honors thesis - tiffany galmarini

8/13/2019 Honors Thesis - Tiffany Galmarini

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/honors-thesis-tiffany-galmarini 1/24

The Influence of Consumer

Emotions and ExternalCues on Impulse PurchasesHonors Thesis

Tiffany Galmarini

Marketing Department

Faculty Sponsor: Richard J. Lutz



1

Table of Contents:

Introduction P. 2-3

Overview P. 3

Impulse Purchases P. 4

Stages Involved in an Impulse Purchase P. 4-6

External Cues P. 6-8

Example P. 8-9

Excessive Purchases P. 9-11

Consumer and Retailer Promotions P. 11-12

Advantages/Disadvantages of Impulse Buying from the Manufacturer’s Perspective:P.12-14

Advantages/Disadvantages of Impulse Buying from the Retailer’s Perspective: P. 14-15

Advantages/Disadvantages of Impulse Buying from the Consumer’s Perspective:P. 15-16

Marketing Implications P. 16-18

Ethical Approach: P. 18

A Look Ahead: P. 18-21



2

Introduction:

Consumers face the temptation to purchase items that are not on their shopping lists

everywhere they go. This temptation to make unnecessary purchases eventually leads to

consumers making impulse purchases. Every consumer has engaged in an impulse purchase at

some point in their life. With our society continuing to become more materialistic, marketers

have to devise new strategies to convince the consumer that their product or service is worth

purchasing even if it was not being sought after at the time of purchase.

Research indicates that nine out of ten shoppers purchase items on impulse (9 Out Of 10,

2012), and only 40% of consumers will say that the purchases they make on impulse are for

discretionary items (Danziger, 2004). This gap indicates either one of two things: the first is that

consumers are considering some of their impulse purchases to be for items that they need such as

toilet paper or water, rather than discretionary items. The second is that consumers are not

cognizant of the fact that they are purchasing on impulse, thereby reporting a lower percentage of

their purchases to be on impulse. Of the ninety percent of shoppers who purchase on impulse,

66% said it was due to a sale or promotion, 30% said it was because they found a coupon, and

23% said they wanted to reward themselves for something (9 Out Of 10, 2012). Taking all of this

into account, it is not surprising that impulse purchases account for approximately $4 billion in

annual sales in the United States (Dawson and Kim, 2010). With impulse purchases on the rise, it

is important for marketers to come up with innovative ways to capture the attention of the

consumer and to in turn increase the basket size for a purchase.

Marketers begin by analyzing the 4P’s (product, price, promotion, and placement) and

how they relate to the consumer because that in turn determines whether or not the consumer will

make a purchase.Researching what drives a consumer to purchase impulsively is the next step in



3

determining how to increase the number of impulse purchases made by a consumer in their

lifetime. With e-commerce on the rise, consumers are even more apt to make an impulse

purchase because there are now multiple media that the product can be purchased from. For

example, consumers can shop at traditional brick-and-mortar stores or on websites in the comfort

of their home. Therefore, it is crucial for marketers to research the “why” of a consumer impulse

purchase before they come up with a marketing strategy to approach the “how”.

Overview:

I will begin this paper by defining what an impulse purchase is and what characterizes it.

After walking through a few examples of how an impulse purchase occurs, I will then explain

the interconnectedness of manufacturer and retailer-controlled promotions and how they

encourage spontaneous shopping. After understanding the basis for how marketers increase the

likelihood of an impulse purchase, the idea of excessive purchases and why we reward ourselves

by purchasing items we do not need will be understood. The advantages and disadvantages of

impulse purchases for both consumers and retailers are all important when analyzing how the

consumer and the retailer contribute to purchases by the consumer. Finally, the marketing

implications of an impulse purchase will be explained by using evidence through examples and

research from various trade publications.

Impulse Purchases:

The term “impulse purchase” was first defined in 1948 in the DuPont studies and can

now be defined in several ways. It can be described as “a sudden, often powerful and persistent

urge to buy something immediately” (Dawson & Kim, 2010), “there was no plan to buy the

object” (Pooler, 2003), and “a specific motivation or desire to perform a particular action, as

opposed to a general or latent desire or trait” (Baumeister, Heatherton, & Tice, 1994). Impulse



4

purchases have three distinct features that characterize them: The purchase is unplanned,the

purchase is difficult for the consumer to control, and there is an emotional response that follows

the purchase (Nicholson & Xiao, 2012). The first two are somewhat self-explanatory because the

consumer did not plan on buying a particular item when they decided to go shopping and the

consumer had a difficult time convincing themself that they did not need or deserve the item.

After the item is purchased, the consumer will experience emotional satisfaction if the item is a

reflection of the consumer’s identity and brought a sense of fulfillment to the consumer

(Danziger, 2004). In the end, purchasing an item that the consumer does not need gives “a

feeling of power” to the consumer , making the impulse purchase (Danziger, 2004) resolve an

emotional need that the consumer was experiencing.

Since the term “impulse purchase” was defined in the late 1940’s, increasing attention

has been given by academics in that there were more than nine papers per year written on the

topic in the 2000’s but only about one paper per year in the 1960’s ( Nicholson & Xiao, 2012).

This has enabled marketers to use strategies that have been tested in a formal setting for the

purpose of increasing the number of items bought in a store. An important concept for marketers

to understand is that impulse buying has four stages that a consumer goes through when

engaging in an impulse purchase.

Stages Involved in an Impulse Purchase:

The first stage is the antecedent phase and is explained by the psychological

characteristics of individuals. For example, a consumer that is considered to be “action-oriented”

is more likely to buy on impulse because they act immediately without thinking why the

purchase is necessary. The importance of the antecedent phase is that there are “preconditions

that exist before the consumer enters into a shopping environment” ( Nicholson & Xiao, 2012).



5

This means that an impulse purchase cannot be determined strictly by analyzing the consumer in

the antecedent phase because they have not entered into the shopping environment yet. However,

the impulse purchase can be predicted based on personality factors of the consumer. According

to research, a person with materialistic values is more likely to engage in impulsive buys because

they are always searching for a better way to differentiate themself and to work their way up the

social ladder. Children who were rewarded with material goods by their parents “often develop a

pattern of rewarding themselves as adults with commodities when they feel down or stressed

out” (Bindah, 2012) leading to an increased chance of making impulse purchases.

The second phase is the trigger stage which is governed by person-environment

transactions. This stagefocuses on the triggers in an environment that can increase the likelihood

of an impulse buy. Some common triggers may include proximity of the product to the

consumer, the amount of time that the consumer has to shop, atmospherics of the store, and

emotional states of the consumer.For example, if a consumer is in a depressed state of mind, they

might browse the aisles just to keep whatever is bothering them off of their mind. Once the

consumer comes across an item that they have a connection with, they will experience a sense of

joy and pleasure if they purchase the item because it will distract the consumer from the

emotional issues that are on their mind.

The third stage is the act of buying and is supported by decision process theories.

Understanding how the consumer made the decision to purchase on impulse is explained in this

stage. Researchers Cobb and Hoyer found that “impulsive purchasers perform minimal in-store

information processing” (Nicholson & Xiao, 2012). These impulse decisions are therefore based

largely upon emotions of the consumer at the point in time when faced with the product. Buying



6

a product on impulse gives the consumer immediate satisfaction which is why the act of buying

itself provides the consumer with such a positive reaction.

The fourth and final stage is the post-purchase stage and is explained by the ABC theory

(affect-behavior-cognition). This theory states that a consumer will experience an internal

feeling, will react to that feeling (in this case it would be to buy an item on impulse), and will

evaluate the way they reacted to the feeling. For example, after a woman buys a new aqua-

colored pair of earrings, she may experience a feeling of regret because she knows that she does

not need earrings and spent money on something that she could have spent elsewhere. The

woman could also rationalize that she does not have earrings in that specific color blue and

therefore made a good purchase that will complete an outfit for her date this Friday night. As

noted in this example, the post-purchase stage can influence the next purchase that a consumer

makes because they remember how they felt after they bought on impulse the last time.

Therefore, it is important for advertisements to convince us, “both before and after we’ve made a

purchase, that it was an intelligent choice” (Berger, 2005).

External Cues:

When having a thorough understanding of the process that consumers go through when

making a purchase, it is easier for marketers to utilize external cues that are proven to increase

the likelihood of consumers to make an impulse purchase. A research study that was published in

the Journal of Fashion in Marketing focuses on four categories of external cues on apparel

websites. Although a rising number of consumers are shopping online due to convenience, there

are many other reasons people are staying at home to buy things as opposed to hitting the stores

and browsing the aisles. Some reasons include the all-day everyday access that the internet

allows, the breadth and depth of products available to consumers, and the privacy of being able



7

to purchase impulsively without anyone seeing. In addition to the personalized promotions that

websites create for each consumer based on their past searches and purchases, there are four

external cues that marketers can use to increase the occurrence of impulse buying.

“Promotions” are one type of external cue that include coupons, sweepstakes, free gifts,

buy-one-get-one-free deals, and free shipping (Dawson & Kim, 2010). A study published in the

Journal of Fashion in Marketing concluded that promotions accounted for 37% of all responses

in terms of what the consumer thought the reason was for the impulse purchase that they made

on an apparel website. And within the promotions category, 20% of the responses indicated that

free shipping was the reason for the impulse purchase to be made.

“Ideas” are another type of external cue. This cue is represented when a website offers

the ability for the shopper to narrow the search by what is in style, the most popular items

purchased, and items in a given price range. This category had the second most number of

responses at about 33%. A follow up study was done after conducting the focus interviews to see

what external cues influenced an impulse purchase. This follow up study simply asked if the

external cue was present on apparel websites. It was found that 35.5% of the apparel websites

analyzed had ideas cues available. Since ideas cues had the most presence on apparel websites

and promotions cues were considered the best in terms of what influenced the consumer to

purchase impulsively, companies should focus on providing more promotions cues on their

websites since there is a spread between what is most effective and what is most prominent.

The third external cue was categorized as “sales”. This included clearance, markdowns,

and limited time only sales. The sales external cues had the second best presence at 25.8% right

behind ideas external cues. What marketers need to take away from these two studies is that

ideas and sales were found the most frequently on apparel websites and yet ideas and promotions



8

external cues were most frequently mentioned by consumers participating in the focus groups

(Dawson & Kim, 2010). This means that marketers must ensure the use of ideas and sales cues

when promotions cues are used because consumers refer to promotions cues as being the primary

reason why they purchased on impulse when ideas and sales cues are found more frequently than

other external cues.

The fourth and final category listed as an external cue is classified as “suggestions”. This

includes “suggested items” at the bottom of the website after analyzing what the consumer

clicked on previously, reviews and product recommendations, and if the website stores what item

was last viewed by the customer. This category was present in only 16.8% of the apparel

websites.

After conducting the focus group and recording which apparel websites of the 60 chosen

had the external cues available, it was concluded that the amount of sales “were significantly

correlated with the amount of external impulse trigger cues available” (Dawson & Kim, 2010).

With this knowledge, marketers can analyze in which category they are lacking in terms of

promotions, ideas, sales, and suggestions. After doing so, they can create a marketing strategy

that will predict the increase in impulse purchases based on adding additional external cues to

their apparel websites. If an apparel website is lacking the funds to run promotions and sales, the

best external cue to invest in would be “ideas” because there is a low fixed cost of making

changes to the website to include the latest trends and to organize the products offered on the

website by price ranges. The second best external cue to implement if lacking funds would be

general suggestions like those used with Groupon. Amazon on the other hand, uses personalized

suggestions which would be more costly but also more effective in driving impulse purchases.

Example:



9

QVC is known for offering unique brands that are sold at select retailers, if at all. QVC

has a presence through the television medium and the web. The purpose of the television channel

is to enable people to step away from their daily routines and be a “destination retailer for people

who are in the mood to escape and want to give themselves a little rewar d” (Danziger, 2005).

This is significant because QVC recognizes the fact that consumers will purchase discretionary

items when exposed to “inherently entertaining” brands (Danziger, 2005).

QVC utilizes the external cues mentioned above by bringing on spokespersons that are

highly reputable for a particular brand. For example, Bob Bowersox (a professional chef and

former restaurant owner) is trusted by viewers when he is featuring a line of cookware

(Danziger, 2005). This is considered a “suggestion” exter nal cue because it is an indirect

recommendation from a professional chef to purchase this cookware being offered on QVC.

There is also a direct website that consumers can now browse and will come across every type of

external cue mentioned above. There is a filter on the side to group products by price range, a

clearance section, and free gifts with a purchase of a specific item. All of these external cues

contribute to the success of the nontraditional retailer, QVC.

Excessive Purchases:

Impulse purchases can be increased due to external factors, emotions, psychological

traits, and environmental triggers. But why do consumers fall for the external cues and product

placements planned strategically by marketers? Consumers purchase in excess because they want

to “reward themselves, satisfy a psychological need, or to simply make themselves feel good”

(Pooler, 2003). Products are good at displaying a person’s personality and increasing a person’s

self-esteem. This makes it very difficult for a consumer to avoid an impulse purchase because

our society is “embedded in a culture of consumption” (Berger, 2005). A consumer culture is a



10

culture in which “goods and services become an all-powerful force. In these cultures, advertising

and marketing play all-important roles, and privatism - a focus on one’s personal interests and

desires, in contrast to a sense of public responsibility for others and for one’s society-tends to

dominate most people’s thinking and behavior” (Berger, 2005). This is exemplified in the

statistics that indicate the increase in discretionary income due to “essentials costing less relative

to total income” (Danziger, 2004). Over thirty percent of consumer spending is discretionary

which means that money spent by consumers on things they want and do not need largely

contribute to the country’s overall economy.

Consumers buy things they don’t need because they are ultimately trying “to achieve a

feeling or to enhance an experience” (Danziger, 2005). The product that they bought is a quick

fix and the emotion experienced from the purchase is felt immediately. This concept goes along

with the fact that our society expects things to happen right away and when they want it. This

assumption that everything will happen instantly is obviously a false assumption so consumers

will purchase impulse items that will temporarily “fix” their problem in order to feel at ease with

the problem at hand. The amount of discretionary income a person has will ultimately determine

the types of products that are purchased impulsively and the excessive purchases that are made.

For example, a person making millions of dollars every year will have more discretionary

income than someone making fifty thousand dollars a year. The millionaire may be purchasing

different sports cars in various colors to prove that he has style and prestige. The person making

fifty thousand may purchase a collection of 80 eye shadows to express her personality and sense

of fashion. The millionaire does not need multiple sports cars and the woman does not need 80

eye shadows! But they both want to differentiate themselves which strongly suggests that



11

shopping and purchasing on impulse can be thought of as “a form of self-expression” (Pooler,

2003).

Consumer and Retailer Promotions:

The amount of impulse purchases made by a consumer is impacted by the types of

promotions that are being offered by the manufacturer and by the retailer. Manufacturer-

controlled promotions “are aimed to boost sales in the short-term by providing extra purchase

incentives to customers” (Simon, 2008). Common manufacturer-led promotions include samples,

coupons, contests, and bonus packs. Procter and Gamble is known for their manufacturer-led

promotions because they offer bonus items with many of their products. If a consumer wants to

purchase Gillette razorblades for example, there is often a bonus razor included. This tactic will

convince the consumer to purchase the Gillette pack of razors because there is a “free” razor

being offered. This type of promotion is very successful because the cost of a razor is next to

nothing when considering the profit margins on the blades that are being purchased.

Retailer-promotions are similar to manufacturer-promotions in that they are aimed to

increase sales in the short-term by providing incentives to consumers, but they are different in

thatretail promotions are focused on improving the profit of a product category as opposed to a

specific brand. The goal of the retailer is to stimulate long term profits through sales and coupons

so that the consumer will choose to shop at their store for a specific product category and then

buy other items that they weren’t planning on buying, leading to impulse purchases. This is

where most stores differentiate themselves. For example, retailers will strategically place items

that are often purchased on impulse such as gum, candy, and magazines, by their checkout

registers. Within these product categories, “checkout sales represent 46% of all supermarket

sales” (Cohen &Babey, 2012). Retailers that are knowledgeable about what products are most



12

often purchased on impulse will place these items not only at the checkout counters, but also

throughout the store on the end-caps and in small dis plays in order to “maximize the

opportunity” (Cameron, 2012) to sell common impulse items.

Monetary and nonmonetary promotions are used by manufacturers and retailers.

Examples of monetary promotions include price reductions, coupons, and rebates. Nonmonetary

promotions include free gifts, buy-one-get-one-free, sweepstakes, and bonus packs. Consumers

who are more price sensitive will respond to monetary promotions due to the “utilitarian

benefits” (Yi &Yoo, 2011) that are offered by the promotions. These monetary promotions are

successful because they reduce the perceived price of a product in the mind of the consumer.

Consumers who are more apt to purchase items for the purpose of pleasure will respond to

nonmonetary promotions because they are perceived as “gains” in the minds of the consumers.

For example, a person may believe that a good price for a Yankee Candle is $8. If that person

were to walk into a Yankee Candle store and see that there is a mini candle being offered with

the purchase of a candle, the person will encode that mini candle as a “gain” and experience a

hedonic benefit rather than a price reduction which is a utilitarian benefit.

Advantages/Disadvantages of Impulse Buying from the Manufacturer’s Perspective:

The manufacturer can decide whether or not to run promotions on their brands based on

the brand image that the manufacturer wants to uphold. There has been evidence indicating that

“monetary promotions can damage brand attitude by lowering consumers’ reference price” (Yi

&Yoo, 2011). This means that consumers may only purchase the product when on sale because

they will not be as willing to make the purchase for the products original price knowing that it

will go on sale eventually. “Deal-prone” consumers will be more resistant to purchasing a brand

when not on sale because they are motivated to make a purchase only when there is a promotion



13

offered. These consumers will not have a negative attitude towards the brand when there is a sale

because they are more price-conscious. Other consumers, however, may perceive a promotion or

sale as something negative towards the brand as if there is a problem with the item or think that

the item is lacking quality. If marketers want to avoid this negative brand image, they should use

non-monetary promotions because consumers “perceive non-monetary promotions separately

from price information and encode them as gains” (Yi &Yoo, 2011). This will not affect the

quality or image of the brand in the consumer’s mind because the price of the product does not

decrease.

Manufacturers can promote a sale by offering a buy-one-get-one-free deal and capture the

consumers who are “deal- prone” and the consumers who are resistant to purchase a product

when there is a price reduction. This is because the consumer will see the “free” item as a gain as

opposed to a reduced price offering such as buy one get one half off. This promotion is a definite

advantage to manufacturers because they can encourage impulse purchases by offering a bonus

such as a “free” item with a purchase and capture all types of customers discussed above at the

same time.

When manufacturers are preparing retailers for a promotion that they are about to offer,

they ensure that there is plenty of product in stock in order to avoid unhappy customers who

want to take advantage of the promotion and cannot due to the product going out of stock. The

problem with this is that promotions can “generate stockpiling, increase sensitivity to prices, and

reduce post- promotional sales” (Simon, 2008). Stockpiling can occur when the manufacturer

processes too large of a shipment to be delivered to a retailer and then the retailer has no room

for the product on the sales floor or when there is leftover product after the promotion. As

mentioned before, consumers can have a negative brand attitude if they are conditioned to wait



14

for the product to go on sale before making a purchase. This can hurt manufacturers because the

demand for their product will be unpredictable when there is no promotion available and could

possibly lose their customers to other brands if they are prone to only purchasing when items are

on sale. It is important to note however that this can be looked at the other way. If a consumer

walks into a grocery store and sees that Peter Pan Peanut Butter is buy-one-get-one-free that

week, the consumer may purchase on impulse. Peanut butter was not on the consumer’s

shopping list, but they realized that their jar at home was low and therefore took advantage of the

sale.This is significant to the manufacturer because this is a sale that would not have happened

without the incentive of the promotion for the consumer to purchase on impulse.

Advantages/Disadvantages of Impulse Buying from the Retailer’s Perspective:

Retail promotions are aimed to increase the profit of the retail stores and various product

categories. When there are retail promotions going on, manufacturers may also benefit because

consumers will be encouraged to purchase more items and therefore try out brands they might

have never tried otherwise. Retail promotions can be a coupon for example of $5 off a purchase

of $30 or more. This coupon may entice the consumer to try their store over their usual retailer

which creates “store substitution” (Kumar & Leone, 1989). This is significant to the retailer

because they will increase their customer base during that promotion and possibly acquire more

customers in the long-run.

A major problem that retailers are currently facing with promotions and coupons is the

fact that some consumers have become “coupon hoarders” (Mayer, 2011). These so-called

hoarders have made couponing an obsession to the point where they will not buy items unless

they are on sale and will buy items in bulk when they are on sale. For example, one woman

purchased her family “150 pouches” (Fortini, 2012) of tuna fish that lasted her family a year and



15

a half when it was 50 cents off and paired with a retailer coupon, making the tuna fish essentially

free. A report by Nielsen indicated that coupon usage by households was 13%, up from 2009 at

11%. And of these 13%, “70% were redeemed by enthusiasts, which is defined as those who

bought at least 188 items using coupons per year” (Mayer, 2011). This brings challenges to the

retailer and has caused retailers such as Target and Walgreens to update their coupon policies in

order to ensure that they remain profitable off of the coupon enthusiasts.

Advantages/Disadvantages of Impulse Buying from the Consumer’s Perspective:

Impulse buying can be advantageous to consumers in a few ways. A consumer may have

forgotten to write an item on their shopping list and be reminded of the item based on the

placement in the store while they are shopping. This type of impulse purchase is not harmful to

the consumer because time is saved by not having to make another trip to the store after the

consumer discovers that they forgot to write an item on their list. This happens often in the food

industry because there are many ingredients that go into a recipe and the consumer could forget

to write an item on their list. For example, a woman making chocolate chip cookies will go down

the baking aisle to get the flour, sugar, chocolate chips, and oil. The consumer may have

forgotten the baking soda but since it was right next to the flour, she remembers that she needs

that item as well. Another advantage of impulse purchases is that they provide value to the

consumer. This value is often based on emotions in that the consumer achieves a variety of

feelings after buying an item that they did not need or did not plan to buy. Some consumers

consider shopping exciting and feel that it temporarily numbs any negative emotions that they

are experiencing, making an impulse purchase the perfect “quick fix” to their day.

Impulse purchases do not always provide consumers with an advantage. Nowadays,

many people are struggling to make ends meet and are on tight budgets. If marketers strategically



16

place products and expose external cues, consumers will be more likely to make an impulse

purchase and exceed their budget if they purchase on impulse too often.

Marketing Implications:

When analyzing the effects of retail and manufacturer promotions, consumers “are

indifferent between manufacturer and retailer rebates” (Simon, 2008). This is due to the fact that

consumers are driven by external promotions and do not pay attention to where the promotions

come from. Consumers will respond differently to a price reduction versus a bonus item, but they

will respond the same way if a manufacturer is offering it or a retailer is offering it.

With this in mind, it is important for retailers to recognize why consumers shop the way

they do in order to differentiate themselves from the manufacturers. For example, the fact that

nine out of ten shoppers purchase items on impulse is significant because this shows the

importance of brands having a presence in the stores whether through print ads, promotions, or

having the brand at the right location in the store. Impulse purchases are so prevalent among U.S.

shoppers because it is an opportunity to satisfy a “long-felt need or desire” (Berger, 2005).

Purchasing on impulse can make a consumer feel more attractive, “enable us to do something we

want to do, or it will reward us for meritorious behavior in the past” (Berger, 2005). Consumers

purchasing on impulse may be buying the item for a number of reasons, but the most significant

reason is the fact that consumers are trying to “feel” a certain way or achieve some kind of

emotional response.

One of the most important factors of a retailer’s success is the amount of “walk -in” traffic

the store attracts. These shoppers deserve attention from the store clerks because they are

actively judging the merchandise available in the store. These customers who stop in a store just

for browsing often buy items on impulse. And if they do not buy on impulse at that moment, they



17

may see an item they like and remember it for a future purchase. Think about the prevalence of

this situation: a store clerk asks a customer if they need help finding something and the customer

responds by saying “No thank you, I’m just looking around”. This statement is very prevalent in

our society because we have taken up “spontaneous shopping” (Pooler, 2003) which is the

pleasure of buying something unneeded or unplanned. This spontaneous shopping phenomenon

leads to an increase in impulse purchases. Retailers that leverage this will make their stores

enticing and draw in customers so that they just “look around” and hope that they leave with

something that they did not plan on buying. A great example of a retailer using a tactic to

instigate this is Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World. The retail store has fishing poles that you can try

out, ponds with fish swimming around, and old wooden boats that have historical significance.

This atmosphere in the store is supposed to replicate the outdoor experiences that the consumer

will be faced with (fishing, hunting, camping, etc.) and therefore increase the consumer’s

comfort level and drive purchases.

After the retailer lures the customer into the store, the next marketing tactic that the

retailer must be aware of is the fact that the more time people spend in a store, the more they will

buy. Therefore the retailer must ensure a comfortable and easy layout of the store for the

customer’s convenience. The easier it is for the consumer to navigate the store, the more they

will choose to shop at that store. But on the flip side, retailers want to have the consumers linger

in their stores as long as possible because “the amount of money we spend in supermarkets is

tied to the amount of time we spend in them” (Berger, 2005). So the retailer must have a balance

of easy access and strategic placement of products to ensure that the customers cover as many

aisles as possible. Dog food, for example, is in the middle of the aisle with all of the outdoor

items and paper products. This is because the retailer wants to have the customer pass by all of



19

indicator of how a person shops is to observe how a person has behaved in the past because “the

basic consumer personality that guides and directs behavior is fixed over time” (Danziger, 2004).

Think back upon the examples of how coupon users normally shop. A person who is brought up

to be thrifty and use coupons will be more likely to use coupons in their adulthood than someone

who was not brought up in that environment. The types of products that a person purchases will

change as they grow older, but they will continue to use similar buying habits as they did when

they were a young adult. We can extrapolate this to consumers who are considered to be impulse

purchasers. A person who craves satisfaction and an emotional response that comes after an

impulse purchase will continue to purchase on impulse because the “consumer mind-set is fixed”

(Danziger, 2004). So if marketers can accurately predict what a consumer will do based on

his/her past behaviors, then what challenges do marketers face when choosing the correct

strategies to implement to increase impulse purchases and traffic flow in a store? The answer is

there are changes in demographics as well as cultural, economic, and political changes in the

environment.

One of the most prominent changes in consumer behavior stems from the fact that the

United States’ population is aging. The baby boomers make up for this aging population as there

are about 76 million people included in this generation. Marketers will have to respond to this by

increasing the amount of delivery services available and enticing the population with senior

discounts to get them back into the stores. The reason for this is because the amount of

discretionary products purchased by a consumer “starts to slow after age 55 and drops sharply at

age 65” (Danziger, 2004). But marketers must not ignore the 71 million people who are the baby

boomers’ children. The people in this generation are now considered adults and are buying their

first homes. Economy-priced goods will be in high demand for this group because they are



20

beginning to start their own families and have to stretch their paychecks as far as they can to

make ends meet.

Another trend affecting consumer spending and behavior is the fact that time is becoming

more valuable to consumers. The amount of time that people shop has decreased with consumers

visiting 2 to 3 stores in 1990 to buy major purchases, “to only 1.8 stores today” (Danziger,

2004). This makes it crucial for retailers to have a web presence because convenience and time is

now of the essence. In addition to time, the idea that consumers are now focusing on the

experience of a product or service versus the material or physical attributes of a product is now

apparent more than ever. This can be attributed to the rise of internet use and consumers craving

the interaction of people and products in the shopping experience. This is contradictory to the

fact that many consumers are turning to the internet for their shopping and price comparisons.

With the contradictions that marketers must learn to react to, it is crucial for retailers to

have a diverse profile. This means that retailers must have an online presence so that the retailer

will reach out to consumers who value their time and prefer to or der online as well as a “physical

presence” in the form of a brick -and-mortar store. The physical presence of a retailer is important

because consumers are craving experiences. For example, Home Depot is famous for offering

quality information on how to use the home-improvement products that they sell. This is

valuable to the consumer and other retailers should implement an “experiential-retailing

program” (Danziger, 2004) in order to target the consumers who are seeking a differentiated

retailer with a unique product offering.

The ever-changing market is the focus of marketers’ concerns because that is what

ultimately affects how a consumer will behave. But with the knowledge of “why” a consumer

spends the way they do, it is easier to determine the “what, when, how, and how much” of a



21

consumer’s buying power. Impulse purchases will always be present because of the need for a

consumer to achieve an emotion or buy something that they have determined that they have to

have. Therefore, it is the job of the marketers to make sure that there are appropriate product

offerings in the right places of a store in order to draw the customer’s attention to the benefits of

a product in order to justify the impulse purchase.



22

Bibliography

Baumeister, R. F., Heatherton, T. F., Tice, D. M. (1994). Losing Control: How and Why People Fail at

Self-Regulation. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, Inc.

Berger, A. A. (2005). Shop 'til You Drop: Consumer Behavior and American Culture. Lanham, MD:

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Bindah, E. V., & Othman, N. (2012). The tantalizing factors associated with compulsive buying among

young adult consumers. International Business and Management , 4(2), 16+.doi:

http://go.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA300544640&v=2.1&u=gain4037

5&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w

Cameron, A. J. (2012). The availability of snack food displays that may trigger impulse purchases

in Melbourne supermarkets. BMC Public Health, doi:10.1186/1471-2458-12-194

Cohen, D. A. and Babey, S. H. (2012), Contextual influences on eating behaviours: heuristic processing

and dietary choices. Obesity Reviews, 13: 766 – 779. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-789X.2012.01001.x

Danziger, P. N. (2004). Why People Buy Things They Don't Need. Ithaca, NY: Paramount Market

Publishing, Inc.

Danziger, P. N. (2005). Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses - As well as the Classes.

Chicago, IL: Dearborn Trade Publishing.

Dawson, S., & Kim, M. (2010).Cues on apparel web sites that trigger impulse purchases. Journal of

Fashion Marketing and Management, 14(2), 230-246. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13612021

011046084

Fortini, A. (2012). Honey, I Got a Year's Worth Of Tuna Fish. The New York Times Magazine, 58(L).

doi:http://go.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA288701658&v=2.1&u=gain4

0375&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w

Kumar, V. and Leone R. (1989), Measuring the Effect of Retail Store Promotions on Brand and Store



http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13612021%20011046084

http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13612021%20011046084

http://go.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA288701658&v=2.1

http://go.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA288701658&v=2.1

http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13612021%20011046084

http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13612021%20011046084





23

Substitution. Marketing Science Institute. doi:http://www.msi.org/publications/

publication.cfm?pub=224

Mayer, M. (2011, August).When clipping coupons becomes extreme.Snack Food & Wholesale Bakery,

100(8), 88.doi:http://go.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA

270731162&v=2.1&u=gain40375&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w

Nicholson, M. and Xiao, S.H. (2012), A Multidisciplinary Cognitive Behavioural Framework of Impulse

Buying: A Systematic Review of the Literature.International Journal of Management Reviews.

doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2370.2012.00345.x

Pooler, J. (2003). Why We Shop: Emotional Rewards and Retail Strategies. Westport, CT: Praeger

Publishers.

Salisbury, S. (2011). Retailers Fret over Coupon Craze ; As a TV Show Documents Rampant

Abuse, Stores are Reforming their Policies. The Palm Beach Post, p. 1A.

Simon, P. S. (2008). Consumer and retailer promotions: Who is better off? Journal of Retailing, 84(4),

449-460. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2008.09.001

Yi, Y. and Yoo, J. (2011), The long-term effects of sales promotions on brand attitude across monetary

and non-monetary promotions. Psychol. Mark., 28: 879 – 896. doi: 10.1002/mar.20416

9 Out Of 10 Shoppers Make Impulse Purchases. (2012). New Media and Marketing ,

http://newmediaandmarketing.com/9-out-of-10-shoppers-make-impulse-purchases/consumers -

consumer-behavior/

http://go.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2008.09.001

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2008.09.001

http://go.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA