Recent research in retail facility layout has focused on developing analytical models to estimate visibility measures of novel rack layouts based on assumptions about a shopper’s field of view. However, because of the human element involved in the shopping experience, it is vital to compare these models relative to actual human performance. In this study, we evaluate the predictions of our previously developed analytical model (that estimates exposure of every location on a given rack layout assuming expected head movement) in a 3D Virtual Environment (VE). We conducted trials with 18 participants who were asked to find targets strategically placed on the racks for 9 unique layouts. A comparison of their performance with the analytical model suggested that our model performed well, but the performance varied across layouts. To enhance these exposure estimates from the analytical model, we combined it with parameters corresponding to human head movement collected from the VE study, along with layout and target location parameters, in a decision tree framework. Results indicate that combining analytical and empirical observations enhances the quality of estimates (test AUC = 0.9).
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/john_flach/168/