The Power of Serendipity

More and more brands are complementing their e-tail strategies, based on analytics and previous buying behaviors, with experiential programs rooted in more human impulses and the desire for unexpected rewards and surprises.

In new neuroscience research, Dr. Gregory Berns, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Emory University in the U.S, and Dr. Read Montague, associate professor of neuroscience at Baylor University, suggest “the brain finds unexpected pleasures more rewarding than expected ones, and it may have nothing to do with what people say they like”.

Recent advances in virtual reality tools have helped brands recreate online the randomness and surprise consumers experience when they enter a store in the real life and it is also predicted that future virtual real tools will soon be able to develop multiple virtual scenarios and shape-shifting spaces that mutate according to users’ different impulses and emotions.

These innovations are definitely exciting, but the challenge for brands will be to explore the potential of virtual serendipity without overwhelming shoppers who are already dealing with zillions of choices every day.

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