Retailers have long known that window displays shape first impressions, but a new study by INSEAD’s Associate Professor of Marketing Abhishek Borah and his co-authors goes further. It shows that where products are physically positioned within a display shapes shoppers’ perception of product price, even when there is no price tag.

The mechanism is simple: the direction in which a shopper is moving. The result: a measurable difference in willingness to pay.

Why it matters 

For retail executives, window dressing could double up as a pricing tool, not just a branding one. At a time when frequent discounting erodes brand equity and trains customers to wait for sales, subtle visual merchandising offers a way to lift perceived value. The implications extend to store layout, promotional strategy and even the angle of product fixtures.

The study 

Borah et al. ran eight controlled experiments involving several hundred university students. They used eye-tracking equipment to record precisely where and for how long participants looked. Turning bias was induced through tasks including maze navigation, reading exercises, chair rotation and angled product displays.

Each condition produced consistent results that suggest when people are walking clockwise or turning to the right, their eyes are primed to look downwards; when they are moving counterclockwise or turning to the left, their gaze drifts upwards. 

This has a measurable impact on their willingness to pay. A clockwise-moving shopper values the same mug US$2.91 more when it sits on the lower shelf; a counterclockwise-moving shopper values it US$2.74 more on the upper shelf.

The takeaways

• Channel attention in the direction you want: Retailers can steer this through store entry design, floor plans and product fixture angles.
• Vertical placement drives price perception: Price perception can be influenced by the relative height of products in the window display.
• Attention works in two stages: Where shoppers first look and how long they stay looking independently amplify price perception.
• Time pressure dilutes the effect: When shoppers are rushed, spatial cues lose their influence. Slow the browse through display design, music tempo or pacing cues.