Différences de comportement d’achat entre des magasins laboratoires réels et virtuels

In operational terms (cost, implementation), a virtual 3D laboratory store offers an attractive alternative to a physical laboratory store for testing in store marketing initiatives (packaging, price or other). This study compares controlled sample shopper behaviours for a consumer good and shows that the shopper behaviours observed in a virtual store are significantly different from the behaviours observed in a physical laboratory store. Also, significantly less attention is paid to price, reflecting a substantially different decision-making process. This finding is supported by highlighting the moderating effect of habitual purchasing of the brand: when placed in an unfamiliar virtual environment, the consumer is less sensitive to her environment and makes greater use of her memory. However, measures which are predominantly rational, such as attitude to the brand, are not influenced by the type of store visited previously. The article discusses the implications concerning the choice of the type of laboratory store environment, particularly the fact that the behavioural effects of manipulating in-store variables (packaging, price) are less clearly visible in a virtual laboratory store.