a multi-method investigation of consumer motivations in impulse buying behavior
TRANSCRIPT
Introduction
Impulsiveness
Impulse buying behavior is an enigma in the marketing world, for here is a behavior which the
literature and consumers both state is normatively wrong, yet which accounts for a substantial
volume of the goods sold every year across a broad range of product categories (Bellenger et al.,
1978; Cobb and Hoyer, 1986; Han et al., 1991; Kollat and Willet, 1967; Rook and Fisher, 1995;
Weinberg and Gottwald, 1982). Possibly, these negative evaluations of impulse buying behavior
emanate from psychological studies of impulsiveness that characterize impulse behavior as a sign
of immaturity and lacking behavioral control (Levy, 1976; Solnick et al., 1980) or as irrational, risky,
and wasteful (Ainslie, 1975; Levy, 1976; Rook and Fisher, 1995; Solnick et al., 1980).
Rook and Fisher (1995) were among the first marketing researchers to suggest that these
normative evaluations act to moderate individual impulsive traits and, thus, reduce consumer
impulse buying behavior. In other words, consumers attempt to control their innate impulsive
tendencies because they do not want to be perceived as immature or irrational. However, this
moderating effect does not conform with the high reported incidence of impulse buying behavior in
studies conducted over the last four decades. These studies show that most people - almost 90
per cent - make purchases on impulse occasionally (Welles, 1986) and between 30 per cent and
50 per cent of all purchases can be classified by the buyers themselves as impulse purchases
(Bellenger et al., 1978; Cobb and Hoyer, 1986; Han et al., 1991; Kollat and Willett, 1967).
Normative evaluations
This discrepancy raises interesting questions regarding why negative normative evaluations have
so little observed impact on aggregate impulse buying behavior. For instance, do some consumers
consider impulse buying behavior appropriate, especially under certain circumstances, as
proposed by Rook and Fisher (1995)? And, if so, what conditions allow consumers to justify their
impulse buying behavior and override societal pressures to make purchase decisions rationally?
This paper proposes that impulse buying behavior is much more complex than previously
conceptualized; that this behavior stems from the desire to satisfy multiple needs that underlie
many types of buying behavior. Specifically, this paper will explore needs for novelty, social
interaction, and "fun", commonly termed hedonic motives, as contributors to impulse buying
behavior. Further, this paper will explore and test several possible conditions that may allow
consumers to view impulse buying behavior as a rational response to the complexities in their
environment. For instance, information processing overload or other decision-making difficulties
may encourage consumers to use less demanding decision-making strategies, such as using
schemata or heuristics to simplify decision making.
Consumers' motivations
In an attempt to address the complex issues raised in this study, a combination of qualitative and
quantitative methods is used to gain a better understanding of why consumers appear to utilize
impulse buying behavior with such frequency. These methods are used to develop and test a set
of hypotheses related to consumers' motivations behind impulse buying behavior. The study ends
with suggestions for retailers and consumers to aid in channeling this type of behavior more
constructively.
Review of the current literature
Most early efforts to study impulse buying behavior - those before 1987 - were concerned with
definitional issues and attempted to classify impulse into one of several sub-categories, rather than
to understand why so many consumers appear to act on their buying impulses so frequently. This
concern with developing classificational schemata has generated a body of research that ignores
the behavioral motivations leading to impulse buying behavior for a large variety of products and
instead focuses on a small number of relatively inexpensive products. More recent studies have
reported impulse purchases across a broad range of product offerings in a variety of price ranges
(Cobb and Hoyer, 1986; Rook, 1987; Rook and Fisher, 1995). The pervasiveness of impulse
buying, even for relatively expensive products, is counter-intuitive and has led to a few preliminary
studies looking at impulse buying as an inherent individual trait, rather than a response to
inexpensive product offerings.
What is impulse buying?
Definitions
Definitions of impulse buying prior to 1982 focused on the product rather than the consumer as the
motivator of impulse purchases. For instance, Stern (1962) provides the foundation for defining
impulse buying behavior, which classifies the act as planned, unplanned, or impulse. According to
this scheme, planned buying behavior involves a time-consuming information search followed by
rational decision making (Piron, 1991; Stern, 1962). Unplanned buying refers to all purchases
made without such advance planning and includes impulse buying, which is distinguished by the
relative speed with which buying "decisions" occur.
Subsequent to 1982, when researchers began to re-focus attention on impulse buying behavior,
researchers began to investigate the behavioral dimensions of impulse buying. Most recently,
researchers appear to agree that impulse buying involves a hedonic or affective component (Cobb
and Hoyer, 1986; Piron, 1991; Rook, 1987; Rook and Fisher, 1995; Weinberg and Gottwald,
1982). For instance, Rook (1987) reports accounts by consumers who felt the product "calling"
them, almost demanding they purchase it. This emphasis on the behavioral elements of impulse
buying led to the definition of impulse as follows:"Impulse buying occurs when a consumer
experiences a sudden, often powerful and persistent urge to buy something immediately. The
impulse to buy is hedonically complex and may stimulate emotional conflict. Also, impulse buying
is prone to occur with diminished regard for its consequences (Rook, 1987, p. 191)."
Buying behavior
Recent research on impulse buying behavior indicates that individual consumers do not view their
specific purchases as wrong and indeed retrospectively report a favorable evaluation of their
behavior. Specifically, in the Rook (1987) study, a relatively small number of informants (only 20
percent) report feeling "bad" about their impulse buying, but an astonishingly large number of
informants (41 percent) report that they actually feel good about their impulse purchases. These
results are surprising after reviewing prior literature and definitions of impulse buying, possibly
because they looked at individual consumers' evaluations of and motivation for a particular
impulse purchase, rather than their attitudes toward impulse buying in general. The results reflect
that, at least in this context, a large number of consumers failed to view impulse buying as
normatively wrong. Following this unexpected result, Rook and Fisher (1995) developed a scale to
measure impulsive buying tendencies, proposed as a surrogate for impulse buying behavior. They
propose that this individual behavioral trait moderates the negative norms prevalent in society
against impulse buying, thus reducing or eliminating negative feelings or conflict over impulse
purchases. In other words, consumers still view impulse buying as "bad", but feel unable to control
their impulsive tendencies, an inherent behavioral trait.
Several alternative explanations, however, are possible and two of them are explored in this paper.
The first alternative proposed in this study is that consumers use shopping to satisfy a number of
needs, not just their need for the products they acquire during the shopping excursion. In other
words, the shopping act itself satisfies certain needs and the products purchased during these
trips, since their purchase was unanticipated, fall into the realm of impulse buying behavior. In
addition, consumers may purchase products during these shopping trips that were not anticipated
but, once consumers see the product during the shopping exploration, they recognize its suitability
for satisfying a particular need. Thus, consumers may use the shopping experience and resulting
impulse buying behavior to satisfy a number of needs which do not fit into theories of economic
utility (Boone and Kurtz, 1995).
Theory development
Empirical study
Our efforts to study empirically the impulse buying process and how theories of information
processing might account for the relative frequency of reported impulse buying behavior led to the
use of both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques. First, due to the exploratory
nature of our initial propositions, this paper used semi-structured interviews to explore consumers'
emotions regarding shopping, how they make buying decisions, and why these decisions often
result in impulse buying. Using this exploratory study, as well as the literature as a guide, this
paper next developed a set of hypotheses related to impulse buying (testing these hypotheses
required development of a scale to measure hedonic buying) and administered this scale, in
combination with appropriate existing scales, to a convenient sample of consumers.
Qualitative study
In order to gain a better understanding of the way consumers viewed their buying and decision-
making behavior, 60 semi-structured interviews were conducted by trained interviewers.
Informants consisted of a convenience sample of consumers representing both sexes and various
income and age brackets. On average, interviews lasted approximately 20 minutes and were
recorded and later transcribed by the interviewers. To avoid contamination of the data by attempts
to portray actions in a socially desirable light, informants were not asked directly about impulse
buying and interviewers were not told the exact nature of the project. Rather, both informants and
interviewers were told that the project was designed to explore shopping behaviors, and the
incidence of impulse buying was allowed to emerge naturally.
Interviews
Analysis of the interviews progressed using the techniques for theory development suggested by
Glaser and Strauss (1967). This method of theory generation involves a rigorous process of
evaluation whereby the data are analyzed iteratively to identify categories, code incidents, and
organize the data through theoretical memos. As the categories begin to emerge, constant
comparison is employed until theoretical saturation is achieved. This methodology yields
hypotheses empirically grounded in the data. These hypotheses may later be tested quantitatively
or through further qualitative data collection. A grounded theory approach was selected because it
helps discover, develop, and verify theory, which is the primary goal in this study (McDonald, 1996;
Glaser and Strauss, 1967). This makes grounded theory a valuable tool because it concentrates
on concepts and relationships or linkages between concepts; thus it is a suitable method for
creating a framework directly from data (McDonald, 1996; Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Further, the
grounded theory approach, because it uses the constant comparison method, allows theory behind
actions to emerge (Glaser and Strauss, 1967).
Using this theoretical approach, this paper was able to detect a variety of hedonic needs that
appeared to motivate consumers' impulse buying behavior. In addition, interviews detected the use
of hedonic need satisfaction as a retrospective rationale for purchases made during a shopping
excursion. Because the interviews were conducted to generate an understanding of the impulse
buying process, it is impossible to determine reliably the temporal precedence for the hedonic
need. Among the hedonic needs identified were fun, novelty, and variety.
Hedonic motivation for impulse buying
Hedonic desires
Among the higher-order needs elucidated through consumer reports in the literature are needs for
novelty, variety, and surprise (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982; Hirschman, 1980). Similarly,
consumers report that impulse buying satisfies a number of hedonic desires (Piron, 1991; Rook,
1987; Thompson et al., 1990). In addition, emotional support needs may also be satisfied by the
social interaction inherent in the shopping experience. For instance, consumers report feeling
uplifted or energized after a shopping experience in several qualitative studies (Cobb and Hoyer,
1986; Rook, 1987). These sources appear to offer conceptual support for a link between hedonic
shopping motives and impulse buying behavior.
Our first effort was to identify some of the hedonic needs consumers seek to satisfy during their
shopping experience in order to develop the hedonic needs scale. Based on our informants'
reports, needs for fun, novelty, and surprise were identified.
Shopping experience
The following reports emphasize the fun or psychological lift consumers feel during and after a
hedonic shopping experience. Especially evident is the contrast between the emotions evoked by
the shopping experience and aspects of routine existence:"I usually only shop for clothes when I
need something specific or for a pick-me-up. Just the atmosphere of new or different things makes
me feel better ... I mean work is stressful enough. I don't want to go home to face a whole bunch
more work.""So yeah, basically it does make me feel better. I shop to pass the time and to visit
friends and, on occasion, to check out new items in the store, but mostly to pass the time.
Because, after a busy work day, sometimes I like to relax and walk up and down aisles of stores.""I
like to go to the mall or some of the little shops. For me, it's therapy. Just getting into the
department stores, into the mall is therapy. And I'll probably spend the same amount as going to a
therapist, so it doesn't matter. Shopping is therapy.""I feel good when I buy myself something and
treat myself to stuff and going home and looking through my bags and seeing what I bought."
Similarly, the following is characteristic of reports emphasizing the novelty aspects of hedonic
shopping. This shows that shopping has, for some people, become a surrogate for more primal
types of hunting and that the search and acquisition of goods are the reward, not any utility
resulting from the purchase:"My favorite store would be Merlin's BookStore on Fowler and I love
going in there and finding the Japanese animation stuff that I like and I love it when I walk in there
and I see something that I did not see before ... that [finding a new Japanese animation item] is
really neat and cool. And I buy it."
This theme is re-emphasized in the following passage: "[It's] like I'm on a mission. Seriously, I'm on
a mission to find something different. Something that nobody else has."
Satisfaction
These reports suggest that consumers shop to satisfy a variety of hedonic needs and the specific
products acquired during these excursions is secondary to the action of shopping. Since the goal
of the shopping experience is to provide satisfaction of hedonic needs, the products purchased
during these excursions appear to be chosen without prior planning and represent an impulse
buying event. This suggests the following hypothesis:
H1. Individual consumers' impulse buying is correlated with their desires to fulfil hedonic needs,
such as for fun, novelty, and surprise.
In addition to these hedonic motivations for impulse buying that were predictable from extant
literature, additional motivating needs were identified in the interview data. Thematic analysis of
the interview transcripts indicated that these additional motivating needs could be loosely grouped
according to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow, 1968) and that efforts to satisfy the higher-
order needs in this hierarchy led to different types of impulse buying behavior. Attempts by
consumers to satisfy physiological and safety needs conform with economic theories and do not,
per se, represent attempts to satisfy additional needs that might lead to impulse buying. However,
efforts to satisfy esteem and self-actualization needs appeared to impel consumers to make
specific purchases that provided satisfaction for those particular needs. In addition, attempts to
satisfy social needs, while less likely to prompt a specific purchase, as reflected in these reports,
relied on the shopping experience itself to provide the desired satisfaction and the purchases
made were of little consequence in fulfilling specific needs.
Social needs
Prevalent feelings that the shopping experience satisfied social needs was probably the most
commonly expressed reason given for impulse buying behavior in the data. Typical of statements
made by informants was the following:"One of my enjoyable shopping experiences was last month,
after Christmas. My friends and I went shopping ... I thought we would just shop for some shoes
and some casual clothes. But when we got to the mall ... there were sales ... sales ... sales.
Everything looked good on me, but I can't buy them all.""I know my girlfriend likes to shop, so it's
something we can do together when we can't come up with anything else to do.""I went into K-Mart
today and my daughter helped me pick out something for my son's birthday and we had a lot of fun
looking at purses. We weren't in any big hurry and we found things we like and some we need. We
just had fun."
In these reports, the expression of social needs appeared unintentionally to lead to impulse buying
behavior, in that the purchases were incidental to the more important need to interact and garner
approval from a significant other or a group. Thus, this motivation differs from desires to fulfil safety
and physiological needs that directed consumers toward specific purchases.
H2. Individual consumer impulse buying behavior is correlated with desires to satisfy social needs.
Informants expressed their esteem needs through the credence given to their desires to remain
fashion-conscious. Statements indicate that informants readily recognized that others judged them
by their appearance, especially their clothing. Thus, purchasing the right clothing was of primary
importance. Despite the weight placed on acquiring acceptable clothing, it was surprising that
many of these purchases were not planned in advance. Sometimes, the informant would find a
particularly suitable article of clothing while shopping for other needed items and purchase the item
on impulse. In other cases, the informant was searching for a special occasion outfit, without pre-
determining the criteria for its purchase, as is portrayed in the following statement:"A beautiful
dress. I didn't believe it ... it was cheap. It was a long black dress ... it was like a prom dress, but
better. This dress really caught my eye. When I went in and tried it on, it really fit. It was like the
dress was really made for me. I wore it to my friend's wedding. Everybody at the wedding looked
at me ... boy, that made me feel good."
H3. Individual consumer impulse buying behavior is correlated with desires to satisfy esteem, as
measured by style consciousness.
Self-actualization
Examples of needs for self-actualization which were satisfied by the shopping experience and
resulted in impulse buying behavior were also detected. In the following reports the consumers
used the shopping experience as a means of establishing identity:"I like to go shopping because if
allows me to have some control over an aspect of my life. I am not Ernest's wife or Nicholas and
Zachary's mom, I am Julie.""One time I got this watch. I got it at the Disney store. It is just perfect
for me. It was not an impulse, but I knew I wanted it, but I wasn't shopping for it. I had it in mind for
a couple of months. Not like exactly this, but like kinda what I wanted. And when I saw it, I knew
that was it. It's the one for me. It was like sparks went off and we knew we were meant to be
together."
Similarly, there is evidence in the reports of consumers using impulse buying behavior as a means
of self-reward based on having made sacrifices to achieve desired long-term goals. Much like the
dieter who rewards him- or herself for having lost weight, these consumers allow themselves to
buy things they did not need, in their efforts to reward themselves. For instance: "After an exam ...
that's when I like to shop because I've worked hard in preparation for that exam and I deserve
some new threads."
Insights from information processing
Psychology
Much of the psychological literature on impulse and impulsive decision making appears to make
the implicit assumption that acting on impulse results in poor decision quality, while the thoughtful
search and evaluation necessary for rational decisions result in better decisions. Supporting this
statement, Levy (1976) and Solnick et al. (1980) both include terms like "wasteful" and "risky" in
their conceptualizations of impulse. Empirical studies support contentions that rational decisions
made after an adequate search and evaluation of alternatives, such as the decisions made utilizing
planned buying behavior, result in accurate decisions, but impulsive decisions result in decision
errors (Halpern, 1989; Johnson-Laird, 1988). More specifically related to impulse buying, this
behavior is linked with increased probability of negative consequences (Cobb and Hoyer, 1986;
Rook and Fisher, 1995; Weinberg and Gottwald, 1982).
This negative evaluation of impulsive decision making may be true when discussing impulse in
general, but may not apply to impulse buying decisions, for several reasons. The first reason why
impulse buying decisions may be accurate deals with the definition of accuracy employed and the
second deals with increasing evidence that rational decision making is not inherently any more
accurate than other decision-making alternatives, such as heuristics. Therefore, determination of
what is meant by the term accuracy in connection with buying decisions is necessary.
Objective criteria
Since buying decisions are, almost by definition, complex, no single objective criterion suffices as
a measure of accuracy. For instance, lowest possible price or other criterion cannot be used as a
surrogate measure of accuracy and subjective criteria may be more useful in making these
evaluations. If consumers are allowed to judge the accuracy of their buying decisions, through
satisfaction with the purchase, then impulse purchases appear to be fundamentally accurate. For
instance, in Rook's (1987) study, 41 per cent of consumers reported that they were satisfied with
their impulse purchases.
Again, using the criterion of customer satisfaction as a measure of decision-making accuracy,
questions arise regarding the relative accuracy of rational vs impulse buying decisions. Baron
(1994) and Bettman et al. (1991) were among the first researchers to postulate that consumer
decision making is so complex that consumers may not feel certain of the accuracy of their
decisions despite the expenditure of a significant cognitive effort. In part, these uncertainties may
arise due to numerous equivocal product features that make direct comparisons across products
nearly impossible. One product, for example, may offer more style and a more reputable brand
name, while another offers an appealing color and costs substantially less. The decision between
these two products is difficult to reduce to a simple algorithm. Further, the average consumer is ill-
prepared to reduce this complicated decision to a manageable cognitive task using decision-
making aids familiar to many business executives. Thus, impulse buying occurs, which reduces
cognitive effort. Past experiences of the consumer have shown that this produces acceptable
purchases and may be particularly appealing to the average consumer. This leads to the following
hypothesis:
H4. Perceptions of decision-making accuracy moderate the impulse buying behavior.
Cognitive effort
The decision-making complexity outlined in the previous section may affect impulse buying
behavior in other ways. Not only may consumers begin to question the accuracy of their rational
decisions, especially in relation to the amount of cognitive effort expended to reach the decisions,
but they may also begin to feel overwhelmed and frustrated trying to deal with the volume of
complex information they experience (Bettman et al., 1991). This phenomenon is termed
information processing overload and may increase customer feelings of anxiety and
unpleasantness associated with the decision-making process (Baron, 1994; Herbig and Kramer,
1994). Importantly for this analysis, information processing overload is compounded by the variety
often available in many shopping venues.
The combined effects of decision-making complexity and information processing overload may
substantially diminish judgment quality or accuracy (Bettman et al., 1991; Herbig and Kramer,
1994; Kahneman, 1973). Thus, despite concerted efforts to make the "right" decision, consumers
may actually make worse decisions under these conditions (Kahneman, 1973). Therefore, as
consumers increase their cognitive efforts in attempts to reach accurate decisions, both their
dissatisfaction with the process increases and their decision accuracy declines. This leads to the
following hypotheses regarding impulse buying:
H5a. Perceived decision effort is negatively correlated with perceptions of decision accuracy made
by consumers.
H5b. Perceptions of decision effort moderate the impulse buying trait.
Methodology
Testing the hypotheses proposed in the previous section involved developing and administering a
questionnaire to a convenience sample of consumers, assessing the reliability and validity of the
scales employed, and conducting a series of ANOVAs after establishing three levels of impulse
buying among respondents.
Sample
Questionnaire
Based on extant literature and the hypotheses developed through the theory generation phase of
this project, a 75-item multi-indicator questionnaire was developed. The initial questionnaire was
assessed for clarity, face validity, and necessary completion time by a group of eight members
who had been involved in the qualitative data gathering phase of this project. After several rounds
of modification, an acceptable questionnaire was administered by these group members to a
convenience sample of 290 consumers using an intercept technique. Of the sample collected, 18
responses were removed due to incompleteness, leaving a final sample of 272 consumers. Table I
displays the demographic characteristics of this sample, showing a reasonable mix of
demographic groups represented in the data.
Measures
Hedonic consumption scale development. Using extant literature and the interviews as a guide, a
13-item scale to measure the hedonic tendencies of our consumer respondents was developed.
The hedonic consumption scale incorporated the fun scale developed by Farber and O'Guinn
(1988), the novelty scale originally developed by Unger (1981), and several items suggested by
the interview data. The initial pool of items was reviewed by the interviewers and modifications
made to several of the items. All items were measured using five-point Likert type scales. Data
generated by the questionnaire were used to purify this scale based on the recommendations of
Churchill (1979), resulting in a unidimensional, seven-item scale. The items comprising the
hedonic consumption scale are contained in Appendix 1.
Use of existing measures
Testing hypotheses
In addition, existing scales were used for hypotheses testing. The impulse buying scale, developed
by Rook and Fisher (1995), was modified by the addition of two items suggested by the semi-
structured interviews. One of these items, as well as one of the items originally appearing in the
Rook and Fisher impulse scale, was later removed from the analysis based on low item-total
correlations. This resulted in the seven-item Likert-type scale. Final items in this scale are
displayed in Appendix 2.
Other scales included credit usage, adopted from Darden and Ashton (1975) and Houston et al.'s
(1987) visual processing style scale.
Results
Psychometric properties of scales utilized
In addition to tests of face validity conducted earlier, the reliability of the scales was evaluated by
calculating:
(1) Cronbach's [alpha] (Table II);
(2) assessing factor structure using exploratory factor analysis (Table III); and
(3) inter-item correlations, and scale correlations (Table II) for each measured scale.
Results indicate acceptable reliability for all measured constructs and construct validity (based on
factor analysis). In addition, the pattern of correlations support nomological validity to the extent
that they correspond with theory. All factor analyses were conducted using Maximum Likelihood
extraction method, rotated using oblique rotation to a simple solution.
Hedonic scale
Assessment of the hedonic scale developed for this study indicated that three factors emerged,
rather than the preferred single factor, from the initial pool of items. Regarding the three factors,
the first (which accounted for 47.3 per cent of the variance) seemed to represent the fundamental
elements of hedonic shopping as presented earlier in this study, namely the novelty,
entertainment, and emotional lift achieved by consumers through their shopping behavior. The
second factor, which accounted for 8.4 per cent of the variance, only contained three items which
cross-loaded on the first factor. The third factor also contained items cross-loading on the first, and
a high factor inter-correlation. Thus, hypothesis testing involved the items loading only on the first
factor (see Appendix 1). In addition to good face validity, this unidimensional scale produced good
reliability, convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity (see Table II).
Recall that the impulse trait scale was fundamentally the one employed in prior research, with
small changes as a result of the qualitative portion of this study. The reliability of this scale was
good (see Table II) and, after deletion of one of the reverse score items, unidimensional. Further,
the scale demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity. The social scale developed for
this study did not provide adequate psychometric properties in terms of reliability and validity. All
other scales used in this study provided acceptable reliabilities and validity without making any
modifications to the initial scales (see Table II).
Hypothesis testing
Analysis
Hypothesis testing involved correlational and ANOVA analysis. These tests resulted in several
interesting and unexpected results. Perhaps the most interesting came from the correlational
analysis, which indicated that the impulse buying trait did not correlate at the 0.01 level with any of
the demographic variables assessed (see Table II). This is surprising since both academic and
anecdotal sources imply strong gender and income effects; therefore the lack of any demographic
effects represents a contribution.
H1 hypothesizes that consumers engage in impulse buying to satisfy hedonic desires for fun,
novelty, and variety. Again, correlational analysis supports this hypothesis (p = 0.001). ANOVA
also demonstrates that consumers who are more impulsive are more likely to shop for hedonic
reasons than those who possess a small or moderate score on impulsiveness (see Table III).
H2 could not be tested quantitatively due to the poor performance of the social scale. Qualitative
data do support this hypothesis and suggest the need for further testing.
H3 proposes that impulsiveness is correlated with consumers' desires to fulfil higher order needs
such as esteem and self-actualization. These needs were operationalized as style consciousness,
based on qualitative data analysis. This hypothesis is supported since the data show a significant
correlation between style consciousness and impulsiveness (p = 0.001) and ANOVA results
demonstrate a significant increase in impulsiveness among increasingly style conscious
consumers (see Table III).
H4 is also supported by the data gathered in this study. This hypothesis proposes a relationship
between impulse buying and perceived accuracy. While results suggest that both less impulsive
and more impulsive consumers view their decision accuracy equally, moderately impulsive
consumers view their decisions as less accurate than the other two groups.
Although the data do not support H5a, relating to decision-making effort and accuracy, they do
support H5b, indicating that more impulsive consumers appear to view their buying decisions as
more laborious. Results show a significant negative correlation between perceptions of decision-
making effort expended and impulsiveness (p = 0.001), which is supported by ANOVA results.
Discussion
Consequences
Much of the work on impulse buying behavior inherently attributes negative consequences to the
behavior. Prior research also assumes that society imposes negative normative evaluations on
impulse behavior, including impulse buying. Drawing on the research of Rook and Fisher (1995),
this paper proposes that impulse buying is not always viewed negatively by consumers, but
represents a rational alternative to more time-consuming search behaviors. The paper attempts to
explain why consumers employ this purchasing strategy so frequently and do not feel that impulse
buying is overwhelmingly wrong.
One explanation for this phenomenon is that consumers buy products for a variety of non-
economic reasons, such as fun, fantasy, and social or emotional gratification. As some previous
respondents suggest, buying impulsively feels a little freer and a little like doing something
naughty, but relatively innocent (Rook, 1987). Since these benefits are normally not included in
calculations of consumer utility, previous researchers conclude that impulse buying violates
assumptions of profit maximization and is irrational. Once hedonic components are added to the
equation, impulse buying can be viewed as a valued pastime rather than just a means of acquiring
goods.
Accuracy effects
Another possible explanation revolves around accuracy effects. This paper proposes that accuracy
effects may moderate impulse buying behavior by affecting the perceived trade-off between
cognitive effort and decision-making accuracy. Information overload may further enhance this
moderating effect by further decreasing perceived accuracy or reducing actual accuracy
(Kahneman, 1973).
This discussion does not imply that these are the only factors that moderate impulse buying
decisions, but they do introduce perspectives not currently addressed in extant literature. This
literature currently identifies several contexts effects which also affect impulse buying. For
example, low risk, familiarity with options, the number of decisions required, and temporal
considerations influence impulse buying decisions (Bettman et al., 1991; Cialdini, 1993; Sujan,
1985).
This analysis it is not complete by far. Besides accuracy effects and non-economic benefits, there
are undoubtedly other situations and personality factors that motivate this behavior. Moreover, this
analysis does not attempt to explain all impulse buying behavior. For instance, children probably
have an entirely different set of variables that motivate their buying impulses. Similarly, impulses
experienced while shopping with a purchase pal probably involve additional social variables.
Finally, the hypotheses presented here require further empirical testing. Testing is complicated
because consumers generally have little or no retrospective access to spontaneous decisions, like
impulse decisions (Nisbett and Wilson, 1977). Options such as in-depth interviews or participant
observation may be able to tease out the relationship of impulse to the constructs raised here,
however.
Management and consumer implications
Promoting impulse buying
The managerial implications of this analysis should be fairly obvious. If retailers wish to promote
impulse buying, they should create an environment where consumers can be relieved of their
negative perceptions of impulse. Retailers may stress the relative rationality of impulse buying in
their advertising efforts. Similarly, they may stress the non-economic rewards of impulse buying.
Additionally, retailers can make the environment more complex, further straining consumers'
abilities to process information accurately. Such techniques as stocking more merchandise,
creating stimulating atmospherics, and increasing information may be useful to stimulate impulse
buying. Retailers can make impulse purchasing more risk-free, through convenient return policies,
or increase enablers such as credit and store hours (Rook and Fisher, 1995).
Importantly, this model also offers options for consumers to control their buying impulses, if they
choose to, or feel better about their impulse buying, by relieving their negative evaluations of
impulse. Consumers should recognize that heuristics and impulse are not bad, but implicitly
involve a trade-off between rapid, hedonically satisfying purchases and less affective, but more
thoughtful planned purchases. Once consumers recognize that products are more than
commodities and that they are buying to please their hedonistic desires as well as their physical
desires, they will feel more comfortable with the impulse buying decision.
Consumers
Impulse buying processes are alternatives to planned decision making and consumers must use
these techniques with that in mind. If impulse is a response to information overload, consumers
may reduce the information processing demands by restricting their search either to a few
products or to several features of a larger number of products. They may also develop decision
aids, such as lists, comparison tables or graphs, reducing reliance on heuristics. Similarly, they
can allow enough time for gathering information and evaluating options before purchase. These
options will help make purposeful analysis less frustrating and more productive. Other options
include limiting unnecessary emotional distractions like shopping buddies, especially children.
Consumers can also choose other methods to moderate their moods, rather than resorting to
impulse buying for that purpose. Consumers should be more aware of retailers' efforts to
manipulate their moods to influence their buying decisions. Moreover, they can reduce enablers by
only shopping when they need specific purchases and only carrying enough cash or credit for
necessary purchases.
Executive summary and implications for managers and executives
Shopping should be fun - it is your job to make it so
We are "taught" to see impulse buying as a slightly irresponsible act - wasteful, frivolous and just a
little wicked. Why? We all make many purchase decisions on the spur of the moment. But this
does not mean that such actions are wasteful or unthinking.
Reading Hausman's research reveals that, far from impulse purchases being unthinking, they are
very often the culmination of a longer purchase decision process. The decision to buy a new dress,
for example, might be made in principle ("I need a new outfit for Steve and Claire's wedding") but
that specific decision might be made "on impulse" ("I saw the dress in a shop window, it looked
right and it fitted, so I bought it").
In essence the impulse purchase is satisfying a set of human wants that are "uneconomic". From
the rationalist point of view, impulse buying seems wrong. The individual has not researched and
assessed the needs to be fulfilled so is making an "irrational" decision. However, as Hausman
makes clear, the real situation is that an impulse purchase is satisfying real needs, albeit needs
that are of a higher order than those that concern the rationalist.
Marketers have long recognised the significance of impulse. The result is advertising that features
spontaneity, elaborate window dressing and, at another level, the use of dump bins and counter
displays to stimulate impulse purchase. But these activities to exploit impulse purchase reflect only
a simple understanding of this particular type of consumer behaviour. Hausman shows us that the
phenomenon of impulse buying is more complicated and multi-faceted than we have assumed.
Reasons for buying on impulse
We have already referred to one reason for the impulse buy - the "decision in principle". We want a
dress but have not made a specific choice nor have we undertaken a systematic search. We are
not shopping for any particular purpose; indeed we may be simply passing by the store on some
other errand.
There are, however, other factors that influence the impulse purchase. The most significant of
these is the view of shopping as a social pleasure. Hausman's focus groups reveal that consumers
see shopping as "retail therapy", as a way of getting over the stresses of a working day or simply a
fun day out.
We can, by looking at this view of shopping, begin to return to a rational explanation for shopping
behaviour. If the rationalist sees shopping purely in terms of obtaining goods, then impulse buying
does not make sense. But if we rationalise shopping as pleasure seeking, then the impulse
purchase becomes more understandable.
The impulse purchase is not the result of a specific search to satisfy a particular requirement since
the satisfaction comes from the act of shopping itself. Purchases are incidental to this process
although they do provide proof of the enjoyment. Chances are that, if we "go to look round the
shops", we will return having made some form of purchase. And that purchase will have been
made on impulse.
So what does this mean for the retailer and the marketer?
The first lesson for the retailer is that the impact of the store is crucial to success. In many cases
the store visitor has not set out with the specific purpose of visiting your store - they are simply "out
shopping". In these circumstances, it is worthwhile understanding what merchandise triggers
impulsive reactions.
Second, we need to appreciate that many shoppers do not have a specific objective or purpose.
They may make a purchase, but this is as likely to be because they have seen something that
cries out "buy me" as to satisfy some existing requirement or desire.
The lesson from these behaviour revelations is that marketers need to focus as much on
entertainment, interest and excitement as they do on getting the mix of merchandise right and the
pricing spot on. If the balance is wrong then the shopper may see your store as "stuffy" or
"unfriendly".
If you have the space, put on events that encourage visitors. Have special demonstrations. Use
special offers to stimulate sales. Shopping may be great fun to many people but it will be even
more fun if the retailers set about providing some additional entertainment.
Get the right employees and train them well
Traditional retail training (where it is given) has focused on giving employees observational and
service skills. We need to extend this understanding to add the idea of giving pleasure and
satisfaction to buyers and non-buyers alike. If your employees realise that one aspect of a
successful store is that shopping there is fun, then they will be able to develop ways - with your
encouragement - to improve the shoppers' in-store experience.
The recruitment and training of employees are often overlooked as an aspect of good retail
marketing. Yet the way in which shop workers engage with the customer is perhaps the most
important element of marketing a retail business. At the same time you need to provide the
opportunities for staff to make that difference.
One obvious example can be seen in toy stores like Hamley's in London or FAO Schwartz, New
York, where young employees demonstrate simple, cheap toys - yo-yos, bubble guns,
boomerangs, etc. These activities make the store livelier and provide an opportunity to capture the
impulse buyer. Another approach is the use of humour in labelling - UK wine merchant chain,
Oddbins, has made a feature of this approach. And the comments all come from the employees
themselves following regular wine tasting sessions. Not only do the staff know about the wine but
they are encouraged to be just a little irreverent in the way they describe it and the way they sell it.
Remember then that shopping is fun. If you do, and you encourage your employees, then the
impulse shoppers will come to your store because it is a pleasure. And they will buy.
(A precis of the article "A multi-method investigation of consumer motivations in impulse buying
behavior". Supplied by Marketing Consultants for MCB University Press.)
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Appendix 1
See Table AI
Appendix 2