Is a Video Worth More Than a Thousand Images? A Neurophysiological Study on the Impact of Different Types of Product Display on Consumer Behaviour in e-Commerce

Considering the importance of e-commerce in the global market, git is essential to delve into how consumers make decisions in the e-commerce environment. Until now, countless research has looked at different aspects of consumer behaviour in different types of e-commerce. However, most of those studies have been developed based on declarative techniques, which are inevitably limited to bias, subjective considerations or even to memory-based choice (Hsu 2017) and neuroscientific techniques have been rarely applied to the study of the e-commerce environment. Given this gap, the aim of this research is to assess consumer neurophysiological responses to different product display formats used in the e-commerce environment. To achieve it, 72 participants (36W–36M) between 18–29 years old were exposed to 36 stimuli according to three types of product display (product image, image of product in use and 360° video) in an unknown fashion e-commerce, while their unconscious reactions were recorded with an electroencephalogram (EEG) and galvanic skin response (GSR). After the exposure, the participants were asked about their attitude towards each format, preferences, and purchase intention. The declarative results showed a better attitude towards the more interactive format, but the preferences and purchase intention of participants did not correlate with the display format. Implicit results showed greater emotional activation and positive valence for images of the product in use and, although there are no significant differences in the EEG cognitive load among the three formats, the EEG engagement index appears to be correlated to the visual simplicity of the product display.