Understanding Impulse Buyers to Drive Sales

As the landscape of in-store marketing evolves, the effectiveness of traditional strategies is waning. It wasn't until the 1990s that scholars and marketers began to recognize the potential of in-store marketing to stimulate impulse purchases (Bellini et al., 2017). Fast forward three decades, and the rise of digital technology and mobile device usage is increasingly hindering impulse buying behaviors (Bellini & Aiolfi, 2020).

Author's Note: The term 'in-store' also encompasses online shopping environments (Muruganantham & Bhakat, 2013).

Mobile phone usage not only distracts customers from in-store marketing but also empowers them by providing easy access to information, allowing them to compare prices and features, check shopping lists, and make informed decisions.

Navigating Marketing Challenges in a Digital Age

In order to counteract these challenges, businesses must refine their targeting of impulse buyers. While the overall number of potential impulse buyers may shrink, improving the conversion rate within this segment is critical. This necessitates a deep understanding of impulse buyers, beginning with their segmentation.

Defining Impulse Buying

To embark on this journey, we must first define impulse buying. According to Bayley and Nancarrow (1998), an impulsive purchase is "a buying action undertaken without a problem previously having been consciously recognized or a buying intention formed prior to entering the store."

Who Are the Impulse Buyers?

Let’s begin by examining the proportion of consumers who can be classified as impulse buyers. Spoiler alert: it's significant!

Research by Bellini et al. (2016) categorizes consumers based on their pre-shopping behaviors, which include activities like creating shopping lists, reviewing store flyers, and comparing prices online. The three consumer categories are as follows:

1. Not-Prepared Shoppers: These individuals engage in no pre-shopping activities and account for 43% of consumers.
2. Prepared Shoppers: This group participates in 1 to 2 pre-shopping activities, representing 48% of the consumer base.
3. Professional Shoppers: This category involves those who undertake 3 or more pre-shopping activities, making up 9% of consumers.

The more prepared a shopper is, the less likely they are to make impulsive purchases (Created by the author in PowerPoint).

Combining these categories reveals that a staggering 27% of shoppers are impulse buyers, with the highest concentration found among not-prepared shoppers.

Is There More Potential?

Indeed, the potential for impulse buying may be even greater! Imagine an ideal marketing environment where all not-prepared shoppers (43% of consumers) are influenced to make impulsive purchases. In such a scenario, over half (58%) of consumers could become impulse buyers. The challenge lies in achieving this ideal.

Understanding Why Impulse Purchases Occur

To effectively understand impulse buyers, we must explore the motivations behind their purchases. Impulse buying is influenced by three main antecedents: individual characteristics, product characteristics, and situational factors (Bellini et al., 2017).

1. Individual Characteristics: These include demographic variables like age and gender, as well as personality traits such as 'impulse buying tendency' and 'shopping enjoyment tendency.'

2. Product Characteristics: This involves the appeal or hedonism of the product, with more hedonistic products attracting impulsive purchases (Inman et al., 2009).

3. Situational Factors: Possibly the most critical category, these can be broken down into five subcategories (Belk, 1975):

   • Physical surroundings: store layout and promotions.
   • Social surroundings: the influence of others during the shopping experience.
   • Temporal perspective: time constraints related to shopping.
   • Antecedent states: current moods and conditions.
   • Task definition: available budget and shopping intent.

Practical Implications for Marketers

Now, let’s consider some actionable implications from the insights above.

A key takeaway is that the effects of impulse-buying antecedents vary in significance and can interact synergistically (Dholakia, 2000). Thus, slightly modifying multiple factors can lead to greater overall impulsive buying behavior than focusing on one aspect alone.

Marketers can most effectively adjust situational factors, as personal characteristics are not easily altered in a short time frame.

Delving into Impulse Buyer Segmentation

With a foundational understanding established, we can now explore the segmentation of impulse buyers. Iyer (1989) identified four distinct segments:

1. Pure Impulse Buyers: These shoppers make purchases with no prior planning.
2. Suggestion Impulse Buyers: They make impulsive purchases based on suggestions from advertisements or others.
3. Reminded Impulse Buyers: This group acts on reminders from in-store promotions to fulfill existing needs.
4. Planned Impulse Buyers: These consumers have some purchases pre-planned, though specifics may still be undecided.

Connecting Antecedents to Buyer Segments

In wrapping up, we will connect the impulse buying antecedents to their respective segments. Each antecedent can be tailored to influence specific segments, depending on business context and customer base.

For instance:

• Suggestion Impulse Buyers + Social Surroundings: Businesses can train staff or utilize chatbots to provide personalized recommendations, leveraging social proof from other customers.
• Reminded/Planned Impulse Buyers + Physical Surroundings: Cross-merchandising strategies can effectively remind consumers of additional needs related to their original purchase.

Conclusion

With a nuanced understanding of impulse buyer segments and their triggers, businesses can implement tailored interventions that resonate with each segment’s motivations, ultimately boosting conversion rates and enhancing customer satisfaction.

References

1. Bayley, G., & Nancarrow, C. (1998). Impulse purchasing: a qualitative exploration of the phenomenon. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 1(2), 99–114.
2. Beatty, S. E., & Ferrell, M. E. (1998). Impulse buying: Modeling its precursors. Journal of retailing, 74(2), 169–191.
3. Belk, R. W. (1975). Situational variables and consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer research, 2(3), 157–164.
4. Bellini, S., & Aiolfi, S. (2020). Impulse buying behavior: the mobile revolution. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 48(1), 1–17.
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6. Bellini, S., Cardinali, M. G., & Grandi, B. (2016). Does shopping preparation influence consumer buying decisions. International Business Research, 9(10), 201.
7. Dholakia, U. M. (2000). Temptation and resistance: An integrated model of consumption impulse formation and enactment. Psychology & Marketing, 17(11), 955–982.
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9. Gerbing, D. W., et al. (1987). Toward a conceptualization of impulsivity: Components across the behavioral and self-report domains. Multivariate behavioral research, 22(3), 357–379.
10. Ghani, U., & Kamal, Y. (2010). The impact of in-store stimuli on the impulse purchase behaviour of consumers in Pakistan. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 2(8), 155–162.
11. Gudonavičienė, R., & Alijošienė, S. (2015). Visual merchandising impact on impulse buying behaviour. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 213, 635–640.
12. Inman, J. J., et al. (2009). The interplay among category characteristics, customer characteristics, and customer activities on in-store decision making. Journal of marketing, 73(5), 19–29.
13. Iyer, E. S. (1989). Unplanned Purchasing: Knowledge of shopping environment and time pressure. Journal of retailing, 65(1), 40.
14. Muruganantham, G., & Bhakat, R. S. (2013). A review of impulse buying behavior. International journal of marketing studies, 5(3), 149.

This video explores effective strategies for selling to impulse buyers by creating a sense of scarcity and urgency, enhancing the likelihood of spontaneous purchases.

In this video, discover what impulse buying is, along with examples from well-known supermarkets like IKEA and Walmart, illustrating consumer behavior in action.