Online Shopping: Impulse Purchase Habits of Consumers

With online retail sales steadily increasing, and projected to continue doing so, companies are trying to capitalize on the convenience of online shopping by incorporating strategies to encourage impulse purchases. With the continual evolution of technology and increased experience in online marketing, websites have become very innovative in encouraging impulse buying. Although there are challenges for retailers on the internet with many of the techniques still being in an experimental phase, there are also a lot of opportunities for growth and creativity.

In this research, three features drawn from previous and recent research are used to characterize impulse purchases. When buying on impulse, the consumer makes an

1) Unintended,

2) Unreflective, and

3) Immediate purchase ( Jones et al. 2003).

An article in PC World describes the members-only shopping experience as, “The ticking clock, the discounts, and the knowledge someone could grab an item before you do are a recipe for impulse buying. And in this economy, the temptation to buy discounted goods is especially strong – and dangerous” (Mies, 2009, p. 22). These types of quick sale websites have become very innovative in encouraging impulse buying and it has been interesting to see it develop over time.

Many customers are probably very aware of what they are doing, but they still rely on their emotions when seeing a good deal and wanting to buy it. Especially when the customer has the additional knowledge of limited quantity because they do not want the feeling that they missed out on buying something they would have liked after the item has been sold out online. Then, after making a quick purchase decision to avoid feeling like they missed out they may be left wondering if the product was really needed. Having the quick buy option really makes the impulse purchase so much easier because it takes away a lot of the decision making process.

When impulse buying in a store the customer can carry the item around and think about whether or not he/she wants to make the purchase. However, on these websites the customer cannot hold an item to think about it. The user either has to buy or risk the item being sold out if they take the time to think about it. Then, once they have paid the shipping they might as well buy something else. This is especially true for a smaller item that the customer does not think is worth the shipping cost, but if once they find one thing they like it is much easier to justify additional items since the shipping is the same.

Factors encouraging or discouraging impulse buying on the Internet

Impulse Buying on the Internet: Encouraging and Discouraging Factors ( Nina Koski , 2002 ) aims to reduce that research gap by analyzing which features of the Internet as a shopping environment encourage and discourage impulse buying. Anonymity, easy access, greater variety of goods available, marketing promotions and direct marketing, as well as use of credit cards were found to be the factors encouraging impulse buying on the Internet. On the other hand, delayed gratification, easy access, increased consumer control, perceptually poor environment, and price and product comparisons were suggested as factors discouraging impulse buying on the Internet.

Table 1 : Factors encouraging Online Buying

Encouraging Factors	Explanation
Anonymity	The shopper can buy impulsively without embarrassment.
Easy access	The Internet is available as the shopping urge comes. Also the purchase of an item is just a few mouse clicks away.
Greater variety of goods available	Greater variety resulting in complex information load may encourage impulse purchases.
Marketing promotions and direct marketing	Increased possibilities for directing and personalizing marketing messages.

Table 2 : Factors discouraging Online buying 

Discouraging Factors	Explanation
Delayed gratification	Except for downloadable products, consumers cannot get the product immediately after buying it.
Easy access	Consumer can think about the purchase for a while and easily return to the store.
Increased consumer control	Consumers are more in control of what they see and do
Perceptually poor environment	Limits the type of possible impulses in the shopping environment