Significance of Impulse Buying

8/10/2019 Significance of Impulse Buying

1/5

The Significance of Impulse Buying TodayAuthor(s): Hawkins SternSource: Journal of Marketing, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Apr., 1962), pp. 59-62Published by: American Marketing AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1248439.

Accessed: 15/10/2014 16:20

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at.http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

American Marketing Associationis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to

Journal of Marketing.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 111 68 103 163 on Wed 15 Oct 2014 16:20:09 PM
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=amahttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1248439?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/1248439?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ama


2/5

h e

ignficance

mpulse

uying

Today

HAWKINS

STERN

Aware

of

the

significance

of

impulse

buying

and

wish-

ing

to

anticipate

possible

changes in the market for

its

products,

the

Wm.

Wrigley

Jr.

Company

com-

missioned

Stanford

Re-

search

Institute

o

study

the

market

for

impulse

items as

it has

developed

in

the

past

decade

and

as it

is

likely

to

develop

during

the

1960s.

This

article

is

drawn

from

the

study

findings,

on

the

nature and

significance

of

consumer mpulsebuying.

AS

USED

TODAY,

the

term

impulse

buying

is

generally

con-

sidered

to be

synonymous

with

unplanned buying -that

is,

it

describes

any

purchase

which

a

shopper

makes

but has

not

planned

in

advance.

This

use of

the

term,

although

accurate,

is not

very

descriptive,

and one

of

the

purposes

of

this

article

is to refine this definition.

According

to

studies on

shopper

behavior,

an

increasing

num-

ber of

consumer

purchases

are

being

made

without

advance

planning.

Probably

the most

comprehensive

of

these

studies

is

a

periodic

survey

by

the

Film

Division

of the DuPont

Company

of

supermarket

purchases.

Shoppers

are

queried

upon

entering

the

store as to

what

they

intend to

buy,

and are

checked

again

before

leaving

to

learn what

they

actually

did

buy.

All

items

purchased

but

not

mentioned

in the

first

interview

are

listed

as

unplanned

or

impulse

purchases.

These

surveys

show that

an

increasing

percentage

of

shopper purchases

are

made

on

impulse,

as

shown

in

Table

1.

The Impulse Mix

Impulse buying

is

influenced

by

a

variety

of

economic,

per-

sonality,

time,

location,

and

even

cultural

factors.

These

vary

not

only

among

different

shoppers

considering

purchase

of

the

same

item,

but

also

for the

same

shopper buying

the

same

item

but

under

different

buying

situations.

This

results in a

mix

of

different

kinds of

impulse

buying.

Four

broad

classifications of

impulse

buying

can

be

identified.

1.

Pure

Impulse

Buying.

The

most

easily

distinguished

kind of

impulse

buying

is the

pure

impulse

purchase.

This is

truly

im-

pulsive

buying,

the

novelty

or

escape purchase

which

breaks a

normal

buying

pattern.

It

is

probable

that

pure

impulse

buying

accounts

for a

relatively small number of impulse purchases,

since

housewives

tend

to

develop strong

habits in

budgeting,

in

where

and when

to

shop,

and

in

the

preplanning

of

the

shopping

trip.

This reliance

upon

habit

tends

to

make

the

housewife a

more

efficient

shopper,

but

also

eliminates much of

the

whimsy

or

impulsiveness

from

her

buying.

2. Reminder

Impulse

Buying.

Reminder

impulse

buying

occurs

when

a

shopper

sees an

item

and

remembers

that

the

stock

at

home is exhausted

or

low,

or

recalls an

advertisement

or

other

information

about the

item

and a

previous

decision

to

buy.

The

key

factor

is

remembered

prior

experience

with

the

product,

or

knowledge

of

it,

which

sparks

the

impulse

purchase.

3.

Suggestion

Impulse

Buying.

Suggestion

buying

occurs

when

a shopper sees a product for the first time and visualizes a need

59

This content downloaded from 111.68.103.163 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:20:09 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


3/5

60

Journal

of

Marketing,

April,

1962

TABLE 1

UNPLANNED

PURCHASES AS A

PER CENT OF

TOTAL

PURCHASES

IN

SUPERMARKETS

Type

of

purchase

1945

1949

1954

1959

Specifically

planned

48.2%

33.4% 29.2%

30.5%

Generallyplanned 11.0 26.7 21.0 15.9

Substituteda 2.6

1.5

1.8 2.7

Unplanned

38.2

38.4

48.0

50.9

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

aA

change

from a

specifically

or

generally planned

item.

Source: Consumer

Buying

Habits

Studies

for

1945,

1949, 1954,

and

1959,

E.

I.

duPont

de Nemours & Co.

for

it,

even

though

she

has

no

previous knowledge

of the item.

Suggestion

buying

is

distinguished

from

reminder

buying

in that the

shopper

has

no

prior

knowledge

of the

product

to

assist

her

in

the

purchase.

Product

quality, function,

and

the

like must be evaluated at the point of sale. The

distinction

between

suggestion

buying

and

pure

impulse

buying

is that items

purchased

on

sugges-

tion

impulse

can also be

entirely

rational

or

func-

tional

purchases,

as

opposed

to

the

emotional

ap-

peal

which

sparks

pure impulse purchases.

4.

Planned

Impulse

Buying. Although

planned

impulse

buying may

seem

anomalous,

it

is

ac-

curate. Planned

impulse

buying

occurs when

the

shopper

enters

the

store

with

some

specific pur-

chases

in

mind,

but with the

expectation

and

in-

tention to

make other

purchases

that

depend

on

price specials,

coupon

offers,

and the like.

It

is

a

recently

developed

consumer

buying

trait and

likely

to be a most

significant

one. On

the

surface,

it

appears

to

indict

female

shopping

habits.

But

this

may

be

an

unfair

and unrealistic indictment.

Earl

Puckett,

Chairman of the

Allied chain

of

department

stores is

quoted

as

saying:

Women

spend

money

like conservative trustees

in

charge

of

somebody

else's

money. '

It has also been said

that one

of

the

harshest

canards

of our time is

that women

are

impulsive

buyers

with an almost

neurotic

compulsion

to

squander

their

household

money

on

any

bauble

that chances

to

catch their

fancy. 2

This

comment reflects

a

general

belief

that

in

shopping

for

day-to-day

convenience

goods,

women

are

in the

main realistic

and

efficient

buyers,

even

though

much of

their

buying

is not

planned

in

advance.

Actually,

deliberate

nonplanning

might

well be

an

integral

part

of

their

efficiency

in con-

temporary

shopping.

In

a

recent

study

conducted

in

supermarkets

by

Nesbitt

Associates,

a

New

York

package

designer,

112 of 308

shoppers

inter-

viewed

reported

that

they

usually just

waited

1

Gilbert

Burck,

What

Makes Women

Buy ?

Fortune,

Vol. LIV, No. 2 (August, 1956), 93-94, 173-179, at

p.

94.

2

Same

reference

as footnote

1, p.

94.

until

they

were

actually

in

the

store

and that their

ideas

for

dinner and

supper

meals

shaped up

as

they

'shopped'

the

supermarket. 3

It

would

appear,

then,

that

shoppers

are in-

creasingly transferring

purchase

planning

from

the

home

to the store

. .

.

entering

the

store with

a general intention to buy, but reaching the actual

buying

decision at the

point

of

purchase.

This kind

of

planned

impulse

buying

has

apparently

de-

veloped

with the

growth

of

self-service which

per-

mits

the

shopper

to

explore,

compare,

and

reach

a

decision

unhindered

by

the

sometimes

disquiet-

ing

presence

of

a

clerk,

and

with

the

increased

use

of

advertising

and

in-store

displays

to

provide

the

shopper

with

the

product

information

needed to

make

a

decision.

But

perhaps

the most

important

factor is

the

developing

use of the

store itself

as

a

substitute

for

a

personal

shopping

list. From

experience,

the

shopper expects

to

find what she

wants somewhere

in the

store. She has

gradually

come

to utilize

the

store itself

as

a

giant catalog

from

which

she

makes her

selections,

supported

by

the

consider-

able

product

information available

in

the

store.

Factors Which

Influence

Impulse Buying

In

general,

impulse

buying

is

related to ease

of

buying.

The

purchase

of

an item

involves

the

expenditure

of

a

number

of

resources:

money,

for

the item

itself

and for

any

costs incurred in

going

to and

coming

from

the

store; time,

in

going

to

or from the place of purchase; physical effort, such

as

walking

or

driving

to

or

from

the

place

of

pur-

chase;

and

finally,

mental

effort,

of

scheduling

the

trip

to

the store

and

budgeting

for

the

purchase.

When

the act

of

buying

requires

a

relatively

heavy

expenditure

of

these

resources,

then the

buying

becomes

more difficult and the

purchase

is

subjected

to

more

thoughtful

consideration

and

planning.

Conversely,

when

buying

is

easy-that

is,

when the

expenditure

of

money, time,

physical

effort,

or

mental

effort

is small-there

is a

greater

likelihood

that

the

purchase

will be

an

impulse

purchase.

Marketers have accomplished a great deal to

make

shopping

easier

for the consumer.

The

in-

3

Saul

Nesbitt, Today's

Housewives

Plan Menus as

They

Shop,

Nesbitt

Associates

Release,

New

York,

1959,

p.

2.

*

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Hawkins Stern

is

an

Industrial

Economist

for the Stan-

ford

Research

Institute,

Southern

Cali-

fornia

Laboratories,

South

Pasadena.

A

graduate

of

the

University

of California

af

Berkeley,

he

has worked

in

market-

ing

research

at

the Armour

Research

Foundation, Chicago, and in advertising

and

sales

on

the

west coast

and in the

midwest.

60

Journal

of Marketing,

April,

1962



4/5


5/5

62

Journal

of

Marketing,

April,

1962

item

frequently

reduces her

need to

plan

for

it.

She is more

likely

to

rely

on

encountering

it at

the

store

and

buying

it

on

impulse.

8.

Small

Size

or

Light Weight.

Quite

apart

from

price,

size

or

weight

of an

item

influences

impulse

buying.

For

instance,

if

a

shopper

notes

a

par-

ticularly good buy on a garden hose at her neigh-

borhood

drug store,

she

may

curb

her

impulse

to

buy

if

the

hose is

either

too

heavy

or

too

awkward

to

carry

home.

The

weight

or size

problems

con-

nected

with the

item

oblige

the

shopper

to do some

special

planning

and thus

reduce her

impulse buy-

ing.

On the

other

hand, small,

light, easily

trans-

ported

items

present

no such

problems

and are

more

likely

to

be

impulse

items.

9.

Ease

of

Storage.

The

problem

of

where to

put

the

item

once the

shopper

gets

it

home

also

influences

impulse

buying.

For

instance,

a

shopper

may

want to

buy

bulk

ice cream on

impulse,

but

remembers she

has

no room

for

it

in

the

freezer.

Conversely,

those items

which

present

no

storage

problems

are

more

likely

to be

impulse

items.

Conclusions

Several

significant

conclusions

can

be

drawn

from

this

discussion of

impulse

buying:

1.

Impulse

buying,

despite

certain

connotations

attached

to

the

term,

has

become

in

the

majority

of

cases an

efficient

and

sensible

way

to

buy goods.

2.

The

incidence

of

impulse

buying

is

growing,

largely

because

consumers

have

quickly

accepted

and

adapted

methods

of

buying

to

certain

mer-

chandising

innovations.

Because of

this

interrela-

tionship

of

buying

to

merchandising, impulse

buy-

ing

will

continue

to

grow

in

significance.

3.

As

the

nature of

impulse

buying

changes,

manufacturers

should

re-examine

their

merchan-

dising strategies toward this type of buying. Al-

though

factors such

as

product

size or

price

may

be

difficult,

if

not

impossible,

to

modify,

impulse

buying

can be

favorably

influenced

through

dis-

tribution, advertising,

and

store

promotions.

One

relatively

simple tactic,

for

example,

is the

estab-

lishment

of a

close

tie-in

between

at-home

and

in-store

advertising,

to

encourage

reminder

im-

pulse buying.

4. The

tone

of

in-store

advertising

may

change

in

the

light

of

increased

impulse

buying.

Signs,

pole cards,

and

the like

may

serve less

as

attention

attracters and

more

to

provide

information

and

explanation.

5.

Retailers

can

capitalize

on

the

trend

to

more

impulse buying

by

creating

new

impulse

buying

centers to

supplement

the

heavily

trafficked

checkout

stand.

Such

impulse

centers

should be

compara-

tively easy

to

establish

through

new

techniques

of

rack

merchandising

and use

of

floor

stands.

6.

Probably

the most

significant

feature

of

im-

pulse

buying

is

conceptual.

Marketers should

dis-

pense

with

the

idea

that

this

type

of

buying

is

basically

irrational

and,

therefore,

impossible

to

influence.

MARKETING

MEMO

Margaret

Mead

Views

America

.

She

found

American

character

well

organized

along

certain

definite

lines,

neither

necessarily

admirable nor

necessarily

evil

but

coherent

and,

to her

mind,

quite

fascinating.

She

pointed

out

that

Americans revere a

home-town

myth,

that

their

lodges

and

veterans'

organizations

create

a

feeling

of

security

by

stress-

ing

a

communal

past,

that

status,

in their

extremely

fluid so-

ciety,

depends

not on birth

but

on

achievement,

and

that

classes

have

been

replaced

by highly

temporary pecking

orders. Ameri-

cans,

according

to

her,

spend

a lot of

time

worrying

about

whether

they

are

happy, and tend to conform out of a deadly

terror

that

they

are

really

different.

They

have a

tremendous

drive

toward

success,

which

would

be

incomprehensible

to

the

Balinese or

the

Arapesh.

They

feel

that

they

have

to

achieve

in

order to be

loved,

and even

then

they

are not

sure

that

they

are

really

loved.

American

children

have

much

less

contact

with their

parents

than

the

children of

primitive

tribes.

Ameri-

can

children

are

given

objects

(bottles,

pacifiers,

and

toys)

that

to a

great

extent take

the

place

of

bodily

contact

with the

mother.

In

their

education,

the

emphasis

is

on

competition

with

other

personalities,

not

on

relations

between

the

sexes,

and

one

up-

shot of

this

is

that

the

appearance

of

sex

is

more

important

than

sexuality

itself.

-Winthrop Sargeant, Profiles-It's All

Anthropology,

(The

New

Yorker,

De-

cember

30,

1961),

p.

43.

62

Journal

of Marketing,

April,

1962


Significance of Impulse Buying

Documents

Transcript of Significance of Impulse Buying