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NEW SEARCH Consumer Behaviour On Impulse Buying
NEW SEARCH Consumer Behaviour On Impulse Buying
Purpose/Objectives :-
Most of the researches on impulse buying behaviour have been conducted in the
Western society which is considerably more advanced than this. The main objective of this
research paper is to explore the incidence of and difference of impulse buying behavior in malls
and retail outlets in Mumbai city, with respect to factors such as product category, grocery bill
and number of products bought, and the shopper’s gender.The other objectives are as follows :-
To understand the consumer behavior while shopping in malls and retial outlets.
To identify the factor which influences consumer decision making process ?
To classify types of customers buying impulsively,with reference to age, gender, income,etc.
To study whether customers are satisfied after purchasing impulsively or not?
Scope Of Study :-
The main scope of the study is restricted to few selected malls and retail outlets (K-Star, R-
City, Inorbit ,City Center, Bigbazar, D-Mart) In Mumbai City .
This study has been made to find the Impulsive Buying Behavior Customers in Mumbai
city.
Research Methodology :-
The research methodology was divided into two stages which involve two sources for
collecting the data in order to achieve the objective of project.
Collecting data regarding the potential customers from retailers through retailers
observation in the existing malls and retail outlets (k-star, r-city, inorbit ,raghuleela,
bigbazar, d-mart) within Mumbai city .
Collecting the primary data directly with the customer with the help of the
questionnaire (Refer Annexure-1) and personal interviews .
A hypothetical model has created in this paper which has been taken into consideration
for our research work on impulse buying beahviour of the consumers. This study focuses on
explaining impulsive shopping through trends by testing the validity of hypothetical relations
between socioeconomic factors such as gender, wealth, age, presence of shopping list ,size of bill
and impulse shopping. Qualitatively, this is a case study in which explores what people purchase
and their personal reasons and justifications for such purposes at several malls and retail outlets
in Mumbai city. Quantitatively, I have set out to find predictors as I,examine what makes
shoppers open their wallets on the spot. The study is based on the primary data collected from
malls and retail outlets (k-star, r-city, inorbit , raghuleela, bigbazar,d-mart) within Mumbai city
with the help of structured questionnaire on ricter scale, surveys and interviews
After the through analysis of the available data it has been found out that since income
of individual is increasing and more and more people are moving towards western culture in
dressing sense, in eating etc so the purchasing power of the people has really gone up and thus
the impulse buying of the commodities is on a great increment mainly due to pricing strategies of
retail players and full of festivals throughout the year.
India is a growing economy with a real GDP growth rate of 8.5% . The real private
consumption expenditure has grown at an average rate of 8.4 percent per annum during the last
four years resulting in the emergence of a strong middle class with growing purchasing power.
This has resulted in people vying for a more comfortable and urbanized lifestyle. The mushroom
growth of coffee houses, eateries, supermarkets, etc., is a proof of that ,In the past three decades,
much research has been conducted internationally to define to understand the psychological,
economic and retail implications of such a trend. One area of interest has been “impulse
buying”. 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.Marketers and retailers tend to exploit these impulses which are tied to the
basic need for instant gratification. Recently several supermarkets have been established in the
urban cities of India. The most prominent ones in Mumbai are K-Star, R-City, InOrbit
CityCenter, BigBazar, D-Mart. However, no study has been conducted in India to study the
buying behaviour of shoppers and what factors influence their decisions. Hence, the researchers
have decided to conduct an exploratory research to understand the general nature of impulse
buying in main supermarkets, malls, retailoutlets of Mumbai .
Impulsive purchasing, generally defined as a consumer’s unplanned purchase which is
an important part of buyer behavior. It accounts for as much as 62% of supermarket sales and
80% of all sales in certain product categories. Though impulsive purchasing has attracted
attention in consumer research. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of research on group-level
determinants.
This research suggests that the presence of other persons in a purchasing situation is
likely to have a normative influence on the decision to make a purchase. The nature of this
influence, however, depends on both perceptions of the normative expectations of the individuals
who exert the influence and the motivation to comply with these expectations. Peers and family
members, are the two primary sources of social influence, often have different normative
expectations.
Conceptual Definition :-
Based on the extant literature reviewed I have defined impulse buying as done by Engel,
Kollat, and Blackwell (1968) (as cited in Piron, 1991). Impulse buying is defined as a buying
action undertaken without the problem having been previously recognized or a buying intention
formed prior to entering the store .
Operational Definition :-
Based on the literature review I plan to follow the following definition for the purpose
of research.
Shoppers are asked upon exiting the store what items they purchased. For each item,
they are then asked some variant of the question when they decided to buy; before or after
entering the store. The items purchased whose decisions were made after entering the store are
impulse purchases (Bellenger, Robertson, and Hirschman 1978).
LITERATURE REVIEW :-
According to the Economic Survey (2009-10), the real GDP growth rate of India has
been 8.6% per annum in the last 5 years and the per capita income has grown by 7.4%. The real
private consumption expenditure has grown at an average rate of 7.4 percent per annum during
the last four years resulting in the emergence of a strong middle class with growing purchasing
power and with increase in the working population and simultaneous decrease in the share of
dependent population has declined, the disposable incomes and current consumption has
increased. This increase in consumer spending has led to more shopping and consequently has
justified a research into the incidence and nature of impulse purchases. Also, with changing
demographic trends,gender roles in purchase behaviour have changed considerably in urban
India with women being more active in shopping now.
The following section will summarize previous research on impulse shopping.Initial
recognition of the phenomenon can be traced back as early sixties. The most primitive impulse
purchasing perspectives focused on external factors that might induce the phenomenon. H. Stern
(1962) described factors that might influence impulse purchasing, which he described as a
decision to buy a product while they are in the store:
Kollat and Willet (1967) defined the first categories of impulse purchases as follows:
Brand decided; category decided; product class decided; general need recognized (i.e. need a
birthday gift); general need not recognized. The latter has no planning whatsoever and is there
fore recognized as pure impulse purchasing (Bayley). The phenomenon regained attention in the
eighties, where the experiential aspect of impulse shopping itself began to be explored. Engel
and Blackwell defined impulse purchasing as “a buying action undertaken without a problem
previously having been recognized or buying intention been formed before entering the
store.”(Engel.) This is the most widely accepted definition of impulse shopping.
Most of the researches on impulse buying behaviour have been conducted in the Western
society which is considerably more advanced than India. The objective of this research paper is
to explore the incidence of and difference of impulse buying behavior in supermarkets malls and
retail outlets in Mumbai , with respect to factors such as product category, grocery bill and
number of products bought, and the shopper’s gender.
Definition:
Consumer behavior refers to the mental and emotional process and the observable
behavior of consumers during searching, purchasing and post consumption of a product or
service.
Consumer behavior involves study of how people buy, what they buy, when they buy and
why they buy. It blends the elements from psychology, sociology, sociopsychology,
anthropology and economics. It also tries to assess the influence on the consumer from groups
such as family, friends, reference groups and society in general.
Buyer behavior has two aspects: the final purchase activity visible to any observer and
the detailed or short decision process that may involve the interplay of a number of complex
variables not visible to anyone.
A. Social Factors :-
Social factors refer to forces that other people exert and which affect consumers’
purchase behavior. These social factors can include culture and subculture, roles and family,
social class and reference groups.
Example:
By taking into consideration Reference group, these can influence/ affect the
consumer buying behavior. Reference group refers to a group with whom an individual identifies
herself/ himself and the extent to which that person assumes many values, attitudes or behavior
of group members. Reference groups can be family, school or college, work group, club
membership, citizenship etc.
B. Psychological Factors :-
These are internal to an individual and generate forces within that influence her/his
purchase behavior. The major forces include motives, perception, learning,attitude and
personality.
Example:
Attitude, is an enduring organization of motivational, emotional, perceptual and
cognitive processes with respect to some aspect of our environment. Consumer form attitude
towards a brand on the basis of their beliefs about the brand. For example, consumers of Sony
products might have the belief that the products offered by Sony are durable; this will influence
those customers to buy Sony products due to this attitude towards the brand.
C. Personal Factors :-
These include those aspects that are unique to a person and influence purchase behavior.
These factors include demographic factors, lifestyle, and situational factors.
Example:
Lifestyle is an indicator of how people live and express themselves on the basis of their
activities, interests, and opinions. Lifestyle dimension provide a broader view of people about
how they spend their time the importance of things in their surroundings and their beliefs on
broad issues associated with life and living and themselves. This is influenced by demographic
factors and personality.
Definition:
Consumer buying decision process is the processes undertaken by consumer in regard
to a potential market transaction before, during and after the purchase of a product or service.
Problem Recognition :-
Purchase decision making process begins when a buyer becomes aware of an
unsatisfied need or problem. This is the vital stage in buying decision process, because without
recognizing the need or want, an individual would not seek to buy goods or service. There are
several situations that can cause problem recognition, these include:
· Depletion of stock
· Dissatisfaction with goods in stock
· Environmental Changes
· Change in Financial Situation
· Marketer Initiated Activities
Example:
Its when a person recognizes that she can not make a call from her mobile phone
that’s when she recognizes that her phone has been damaged i.e. the phone has hardware
problems and needs to be repaired or buying a new piece.
Information Search :-
After the consumer has recognized the need, he / she will trying to find the means to
solve that need. First he will recall how he used to solve such kind of a problem in the past, this
is called nominal decision making. Secondly, a consumer will try to solve the problem by asking
a friend or goes to the market to seek advice for which product will best serve his need, this is
called limited decision making.
Alternatives evaluation :-
Consumers’ evaluates criteria refer to various dimension; features, characteristics and
benefits that a consumer desires to solve a certain problem. Product features and its benefit is
what influence consumer to prefer that particular product. The consumer will decide which
product to buy from a set of alternative products depending on each unique feature that the
product offers and the benefit he / she can get out of that feature.
Example: (continuing from previous…)
When that user got enough information concerning the different brands of mobile
phones available in the market, she will decide which kind of a mobile phone and brand she’s
going to buy depending upon her need for that particular mobile, either a mobile for multimedia
and entertainment, smartphone or classic phone.
Purchase Action :-
This stage involves selection of brand and the retail outlet to purchase such a product.
Retail outlet image and its location are important. Consumer usually prefers a nearby retail outlet
for minor shopping and they can willingly go to a far away store when they purchase items
which are of higher values and which involve higher sensitive purchase decision.
Post-purchase Actions :-
Consumer favorable post-purchase evaluation leads to satisfaction. Satisfaction with the
purchase is basically a function of the initial performance level expectation and perceived
performance relative to those expectations. Consumer tends to evaluate their wisdom on the
purchase of that particular product. This can result to consumer experiencing post purchase
dissatisfaction. If the consumer’s perceived performance level is below expectation and fail to
meet satisfaction this will eventually cause dissatisfaction, and so the brand and/ or the outlet
will not be considered by the consumer in the future purchases. This might cause the consumer
to initiate complaint behavior and spread negative word-of-mouth concerning that particular
product.
Example: (continuing from previous…)
If she decided to buy a multimedia phone she will try to compare the quality of music
it provides and pictures taken if they meet her expectations. If she will find that her expectation
are meet she will be satisfied, if she found that there are more additional features that she did not
expect this mobile phone to have, she will be delighted, otherwise she will be dissatisfied.
Conclusion :-
We can see impulse behaviour do not have a place if buyers behavior follow such
systematic sequence. A study conducted in various branded retail outlets in 5 metro cities in
India shows 54% of all sales are actually unplanned purchases. This is why the study of impulse
purchase in Indian context is so important.
Abraham Maslow hierarchy of needs theory sets out to explain what motivated individuals
in life to achieve. He set out his answer in a form of a hierarchy. He suggests individuals aim to
meet basic psychological needs of hunger and thirst. When this has been met they then move up
to the next stage of the hierarchy, safety needs, where the priority lay with job security and the
knowing that an income will be available to them regularly. Social needs come in the next level
of the hierarchy, the need to belong or be loved is a natural human desire and people do strive for
this belonging. Esteem need is the need for status and recognition within society, status
sometimes drives people, the need to have a good job title and be recognised or the need to wear
branded clothes as a symbol of status….
1. Complex buying behavior: Consumers undertake complex buying behavior when they
are highly involved in a purchase and perceive significant differences among brands.
Consumers may be highly involved when the product is expensive, risky, purchased
infrequently, and highly self-expressive. Typically, the consumer has much to learn about
the product category.
3. Habitual buying behavior: Habitual buying behavior occurs under conditions of low
consumer involvement and little significant brand difference. For example, take salt.
Consumers have little involvement in this product category—they simply go to the store
and reach for a brand.
Why do I always find my mother and my nephew at Bigbazar, when I can't find them
at home? The reason is not that the distance is less than a kilometer. My mom, an ideal prey for
today's retail format and my nephew at the age of three is deemed to be a consumer in his own
right plays cat and mouse with my father’s limited salary. Every time she purchased something
big, she comes up with her smiling face to console me and my dad with a same old excuse. She
had gone for some grocery items and end up buying a new OTG. Every time whatever promises
she made to me, she end up repeated the same story month after month. This introspection of my
own family motivates me for the retrospection of others.
Impulse buying happens when you get trapped in a buildup situation propagated by
effective retail communication or out of the mind discount offers and you buy without thinking
much about it. Impulse items can be anything, a new product, samples or well-established
products at surprising low prices. Research conducted by University of California tracks 30,000
purchases made by 4,200 customers who were engaged in a shopping trip in US reveals that 68%
of their purchases were unplanned. A similar research conducted in UK by Point of Purchase
Advertising International (POPAI) revealed that 70% of the purchase decisions were taken on
spot in the store.
Impulse buying is such a sudden phenomenon where instinct plays a predominant role.
A customer makes a purchase without proper planning or prior homework. This is the scenario
that marketer and retailer try to capitalize and harness.
Impulsive Buying :-
“Impulse buying has been considered a pervasive and distinctive phenomenon in the
American lifestyle and has been receiving increasing attention from consumer researchers and
theorists (Youn & Faber, 2000, p.179)”. Despite the negative aspects of the impulse buying
behavior from past research, defining impulsive behavior as an irrational behavior (Ainslie,
1975; Levy, 1976; Rook & Fisher, 1995; Solnick, Kannenberg, Eckerman, & Waller, 1980),
resulting from a lack of behavioral control (Levy, 1976; Solnick et al., 1980), impulse purchases
account for substantial sales across a broad range of product categories (Bellenger at al, 1978;
Cobb & Hoyer, 1986; Han, Morgan, Kotsiopulos, & Kang-Park, 1991; Kollat & Willet, 1967;
Rook & Fisher, 1995; Weinberg & Gottwald, 1982). A study found that impulse purchases
represented between 27% and 62% of all department store purchases (Bellenger et al., 1978).
Rook and Hoch (1985) assert that most people have experienced an impulse purchase. Other
research findings support this assertion revealing almost 90% of respondents have made grocery
purchases on impulse occasionally (Welles, 1986), and between 30% and 50% of all purchases
can be classified by the buyers themselves as impulse purchases (Bellenger et al., 1978; Cobb &
Hoyer, 1986; Han et al., 1991; Kollat & Willett, 1967).
Early studies on impulse buying were more concerned with the definitional issues
distinguishing impulse buying from non-impulse buying and attempted to classify thetypes of
impulse buying into one of several sub-categories (Bellenger et al., 1978; Kollat & Willet, 1967;
Stern, 1962), rather than to understand impulse buying as a trait of consumer buying behavior.
Therefore, this approach generated a theory that ignores the behavioral motivations of impulse
buying for a large variety of products and, instead, focuses on a small number of relatively
inexpensive products. However, this type of approach did not provide sufficient explanations as
to why so many consumers appear to act on their buying impulse so frequently.
Impulse buying alters the normal decision making modules in consumers' mental space
and rapture all consumer behaviour phylosophies. Consumer mental accounting is a process by
which a customer codes, categorise and evaluate the financial outcome of a choise. Impulse
upsets all the logical sequence of the consumers' actions and then is replaced with an irrational
moment of self gratification and hence altering the age old time-tested theories. Impulse items
appeal to the emotional side of consumers. Some items bought on impulse are not considered
functional or necessary in the consumers' lives. Similarly why do I need an OTG (Oven Toaster
& Griller), when I already have a microven?
Sometimes customers are not able to express the selection of their brand and might not
be aware of his internal decision making. But an unconcious decision making process takes place
in his mind which is influenced by cognition and experience. Thus impulse buying behaviour is
very much tune with the psychological and physiological need of the customer.
According to American Marketing Association – "A purchase behavior that is assumed
to be made without prior planning or thought. Often, it is claimed, impulse buying involves an
emotional reaction to the stimulus object (product, packaging, point-of-purchase display, or
whatever) in addition to the simple acquisition act.
A recent poll game reveals that more than 90% of people have acted impulsively.
Human beings are high-class than animals, but are also affected and led by emotion. They
become excited when the hormone is inspired. Likewise, they are frustrated when work or life is
obstructed. They always expect new matters, which is entirely different with other creatures.
However, when the endeavor collapses in front of harsh realities or the final result is different
from their original plans, they always act impulsively. Some people succeed, but also, some
failed. What follows behind impulse may be pain and regret. Yet if you ask me whether to
behave without consideration, I have to admit as well. Life that is planned regularly is not
meaningful. Inhibition of natural impulses may cause psychological problems, which has been
proved by many events. So what we need to do is to be balanced between reason and emotion.
Women are much easier than men to become impetuous. They smile while gettinnew
content job, move while watching the movie, and also cry while encountering failure. Anyway,
the biggest similarity almost on every woman is they expect to be stylish at any time. They look
at their wardrobes regularly, trying to find what is lacking. World-renowned brands are busy in
focusing on women’s clothes, handbags and shoes. It becomes natural to see a woman spend
most of her hard-earned money in the latest styles of attires or handbags. When Louis Vuitton,
Gucci, Chanel and Prada walk into the realm of top fashion, so many women may break their
credit cards to own a piece from them. Few females can reject an elegant & stylish product. Even
though they brought a limited amount of money to shopping, they always stretch their hands to
bank cards. Confronting fashion, every woman is impulsive!
Women get content if receiving the hottest styles. They splurge their stylish looks.
When the next trend is stirred up, previous most popular style costing people a hefty
high price becomes nothing expect an out-dated item that will have to fad from fashion world.
Women begin to doubt previous impulse for whether it is valuable. Fashion is an endless way,
which extends to every corner of the world. What can not be predicted is which way it tends to
advance at the next turn. For those of you who follow all things and everything fashion is related,
this is a dangerous journey. So turn back and harmonize impulse with sense!
1) Pure impulse: A novelty or escape purchase which breaks a normal buying pattern.
2) Suggestion impulse: A shopper having no pervious knowledge of a product sees the item for
the first time and visualizes a need for it.
3) Reminder impulse: A shopper sees an item and is reminded that the stock at home needs
replenishing or recalls, an advertisement or other information about the item and a pervious
decision to purchase
.
4) Planned impulse: A shopper enters the store with the expectations and intention of making
some purchasers on the basis of price specials, coupons, and the like.
While most marketing research has treated impulse purchasing simply as unplanned
some maintain that it is an traditional process in which the urge to gratify an impulse triumphs
over the rational parts of the mind. In this view five critical elements seem to distinguish
impulsive from non impulsive consumer behavior. First the consumer has a sudden and
spontaneous desire to act, involving a marked divergence from pervious behavior. Second, this
sudden desire to buy puts the consumer in a state of psychological disequilibrium where he feels
temporarily out of control. Third, the consumer may experience psychological conflict and
Unplanned, Spontaneous and intense urge to buy the purchaser often ignoring the
consequences.
A kind of emotional and irrational purchase often for reasons like fun, fantasy and social
and economic pleasure
Past research shows that planned buying behavior results in accurate decisions, but
impulsive behavior results in decision errors, (Halpern, 1989; Johnson-Laird, 1988) increasing
possibilities of negative consequences (Cobb & Hoyer, 1986; Rook, 1987; Weinberg &
Gottwald, 1982). These negative evaluations of impulse buying behavior possibly stem from
psychological studies of impulsiveness that characterize impulsive behavior as a sign of
However, some research on impulse buying behavior indicates that impulse buyers do
not consider their impulsive purchases as wrong and report even favorable evaluations of their
behaviors. Specifically, in Rook’s and Fisher’s (1995) study of “Trait and normative aspects of
impulsive buying behavior”, a relatively small number of respondents (only 20%) reported
feeling bad about their impulse buying, but a large number of respondents (41%) reported that
they actually felt good about their impulse purchases. 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 pleasure. Some consumers even see shopping as retail therapy, as a way of
getting over the stresses of a working day or simply a fun day out (Hausman, 2000) supporting
the hedonic modification for impulse buying .
The store stimuli serves as a type of information aid for those who go to the store
without any predetermination of what they need or buy, and once they get into the store, they are
reminded or get an idea of what they may need after looking around the store. In other words,
consumer’s impulse buying behavior is a response made by being confronted with stimuli that
provoke a desire that ultimately motivate a consumer to make an unplanned purchase decision
upon entering the store. The more the store stimuli, such as visual merchandising, serves as a
shopping aid, the more likely the possibility of a desire or need arising and finally creating an
impulse purchase (Han,1987; Han et al., 1991). The importance of window display in relation to
consumers’ buying behavior has received minimal attention in the literature. However, since a
consumer’s choice of a store is influenced by the physical attractiveness of a store (Darden at al.,
1983), and the first impressions of the store image is normally created at the façade level, it can
be suggested that window display may influence, at least to some degree, consumers’ choice of a
INTERNAL FACTORS :-
Cognitive/affective
Affect or mood has been identified as a variable that influences impulse purchasing
(Gardner & Rook, 1988; Rook, 1987; Rook & Gardner, 1993). Rook and Gardner (1993) found
EXTERNAL FACTORS
Windows display
Visual merchandising
Promotional signage
E-commerce
Is the incidence of
impulse buying higher
among males than
females?
HYPOTHESIS :-
Based on our discussion & literature review, we arrived at the following hypotheses which we
would be testing :-
Research Methodology :-
The research methodology was divided into two stages which involve two sources for
collecting the data in order to achieve the objective of project.
1. Collecting data regarding the potential customers from retailers through retailers
observation in the existing malls and retail outlets (k-star, r-city, inorbit ,raghuleela,
bigbazar, d-mart) within Mumbai city .
2. Collecting the primary data directly with the customer with the help of the
questionnaire (Refer Annexure-1) and personal interviews .
RESEARCH DESIGN :-
In this project multi stage sampling is used because the total population was too large
and due to time constraint it was not practically possible to make a list of entire population .At
first stage I have divided sample area wise and then further divided it into income status so that I
can get correct and related information.
Measurement Technique :-
A questionnaire was designed to be administered during the personal interview. Care
was taken to avoid loaded, double barreled, biased questions.
Sampling Plan :-
Population Definition :- Men and women of age 16 and above who have shopped in
super markets ,malls and retail outlets in Mumbai in month of October and November
during day time.
Sampling Frame :- Five malls and supermarkets in Mumbai were selected namely The
(K-Star, R-City, InOrbit , Raghuleela , Bigbazar , D-Mart)
Sample Design :-
Sampling Plan :-
The interview was stationed at the malls super market exit to select a shopping party
leaving the super market after making some purchases. The respondent was qualified by
determining whether they were carrying any shopping packages and their willingness to
participate in the research. After introduction the interviewes were administered the
questionnaire through a personal interview. The questionnaire was completed and filled by the
interviewer himself.The interview was terminated by thanking the respondents for their
participation.
LIMITATIONS :-
1. People in our country are not very used to research hence they were not very receptive or
did not know how to respond to certain questions.
3. This research has been conducted in a five malls and supermarkets of Mumbai the
findings cannot be extended to all the malls supermarkets in India . Hence the findings
are only applicable to Mumbai.
4. This research focuses on the incidence of impulse buying and a few factors affecting it
such as gender of the shopper, size of the shopping bill, presence of a shopping list and
the number of items purchased. This does not suggest that these are the only factors that
influence impulse buying decisions.
5. Some other influencing factors such as in-store stimuli (communication mix, shelf
placement), consumer traits other than gender, situational factors (mood, time,money)
and normative traits of decision making have not been studied. Hence, the findings of this
study cannot be extended to those areas
SECONDARY RESEARCH :-
The secondary research done through various research papers and through online libraries such
as JSTOR, EBSCO Host and Palgrave Mcmillan gives the following information as shown in the
The answers to these questions are presented in form of pie diagram and it shows the following
statistics :-
ii
17% 17%
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
9% Can't Say
Agree
Strongly Agree
8%
49%
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Can't Say
27% Agree
Strongly Agree
31%
21%
20%
Strongly Disagree
33% Disagree
Can't Say
Agree
Strongly Agree
23%
24%
43% of sample people agree that they do purchasing by looking at the things
52%
13%
4%
21%
17%
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
5%
Can't Say
Agree
Strongly Agree
53%
5%
18%
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
28% Can't Say
Agree
Strongly Agree
39% 11%
56% of sample people buy things without any intentions to purchase them
1. Gender :-
2. Age :-
57
60
33
40
20 6 3 1
0
Below 18 18-25 26-35 36-50 Above 51
Percentage
3.Occupation :-
From the graph its clear that most of the impulse buying is being done by students
which compromises of 51% of total 100 respondents 23% is for the services providing people
and 20 % to the business oriented person and at last only 6% comprises of house wife’s.
Hypothesis 4: Rate of Impulse buying increases with the size of the bill
Shopping bill is also a measure of transaction size. The Figure 2 depicts that there is no
relationship between unplanned purchasing and shopping bill. Thus we can confidently reject the
null hypothesis that impulse buying increases with the size of the bill.
Hypothesis 5: Rate of Impulse buying increases with the number of different product
The percentage of unplanned purchases has no significant correlation with the number
of different products bought by shoppers in malls and super markets in Mumbai as can be seen in
the Figure 3
Our findings explain that as the number of different products a customer intends to
purchase increases, the difference between actual and intended purchase decisions do not vary.
Even though the greater the number of products purchased, the greater the exposure to in-store
stimuli but the number of products bought on impulse do not increase. Hence, I conclude, that in
instances where customers shop for a larger number of items they plan well ahead and there are
little chances of impulse buying.
Hypothesis 6: There is association between presence of shopping list & impulse buying
No significant association is found between the two variables .There exist no
correlation between the rate of unplanned purchasing with the presence of shopping list.We
interpret that the shopping list contains only basic items and when people enter the super market
they engage in impulse buying.
Hence the research concludes that the tendency of a consumer to engage in impulse
buying has no association with the shopping list .Also from the Table 2 we can conclude that
majority of the people do not carry shopping list with them (45%) or carry it only sometimes
(35%). This shows there is natural tendency amongst shoppers not to carry shopping lists with
them. Thus we can confidently reject the null hypothesis that there is association between
presence of shopping list & impulse buying
K-STAR R-CITY INORBIT BIGBAZA D-MART TOTAL
R
NEVER 10 9 6 12 9 45
SOMETIME 5 8 7 10 5 35
S
ALWAYS 3 5 6 4 2 20
TOTAL 20 20 20 20 20 100
Table 2
Integrated Merchandising :-
Everyone has been tempted by what the grocery store merchandisers refer to
as integrated merchandising. This is the practice of putting related items together on a display
kiosk; such as the green beans with dried onions for bean casseroles. Most consumers view this
type of merchandising as helpful because of the convenience of not having to go look for the
'sister' item. It also makes it less likely that the item will be forgotten by the consumer. Grocers
view integrated merchandising as serving a dual purpose. The customer views it as a
convenience and it promotes consumers to buy out of impulse, increasing the total sale.
To avoid impulse buying from being a total waste of money, ask yourself the following
questions:
If you have sensible positive answers to those four questions, then chances are you just made a
good impulse purchase so go enjoy it! Have fun saving money while you shop!
Always keep an ongoing list of things you need to buy on your next trip to any store.
Review the list before you leave, and remember to take it with you!
Make as few trips to the store as possible each month, and avoid the malls entirely.
Give yourself a time limit for how quick to get in and out of the store, along with a
personal challenge to not buy anything that's not on your list.
Know what your budget is for miscellaneous items each month. To help keep track
of your impulse purchases...
Keep a list of anything extra you purchase throughout the month on a small sheet of
paper tucked away in your wallet, or a small notepad in your purse.
Keep track of your receipts in an envelope at home so you'll know how much you're
spending as you go through the month. When you've spent your budgeted amount for
the month - no more impulse (miscellaneous) purchases!
AND, if you've successfully passed by that gorgeous new outfit (or that shiny new car
that costs as much as a house should!), and don't even need to apply the 48-
WaitingRule, reward yourself for choosing a Better Life, with a luxurious bubble bath
tonight..
• The impact of presence of shopping list, size of the shopping bill and number of products
purchased was found to be insignificant.
• The bill size and the number of items purchased are two measures to define the
transaction size. Overall, both of them turned out to have no significant correlation with
impulse buying
The research shows that impulse buying is a phenomenon common amongst the female
shoppers in Mumbai city . This can be because usually women buy for the whole family, not
only for themselves. So as they shop they are reminded of the items needed by others as they
come across the products in store and thus buy them. Also women generally have greater time on
hand to do shopping as compared to men; hence increasing their tendency to engage in impulse
buying. This has important implications for the in-store placement of products. Products with
which women can be attracted to buy on impulse, such as frozen food, spices and other
household & food items, should be prominently displayed in-store so as to generate impulse
purchases.
The impact of presence of shopping list, size of the shopping bill and number of
products purchased was found to be insignificant. Even the people carrying a shopping list
engaged in impulse purchases. This can be because most of the items on the shopping list were
collective use items or those needed by other people whereas personal use items were bought on
impulse. Some of the people were carrying shopping lists made by someone else (who was not in
the shopping party) such as the chef, mother-in-laws and spouses.
The bill size and the number of items purchased are two measures to define the
transaction size. Overall, both of them turned out to have no significant correlation with impulse
buying. This shows that people who come to make large number of purchases plan their
shopping beforehand and hence engage in less impulse buying. This maybe because they have
already spent so much time spending what they had planned to buy, that there is little time left to
make other unplanned purchases. I found high incidence of impulse buying in snacks and
Emotional appeal of
advertisements
Income of the
customer
Brand image of
Product
Emotional
IMPULSE bonding and
BUYING Usage of product
BEHAVIOR In festivals
Product placement
in the store
Effective Pricing and
discount strategy
Various festival
Seasonal discounts
Affects impulse buying behaviour of the consumer very strictly.The Indian marketers’
has to go a long way to understand the impulse buying behaviour as it is a very subjective and its
depends on multiple factors, but marketers can take advantage for this behaviour and in almost
every product category impulse buying witness.
SOME OBSERVATIONS :-
Raghuleela Mall at Vashi, Mumbai has only one entry gate while having two exit gate for
maximum exposure to window display and trigger impulsive buying
At Big Bazaar in Chembur the cashier counter soft drinks, chocolates, soap, wafers ,
magazines, kid soft toys were kept to trigger casual impulsive buying
Pseudo-pricing acts as one of the main impulse generator in impulsive buying in most of
the shopping malls of Mumbai city
Alice Hanley and Mari S.Wilhelm (1992).Compulsive buying: An exploration into self-
esteem and money attitudes. Journal of economic Psychology 135-18.
Anja Schaefer & Andrew Crane (June 2005).Addressing Sustainability and Consumption.
Journal of macro marketing .Vol 25, No.1, 76-92.
Ann Elizabeth Ericson, (2001) University of Iowa “Antecedents of older adolescent’s
credit card enhanced spending attitude and self reported financing behaviour”.
Aviv Shoham and Maja Makovec Brencic (2003).Compulsive buying behaviour. Journal
of consumer marketing, Vol 20, No.2.
Celia ray Hayhoe, Lauren Leach, & Pamela R.Turner (1999). Discriminating the number
of credit cards held by college students using credit and money attitudes. Journal of
Economic Psychology 20,643-656.
Gordon C.Winston (1987).A new approach to economic behaviour. Journal of Economic
behaviour and organization, 8,567-585.
Hans Baumgartner, Jan Benedict & E.M. Steenkamp(1996). Exploratory consumer
buying behaviour: conceptualization and measurement. International journal of Research
in marketing, 13,121-137.
Bhatt Monica and Jain .P.C“Consumer Behaviour in Indian Context” First
Edition 2003,S. Chand & Company Ltd., 7361,Ram Nagar,
Kotler Philip “Marketing Management” EleventhEdition, Person Education
( Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Indian Branch, 482 F.L.E. Pataparganj, Delhi
Gautam Neeran and Jain Kokil “Consumer Behavior”, Wisdom Publication
Delhi
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-09/25/content_267490.htm
http://www.indiainfoline.com/pefi/feat/cred.html
www.pantaloon.com
www.scribd.com
www.futuregroup.com
www.marketresarch.com
QUESTIONNAIRE
Hello! I am a BMS student of V.E.S college doing a study on shopping habits. Any information
you provide is strictly confidential and will solely be used for academic purposes
Name …………………………………………………………………..
Age …………………………………………………………………….
Occupation …………………………………………………………….
What did you purchase at the mall today Did you plan to purchase this Did you plan to purchase
not including food from the food court? Or a similar item before you This BRAND before you
(Last 3 items) ENTERED THE MALL? ENTERED THE MALL?
1)_____________________________
_______________________________ YES NO YES NO
2)_____________________________
_______________________________ YES NO YES NO
3)_____________________________
_______________________________ YES NO YES NO
Please list the item number next to the reason that best describes the purpose of your purchase
Gift I liked it
Influence of others It was on sale
To replace old item It was convenient
To treat myself It was something different
To kill time Souvenier
It was good value Other (please specify) _____________________
According to you which of these factors affect your impulse buying behavior for products which
you have purchased .
( Strongly agree - 4, Agree -3,Disagree -2, Strongly Disgree-1)
4 3 2 1
SA A DA SDA
1. PRICE AND DISCOUNT
i. Attractive price of product affects my impulse buying
behavior
ii. Discount offers regarding product attracts me
iii. Various schemes like (buy 1 get 1 free) affects my buying
behavior positively.
iv. Availability of discounted products motivates me to buy.
Research Report on Impulse Buying Page 68
2. ADVERTISEMENT AND SALES PROMOTION
4. EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT
.
i. Emotional attachment with product is a motivational factor
to buy product
ii. Behavior of sales person affects my buying behavior.
iii. Popularity of product increases recall value and helps in
impulse buying.
iv. Changing trend in society is a major factor in impulse
Buying
5. INFLUENCER
6. INCOME
7. FESTIVAL SEASON
4th Qtr
27%
1st Qtr
33%
3rd Qtr
16%
2nd Qtr
24%