Data – and increasingly, big data – is an essential tool to predict consumer behaviour. But the quality of the prediction depends on the quality of data collection.
Pico’s Chairman’s column in Headline Finance mentions some ways technology is improving in this area. For example, market research company Nielsen recently launched ‘Smartstore’ to fulfil retailers’ and manufacturers’ need to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Respondents enter 3D virtual immersive shop environments and test multiple live scenarios, yielding details on head, eye and feet movements which can be analysed to help optimise sales strategies.
It is likely that the event industry will also increase its use of immersive VR in the future to predict consumer behaviour. Virtual event scenarios will make it is possible to elicit actual responses from respondents without constructing actual venues and facilities. The ‘finished product’ can be fine-tuned according to the collected data, reducing the need for in-kind trials and cutting research costs.
*The above is a summary of the original Chinese article.
