Phone-based Data Collection for Consumer Behavior Research

An important question in consumer behavior research is how to systematically and quantitatively determine patterns in consumer behaviors that can facilitate understanding of where, when, and how consumers purchase products and services at (non-online) retail shops. Collecting naturalistic data on real consumers who shop at retail stores is often one of the most critical, challenging, and expensive parts of consumer behavior studies. This paper introduces phone-based data collection to consumer behavior research, specifically targeting local residences shopping at their neighborhood convenience stores. We have developed a phone-based data collection system (called ConvenienceProbe) and deployed and tested the system by collecting real customer flow data to neighborhood convenience stores. Results shows that consumer flow data collected from the ConvenienceProbe system is comparable to that from a traditional face-to-face interview method.