The Advantages of Internet Virtual Store Research

Last time, I discussed the reasons for using 3D images in virtual store testing. This time I want to discuss why the Internet as the research mode is important.

One of the primary issues new users face for doing virtual store research in 3D is the upfront costs. If they want to create a virtual store using 3D images for all of the reasons discussed in the last installment, there are significant costs to create the category of interest and the environment of interest in 3D. Once you have these images created they can be reused for subsequent studies making those studies less costly.

Most vendors who use 3D images must conduct their interviews in-person as the software they use can't fit over the Internet. So another cost is that of in-person interviews for each study. The typical cost per interview in-person is $75 or more, while over the internet they can be done in the $8-$12 range depending on the specs for most studies. So, the primary advantage of the Internet mode is a substantial cost reduction. Most studies cost half as much on the internet than they would with in-person interviews.

Another issue created by the in-person interviews is a reduction of sample size. Many vendors recommend virtual store sample sizes of 100-300 per cell for their studies. This can be dangerous, depending on the number of products in the category of interest. The sample should be large enough to capture the distribution of hwo each of the products turns in the store. That is to say ideally, all products would be purchased by at least 1 respondent. In real stores, all of the products on the shelf will move at some velocity or the retailer wouldn't carry it. We need to avoid having too small of a sample to allow this distribution of sales to be captured. If the size is too small some products will not be purchased and this can lead to bad estimates and decisions.

So, to really make Virtual Store simulation useful for widespread scalable use in research a 3D online tool is necessary.