Human behavior guidance methods in distributed virtual shopping malls

In this paper, we report a prototype service on a human behavior guidance method in distributed virtual shopping malls. The prototype service is to investigate whether it is possible to alter a customer’s interest in the target store by displaying advertisements of alternative stores while guiding the customer to the target store. Behavioral economics theory suggests that people generally do not choose those stores when multiple alternative stores other than the intended target store are advertised at the same time. Therefore, when approaching the actual store, displaying the advertisement for an alternative store makes the store more attractive and increases the possibility of its selection. Then, the study examines the effects of the prototype service to validate the opportunities of virtualization technologies in our future daily lives.