Online reviews or marketer information? An eye-tracking study on social commerce consumers

Abstract

Driven by the increasing popularity of social commerce sites, this study seeks to examine the information sources and formats that influence consumer intentions to purchase. Specifically, we build on uses and gratifications theory and dual-process theory to determine how user-generated content and marketer-generated content are consumed by users when making a purchase decision. Using an eye-tracking approach on a popular social commerce site with a sample of 23 consumers, we find significant differences in the types of information used for product purchase compared to those omitted. Our study demonstrates that the format and source of information that consumers utilize, as well as the gaze transitions they make between different types of content when browsing, follow different patterns depending on if a product is bought or rejected. We conclude the paper summarizing the findings and drawing theoretical and practical implications that arise.