VR Headset Gets Eye-Tracking for Shopper Insights

Management consultancy Accenture and R&D firm Qualcomm Technologies have built a solution that embeds eye-tracking technology into a mobile virtual reality headset to help gather consumer data.

The new solution immerses consumers in a full-scale simulated store, enabling them to move through the space, shop, pick up products and place them in carts - while it monitors what consumers are looking at, for how long and why. Using the tool, companies can invite geographically dispersed consumers to use the headsets for product testing in their homes, at brick-and-mortar stores, during product roadshows, or any large consumer gatherings. During the shopping process, companies can gather data using the eye-tracking technology in the VR headset, with the resulting analytics providing insights such as which products attract attention, where they look first or gaze longest, and what helps trigger buying decisions.

Accenture's Extended Reality practice developed the solution using a Qualcomm VR headset, and the result features embedded eye-tracking along with mixed reality software from InContext Solutions and eye-tracking data analytics capabilities from Cognitive3D. Breakfast cereal and snack manufacturer Kellogg then tested the VR merchandising solution with the launch of its new Pop Tarts Bites product, and found that it provided 'far deeper behavioral data' than standard testing, leading to an increase in brand sales of 18% during testing.

Raffaella Camera, Global Head, Innovation & Market Strategy, Accenture Extended Reality, comments: 'By combining the power of VR with eye-tracking and analytics capabilities, the solution allows significant new insights to be captured while consumers shop by monitoring where and how they evaluate all products across an entire shelf or aisle. Ultimately, this enables product placement decisions to be made that can positively impact total brand sales, versus only single product sales'.

Web sites: www.accenture.com and www.qualcomm.com .