment to pick from, consumers’ choices can be imperceptibly swayed by whether the items are displayed vertically or horizontally.
A paper for the Journal of Marketing Research, A ‘Wide’ Variety: Effects of Horizontal Versus Vertical Display on Assortment Processing, Perceived Variety, and Choice, explored how horizontal versus vertical displays of alternatives affect assortment processing, perceived variety and subsequent choice.
One of the authors, Barbara Kahn, Professor of Marketing, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, explained that “if you take the same number of items and array them horizontally or vertically it changes the perception of variety“.
“It’s a very subtle effect and it doesn’t last for a long time,” she added.
This is essentially a consequence of the nature of human vision. “When it’s horizontal, since your eyes are horizontal – what we call binocular vision – you can take in the items in the assortment more easily. It’s called higher perceptual fluency.
Bron en volledig bericht: Warc