Investigating the effect of price tag colours on cortical, cardiac and ocular responses

Abstract

The present study was aimed at exploring how different combinations of price tag colours can influence consumer approach, arousal, and price visibility. An experimental investigation was set out to compare individual responses to two different hues conveying different degrees of perceived sophistication, excitement, and visual salience. Specifically, cortical responses were processed to calculate an index of individual approach-withdrawal. Cardiac responses were tracked to assess sympathetic activations. Behavioural measures were related to instinctive nonverbal responses and included ocular behaviours, through eye-tracking, used as a measure of visual salience. Cortical activations showed how black labels affected positively the observer. Sophisticated price displays were connected to positive initial impressions towards the visual stimulus. Orange hues tended to elicit higher physiological arousal and visual salience, pointing to a signaling role effective to generate a sense of alertness.