Nudging the Trolley in the Supermarket: How to Deliver the Right Information to Shoppers

The amount of information available to help decide what foods to buy and eat is increasing rapidly with the advent of concerns about, and data on, health impacts, environmental effects, and economic consequences. This glut of information can be overwhelming when presented within the context of a high time-pressure, low involvement activity such as supermarket shopping. How can we nudge people's food shopping behavior in desired directions through targeted delivery of appropriate information? This paper investigates whether augmented reality can deliver relevant 'instant information' that can be interpreted and acted upon in situ, enabling people to make informed choices. The challenge is to balance the need to simplify and streamline the information presented with the need to provide enough information that shoppers can adjust their behavior toward meeting their goals. This paper discusses some of the challenges involved in designing such information displays and indicate some possible ways to meet those challenges.

[1]  Peter M. Todd,et al.  How much information do we need? , 2007, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[2]  Anabela Mesquita.  User Perception and Influencing Factors of Technology in Everyday Life , 2012 .

[3]  René Lion,et al.  Front-of-pack nutrition labelling: Testing effectiveness of different nutrition labelling formats front-of-pack in four European countries , 2008, Appetite.

[4]  H. Simon,et al.  Invariants of human behavior. , 1990, Annual review of psychology.

[5]  P. Todd,et al.  From pride and prejudice to persuasion : Satisficing in mate search , 1999 .

[6]  P. Todd,et al.  Ecological Rationality: Intelligence in the World , 2012 .

[7]  Steve Clarke,et al.  Human Centered Methods in Information Systems: Current Research and Practice , 1999 .

[8]  Norbert A. Streitz,et al.  Hello.Wall - Beyond Ambient Displays , 2003 .

[9]  Ulla Berglund,et al.  Children's Maps in GIS: A Tool for Communicating Outdoor Experiences in Urban Planning , 2010, Int. J. Inf. Commun. Technol. Hum. Dev..

[10]  Gerd Gigerenzer,et al.  Models of ecological rationality: the recognition heuristic. , 2002, Psychological review.

[11]  P. Todd,et al.  Escaping the tyranny of choice: when fewer attributes make choice easier , 2007 .

[12]  Eric J. Johnson,et al.  The adaptive decision maker , 1993 .

[13]  Soon Ang,et al.  Is Updating Play or Work?: The Mediating Role of Updating Orientation in Linking Threat of Professional Obsolescence to Turnover/Turnaway Intentions , 2011, Int. J. Soc. Organ. Dyn. IT.

[14]  Tom Lanning,et al.  Parallel bargrams for consumer-based information exploration and choice , 2001, UIST '01.

[15]  P. Todd,et al.  Simple Heuristics That Make Us Smart , 1999 .

[16]  John W. Payne,et al.  The adaptive decision maker: Name index , 1993 .

[17]  P. Todd,et al.  More Is Not Always Better: The Benefits of Cognitive Limits , 2003 .

[18]  Ben Shneiderman,et al.  Readings in information visualization - using vision to think , 1999 .

[19]  P. Todd,et al.  Environments That Make Us Smart , 2007 .

[20]  Tammy Toscos,et al.  Chick clique: persuasive technology to motivate teenage girls to exercise , 2006, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[21]  Yvonne Rogers,et al.  Equal Opportunities: Do Shareable Interfaces Promote More Group Participation Than Single User Displays? , 2009, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[22]  Mary R. Lind.  A De-Construction of Wireless Device Usage , 2007, Int. J. Technol. Hum. Interact..

[23]  David W. McDonald,et al.  Theory-driven design strategies for technologies that support behavior change in everyday life , 2009, CHI.

[24]  A. Tversky,et al.  Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases , 1974, Science.

[25]  Konstantinos V. Katsikopoulos,et al.  New tools for decision analysts , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics - Part A: Systems and Humans.

[26]  Noah J. Goldstein,et al.  The Constructive, Destructive, and Reconstructive Power of Social Norms , 2007, Psychological science.

[27]  Huaiqing Wang,et al.  Enhancing Interaction with Dynamic Environments: An Adaptive Approach to Process Management , 2006, Int. J. Technol. Hum. Interact..

[28]  David Williams,et al.  The attribute explorer , 1994, CHI '94.

[29]  R. Selten,et al.  Bounded rationality: The adaptive toolbox , 2000 .

[30]  Silvia Lindtner,et al.  Fish'n'Steps: Encouraging Physical Activity with an Interactive Computer Game , 2006, UbiComp.

[31]  Yvonne Rogers,et al.  Ambient influence: can twinkly lights lure and abstract representations trigger behavioral change? , 2010, UbiComp.

[32]  J. Neumann,et al.  Theory of games and economic behavior , 1945, 100 Years of Math Milestones.

[33]  Taylor Francis,et al.  Equal opportunities: Do shareable interfaces promote more group participation than single users displays? , 2009 .

[34]  R. Thaler,et al.  Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness , 2008 .

[35]  Hiroshi Ishii,et al.  ambientROOM: integrating ambient media with architectural space , 1998, CHI Conference Summary.

[36]  Hiroshi Ishii,et al.  Ambient Displays: Turning Architectural Space into an Interface between People and Digital Information , 1998, CoBuild.

[37]  B. Dawn Medlin.  Integrations of Technology Utilization and Social Dynamics in Organizations , 2012 .

[38]  John Zimmerman,et al.  Breakaway: an ambient display designed to change human behavior , 2005, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[39]  Abdallah El Ali,et al.  Magnet-Based Around Device Interaction for Playful Music Composition and Gaming , 2013, Int. J. Mob. Hum. Comput. Interact..

[40]  David W. McDonald,et al.  Flowers or a robot army?: encouraging awareness & activity with personal, mobile displays , 2008, UbiComp.