Understanding the customer psychology of impulse buying during COVID-19 pandemic: implications for retailers

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Naeem
Keyword(s):  
Information Exchange ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Impulse Buying ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Patterns ◽  
Impulsive Buying ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Buying Behaviour ◽  
At Home

PurposeDuring COVID-19 pandemic, the use of social media enhances information exchange at a global level; therefore, customers are more aware and make backup plans to take optimal decisions. This study explores the customer psychology of impulse buying during COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe researcher, being a social constructionist, aims at understanding social patterns in impulsive buying strategies during COVID-19 pandemic. Forty UK consumers were participated using the telephonic interview method with the purpose to maintain social distancing practices.FindingsResults revealed that vulnerable group of people, fear of illness, fear of empty shelves, fear of price increase and social inclination to buy extra for staying at home, increased panic impulsive buying behaviour among customers. Many people socially interpreted the evidence of death rate and empty shelves, which led to more disinformation, rumours and sensationalism, which increased customers' impulsive buying behaviour. Finally, risk of going outside, COVID-19 outbreak among employees of local retail stores, and health professionals' recommendations to stay at home, led to impulsive buying behaviour.Originality/valueThis study has constructed a research framework of customer psychology of impulse buying based on the results of this study and fear and perceived risk theories. The study also explains how the fear of fear, risk perception and conformist tendency enhanced impulsive buying during COVID-19 pandemic. This study has discussed specific implications for retailers.

The role of social media to generate social proof as engaged society for stockpiling behaviour of customers during Covid-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Naeem
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
National Level ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Social Proof ◽  
Institutional Communication ◽  
Use Of Social Media

Purpose The use of social media and information exchange increased during Covid-19 pandemic because people are isolated and working from home. The use of social media enhances information exchange in a global society, therefore customers are uncertain and not in a better position to take decisions before the situation goes worst everywhere in the world. The current study helps to understand how social media facilitate social and global engagement and information exchange which ultimately leads to the development of the customer psychology of stockpiling. This study aims to develop a research framework which helps to understand the customer psychology of stockpiling during a global pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This study opted for a social constructionist approach because it can help to understand both individual and social subjective realities with respect to stockpiling behaviour due to the fear and risk of Covid-19 pandemic. For this purpose, the researcher collected data from 40 customers of UK retail stores who actively use social media. The data were collected during telephonic interviews and thematic analysis was used for data analysis. Findings Results highlighted that institutional communication and social public interpretation of uncertainties and risk enhanced misinformation and sensationalism through social media platforms; therefore, stockpiling behaviour increased during Covid-19 pandemic. The fear of items being out of stock, illness, misinformation, family fear and going out were some of the possible causes that led to the development of panic stockpiling behaviour. The global uncertainty proof, as well as a public social consensus for staying at home and protecting the future also increased customers’ intention to buy in bulk for their future. Although social media played an important role in transferring relevant and timely information, it also increased uncertainty and social proof which may have led to stockpiling of retail products. Research limitations/implications The results of this study are beneficial for understanding how Covid-19 creates and enhances uncertainties and risks at both global and national level which developed into customer panic stockpiling behaviour, even when there is no promotional scheme or decrease in prices. This study helps marketers understand the psychology of customer stockpiling during a global pandemic. This study also helps to understand the role of social media, which promotes social interpretations of uncertainties and risk which ultimately enhance panic stockpiling among customers. Originality/value Limited research is available which provides an understanding of how social media can play a role in socially generated uncertainties and risks, which enhance misinformation and sensationalism, as well as the development of stockpiling behaviour. This study provided a stockpiling behaviour model based on the theory of uncertainty and social proof. The results of this study are unique as there is limited literature available which connects social media, uncertainties and risk, Covid-19 pandemic and stockpiling behaviour among educated people.

Impulse buying intentions of young consumers from a hedonic shopping perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 266-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dipanjan Kumar Dey ◽  
Ankur Srivastava
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Impulse Buying ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
Situational Characteristics ◽  
Impulsive Buying ◽  
Young Consumers ◽  
Hedonic Shopping Value ◽  
Hedonic Shopping

Purpose The purpose of this research paper is to examine predictors of impulsive buying intentions among youngsters from a hedonic shopping perspective. Recent theoretical work suggests that impulsive buying can function as a form of different hedonic shopping value dimensions such as fun, social interactions, novelty, escapism and outside appreciation. Design/methodology/approach The present research empirically tests a theoretical model of impulse buying intentions by examining the associations between hedonic shopping value dimensions and intentions in the presence of situational characteristics as moderators. A survey of 333 youngsters aged 15 to 23 is conducted using a structured questionnaire. Constructs are measured using established scales. Findings Results indicate that the impulsive buying intentions of youngsters are positively associated with all the five dimensions of hedonic shopping value. Situational characteristics of money and time availability positively moderate this relationship. Task definition negatively moderates the association between impulsive buying intention and hedonic shopping value dimensions. Research limitations/implications Two major theoretical implications result from this study. First, the study enabled the conceptualization of a theoretical framework of impulse buying intentions by including five dimensions of hedonic shopping value as important factors in young consumers’ impulse behavior buying intentions. Further, it includes the moderating effects of all the three aspects of situational characteristics in the same model. Practical implications The marketers can make use of the shopping value dimensions and the situational characteristics moderators to design and implement marketing strategies so that sales via impulse buying are maximized. Originality/value This study provides novel insights on the complex process of impulsive buying by youngsters by expanding the application of the hedonic shopping motives in the presence of situational factors as moderating variables.

The effects of cruise attributes on impulse buying behavior: the mediating role of impulsive buying tendency

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jookyung Kwon ◽  
Jiseon Ahn
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Impulse Buying ◽  
Buying Behavior ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Impulsive Buying ◽  
Positive Direct ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose This study aims to examine the effects of cruise attributes on impulse buying of service customers through impulsive buying tendency. Specifically, this study investigates whether service attributes (variety of selection and price) influence the impulsive buying behavior of customers by stimulating their impulsive buying tendency. Design/methodology/approach Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis using a sample of 143 cruise customers. Mediating analysis was conducted to examine whether customer personal traits (impulsivity) mediated the relationship between service attributes and impulsive buying behavior. Findings The findings showed that price attributions had a significant positive direct impact on impulsive buying tendency and behavior, while a variety of selections had a significant direct effect on impulse buying behavior. The results revealed a significant mediating role of impulsive buying tendency in the relationship between price attributions and impulse buying. Originality/value Although studies on the decision-making style of service customers have been widely discussed, a limited number of studies has examined customers’ impulsive buying behavior in the service sector. Considering the importance of impulsive purchasing as a valuable marketing tool, the results of this study can help service providers and researchers enhance their knowledge of the mechanism of impulse buying behavior.

Promotion and shoppers' impulse purchases: the example of clothes

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hultén ◽  
Vladimir Vanyushyn
Keyword(s):  
Specific Impulse ◽  
Product Category ◽  
Direct Mail ◽  
Seemingly Unrelated Regression ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Impulse Buying ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Impulse Purchases ◽  
Tv Commercials ◽  
Buying Behaviour

Purpose – This paper draws attention to the fact that impulse buying is common behaviour among modern shoppers and that a consumer's impulse purchases of items such as clothes may be a result of the retailers' promotional activities. The purpose of this paper is therefore to investigate how promotion through channels such as direct-mail marketing, TV commercials and special in-store displays affects consumers' impulse purchases of clothes. Design/methodology/approach – Data for the testing of five hypotheses was collected by distributing a questionnaire to randomly selected households in North Western France and Northern Sweden. The data collection rendered 493 complete questionnaires, of which 332 were from France and 161 from Sweden. Seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) is the principal estimation technique. Findings – The results suggest that shoppers with a positive attitude towards direct-mail marketing and TV commercials also respond positively to in-store promotion. Hence, there are interactive effects between the three promotional channels that increase shoppers' general impulse purchase tendency. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that the frequency of exposure to in-store promotion has a significant effect on this tendency. Originality/value – This paper contributes to extant knowledge on impulse buying behaviour by examining the product-specific impulse tendency, which is defined as the degree to which consumers make impulse purchases of a particular product category.

Teens as impulsive buyers: what is the role of price?

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (11) ◽  
pp. 1166-1180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Muratore
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Impulse Buying ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Price Perception ◽  
Price Consciousness ◽  
Value Consciousness ◽  
Impulsive Buying ◽  
Financial Power

Purpose Considering that retailers view impulse buying as an important component of their business (around 75 per cent of the purchases are unplanned) and considering also that teens often do some shopping in autonomy and represent an important financial power, the purpose of this paper is to fill the lack of studies concerning adolescent consumers impulse shopping behaviours. This paper investigates the relationships between the positive (prestige sensitivity, price quality schema) and the negative (price consciousness, value consciousness, price mavenism, sales proneness) role of price in teens’ impulse buyings. Design/methodology/approach The test of the hypotheses has been achieved on a sample of 325 French teens (age between 14 and 18) using MANOVA. Previously, respondents were split in two groups which are impulsive buyers and non-impulsive buyers. Findings Findings show clearly differences between teens’ impulsive buyings and teens’ non-impulsive buyings. Teens’ as impulsive buyers possess more prestige sensitivity, price-quality schema, price mavenism, sale proneness and less price consciousness and value consciousness than non-impulsive buyers. Moreover, females adolescents are more inclined to be impulsive buyers than males adolescents. Originality/value Not only it is one of the rare studies that investigates on teens’ impulsive buying but above all, it is the only study that takes into consideration the role of price perception, while a price has to be paid in order to buy.

scholarly journals Exploring the Effect of Ambient Scent on Consumer Impulsive Buying Behaviour: Theoretical Insights

2019 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laimona Šliburytė ◽  
Jurgita Vaitiekė
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Study ◽  
Human Organism ◽  
Impulse Buying ◽  
Environmental Stimulus ◽  
Point Of Sale ◽  
Sensory Marketing ◽  
Impulsive Buying ◽  
Consumer Attention ◽  
Buying Behaviour ◽  
Ambient Scent

AbstractThe paper analyses the sensory marketing of the sense of smell, its dimensions and usage in marketing decisions. By invoking the scent marketing decisions, one aims at attracting the consumer attention, to keep him/ her at a point of sale as long as possible, to affect the behaviour and encourage an impulsive process of buying decision making. The theoretical study was performed by analysing the insights of Lithuanian and foreign authors on the purpose of elaborating the coherence between the ambient scent at the point of sale and the consumer impulse buying behaviour. It was revealed during the study that the ambient scent at a point of sale can be assessed as a stimulus which invokes the consumer’s impulsive buying behaviour. The logic of the prepared conceptual model is related to S-O-R paradigm: the environmental stimulus (ambient scent at a point of sale) affects the human organism (consumer internal response) and causes reaction (consumer impulsive buying behaviour).

scholarly journals Culture and Personality: A Examination of Impulsive Buying Behavior of Indian Consumers

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3S) ◽  
pp. 467-474
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
Impulse Buying ◽  
Buying Behavior ◽  
Impulsive Buying ◽  
Indian Consumers ◽  
Unplanned Buying ◽  
Buying Behaviour ◽  
External Stimuli ◽  
The Impact

The leading objective of this paper is to unearth the influence of culture and personality of Indian consumers on their impulsive buying behaviour. A lot of research has been done to study the influence of external stimuli like advertisements and in-store promotions on consumers’ buying behaviour. This paper studies the influence of internal stimuli on impulse buying behaviour. Impulse buying is an unplanned buying or accidental behaviour of consumers. This paper tries to establish a relationship between different personality traits and accidental behaviour of consumers. The impact of Big Five personality traits and culture (Individualism and Collectivism) on the impulsive buying behavior is studied. Data has been collected from consumers using structured questionnaire on a five-point Likert’s scale. The data would be analysed through various statistical tools using SPSS.

Role of consumer traits and situational factors on impulse buying: does gender matter?

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 386-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunil Atulkar ◽  
Bikrant Kesari
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Central India ◽  
Consumer Involvement ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Combined Effect ◽  
Retail Sector ◽  
Impulse Buying ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research Framework ◽  
Buying Behaviour

Purpose With the growing acceptance of organised retail in Central India, it is important to understand the impulse buying phenomenon and how it is influenced by consumer traits and situational factors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the combined effect of three consumer traits and four situational factors on impulsive buying. Design/methodology/approach Using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling (SmartPLS 2.0 software), responses from 417 hypermarket and supermarket consumers of Central India in the proposed research framework were analysed and validated. Findings The resulted values for the construct impulse buying tendency, shopping enjoyment tendency, materialism, person’s situation, motivational activities by retailers and product attributes show positive significant influences, whereas the construct store environment having relationship with impulse buying shows negative influence. Importantly, the findings also demonstrate that the gender moderates the relationship between various factors of consumer traits and situational factors with impulse buying. Research limitations/implications The study develops a research framework with three specific variables of consumer traits and four variables of situational factors, triggers impulse buying. Therefore, there is a need to incorporate some other variables, such as interpersonal influence, consumer involvement and consumption patterns, so that more affluent insights can be obtained. The study presents useful insights to retailers, academicians and researchers, regarding impulse buying behaviour of Indian consumers in a still developing organised retail sector in Central India. Originality/value The study focussed on the combined effect of consumer traits and situational factors on impulse buying for the first time in Central India, as earlier studies focussed on impulse buying behaviour at the USA and metro cities of India.

The role of self-esteem, negative affect and normative influence in impulse buying

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nirmalya Bandyopadhyay
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Personal Selling ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Impulse Buying ◽  
Normative Influence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Impulsive Buying ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the roles of self-esteem (SE), negative affect (NA), and consumer susceptibility to normative influence in the enactment of impulse buying behavior. Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical model is developed through an extensive review of literature. Survey research is conducted to collect the data from respondents. Structural equation modeling is performed to test the model and the hypotheses. Findings – The outcome of the study reveals that the act of impulsive buying is preceded by buying impulse (BI). BI is positively influenced by consumer susceptibility to normative influence and impulsive buying tendency (IBT). SE influences the generation of BI partially mediated by IBT. Research limitations/implications – The study is limited in its generalizability in terms of its geographic location, culture, and the context of product categories. Practical implications – The findings of the study have practical implications in developing marketing communications, merchandising, and personal selling strategies. Originality/value – In view of the contradictory empirical evidences in extant literature regarding the role NA the present study re-examines whether NA influences impulse buying. The study, conducted in the field setting also ascertains the external validity of the findings not tested in the prior research. Furthermore, in light of psychology literature, the relationship between SE and IBT was hypothesized and empirically established in the present study.

Fast fashion environments: consumer’s heaven or retailer’s nightmare?

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sasikarn Chatvijit Cook ◽  
Jennifer Yurchisin
Keyword(s):  
Positive Attitude ◽  
Consumer Behaviour ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Impulse Buying ◽  
Product Returns ◽  
Fast Fashion ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Buying Behaviour ◽  
Post Purchase ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The current research explored both pre-purchase and post-purchase factors of consumer behaviour. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships that may exist among consumers’ perceptions of perishability, scarcity, low price, attitudes, impulse buying, post-purchase emotions, and product returns within the context of the fast fashion environments. Design/methodology/approach A total of 246 usable questionnaires completed by female undergraduate students, who made purchases and product returns at fast fashion retailers, were analysed in SPSS and AMOS 23.0. Structural equation modelling was employed to test the hypotheses. Findings Consumers who are attracted to scarcity due to limited supply and scarcity due to time, referred to as perceived perishability, have a positive attitude towards the fast fashion retailers in which products are presented in scarce environments. Likewise, consumers have a positive attitude towards fast fashion retailers due to low priced merchandises they offer. Consequently, consumers who have a positive attitude towards the fast fashion retailers are likely to purchase products from them impulsively. Moreover, impulse buying behaviour positively influenced some negative post-purchase emotional responses, which in turn positively influenced product returns in the fast fashion environments. Research limitations/implications The results of the current study contribute to a greater understanding of apparel-related consumer behaviour in general. A theory formation of fast fashion consumer behaviour from acquisition to disposal can be drawn from the results of this study. Because some fast fashion retailers do sell clothing for both men and women, researchers could compare the responses of males and females to examine differences in consumer behaviour related to demographic characteristics. In the future, an examination of actual emotional responses and return behaviour would be beneficial for a more complete understanding of post-purchase consumer behaviour. Practical implications Fast fashion retailers could use this information to carefully design shopping environments that induce impulse buying behaviour because it may result in product returns. Fast fashion retailers need to understand the causes of the return behaviour, whether consumer related or product related, to better meet the needs of their target market. Return policies must be considered. Originality/value This research is the first to examine the impact of negative emotions following consumers’ impulse buying on product returns in the fast fashion retail environments.

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