Online sunglasses purchasing: Where do people look?

Online purchasing has been a marketing phenomenon in Malaysia. However, not many ophthalmic and optical retailers utilize online marketing as opposed to the traditional method as a platform to market their products, such as sunglasses, ophthalmic frames or other optical aids. Retailers need to strategies in showcasing products by establishing factors attentive to their targeted customers. Analysis with an eye tracker is useful to determine the contributing factors to where customers look during selection of products online. The study aimed to determine the factors contributed when selecting sunglasses online. In this study, 23 undergraduate students (18–25 years) participated and were asked to choose the most preferred sunglasses from a selection of stimuli. During the selection process, the eye tracker captured the objective responses, i.e. eye movement. The relationship between time to first fixation and fixation duration recorded on selection factors such as shape attributes, price and brand were studied using the eye tracker (quantitative data) and were correlated with the heat maps data (qualitative data). The findings showed that the participants look at the sunglasses attributes significantly more (p>0.05) than other factors (brand and price). Generally, sunglasses attributes such as shape and color play an important role in participant's selection behaviors on the online purchasing system.