Role of Expiration Dates in Grocery Shopping Behavior: An Eye Tracking Perspective

When consumers search for and check expiration dates, the risk of purchasing a stale and diminishing quality product reduces. The authors use a simulated eye tracking enabled IT mediated environment to understand the underlying motivation of consumers for checking expiration dates while purchasing groceries. Preliminary findings suggest that expiration date plays an important role in consumers' grocery shopping decision making. This research provides evidence that IT mediated test environments enabled with eye tracking can provide a powerful tool for studying consumer behavior and decision making in regard to expiration dates. The findings from this research have the potential to provide several implications to theory and practice.