Visual Search from the perspective of in-store exploration behavior: scale development and validation

This study aims to establish a visual search scale that measures shoppers’ in-store exploration behavior. We propose that the attentional control theory used in the psychology domain is transferable to the marketing domain, thus adding a new perspective to existing models of shoppers’ in-store exploration behavior. We develop our psychometric scales and test them over four phases to confirm their validity. Finally, we discuss how visual search could affect shoppers’ in-store exploration behavior, giving marketing managers a new way to deliver effective in-store advertisements, encourage shoppers’ impulsivity, and improve customer relationship management. Marketing managers and manufacturers can use our visual search scale to easily capture several important aspects: the extent to which shoppers consider a product that they do not plan on buying before entering the store, which product categories tend to be considered impulsively, and if in-store shopping behaviors differ between planned and impulsive considerations.