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The factors affecting impulse buying behavior in a retail environment Ameer Ismail Jamil Section F-10u0525

Table of Contents

Executive Summary3 Declaration statement..4 Literature View....5 Framework diagram.12 Questionnaire13 Bibliography16

Executive Summary

All of the work that I have produced is original and in case of any plagiarism (above 20%), my submission will be cancelled

Literature Review For a number of decades researchers have looked upon impulse buying from different perspectives, while all the earlier research focused on the management and definitional interests the behavioral side remained unexploited until 1982 when researchers began to shed light upon the cognitive dimensions of impulse buying. These researchers all seem to be in agreement with the fact that prior to being engaged in the purchase of a product, the consumers feel an irresistible urge to consume that product hence the impulse buying behavior is psychologically driven. An insight into consumer buying behavior can be deemed as necessary when such behavior needs to be understood. While the literal meaning of impulse buying is an unplanned or spontaneous purchase, we need to realize that it is a manifold construct affected by a number of factors. Earlier researches have shown impulse buying to be a widespread phenomenon amongst consumers, in one particular study the percentage of spontaneous buying ranged from 27 to 62 percent of the total purchases in department stores (Bellenger, Robertson and Hirschman, 1978). We must also have a basic understanding of the personality traits of different consumers in order to determine why they engage in such buying behavior. Hence from a psychological perspective impulse buying can be defined as: Impulse buying takes place when a consumer experiences a sudden, and at times a great and persistent urge to buy something immediately. The purchase impulse is hedonically complex and can lead to emotional conflict. Also, impulse buying occurs without any regard to its results. (Rook D. 1987) Credit card Widespread use of credit cards in recent times has increased impulse buying. This description only refers to the exclusive use of credit cards as a substitute to cash payment, however in this study credit card usage we will referred to as all instruments that allow the customer not to pay cash on the spot, e.g. debit cards, prepaid cards, direct debits, etc (Karbasavar and Yarahmadi, 2011). One of the factors that accelerate the use of credit card is impulse buying as it is convenient and relatively easy to spend (Roberts and Jones, 2001; Kim, 2001a; Kim, 2001b).

The use of credit card has made people to buy impulsively as there cash is secure; it is easy to carry plastic money that is why its trend is increasing day by day. Easy access to credit cards eliminate the immediate need for money to buy something, cause consumer to overspending (Schor, 1998) and likely accelerate the development of impulse buying (Robert and Jones, 2001). The availability of credit card is a facilitator in the impulse buying process as it enhances the purchasing power of the individual .if the individual does not have enough money, he or she will avoid the shopping altogether (Mai et al, 2003).Extensive credit card use imitates consumer preferences regarding planned lines of credit while technological developments make it much easier for creditors to offer revolving credit (Durkin, 2000). Heavy credit users have been found to less price conscious as compared to cash (Tokunga, 1993),that buying expensive priced items is more relative to credit card ownership (Deshpande and Krishnan, 1980). Availability of money increase the buying power of the people hence it has an important role in impulse buying process (Beatty & Elizabeth Ferrell, 1998). If the people dont have required amount of money, they will avoid the buying of products even though if they want that product desperately, money availability become a constrain to buy impulsively. Window display Globally retailing business are experiencing a lot of difficulties due to changing nature of consumer tastes, consumption pattern and buying behavior. Every retailer knows that to gain market share they have to depend heavily on the strategic strength of market mix activities. Impulse buying is one of those factors that lead to maximum profits, hence pushing retailers to focus more on the attractive window display of the products by creating enjoyable, attractive, and modern state of art environment. Environment that attracts customers ,persuade them to buy product , environment in which customers can relate them self with the product like background music , freshened scent ,attractive layout ,unique store display that create urge to buy product (Karbasavar and Yarahmadi, 2011) . It is observed that in past minimum attention was given to window display in relation to consumer buying behavior. Choice of consumer to select a store for shopping is influenced by the physical attractiveness of the store (Karbasavar and Yarahmadi, 2011). Store image is the

first impression in front of the customer about your store , it can be suggested that window display may influence the customer choice of store when they are on window shopping with no specific purpose of visiting and buying a certain items. the initial step to getting customer to purchase is getting them in the door (Karbasavar and Yarahmadi, 2011). Due to so much completion in the consumer market, brands have stared window displaying their own shelf in a big retail store to attract maximum customer. The chances of customer attracting towards retail store are more when your window display is attractive (Mohan, G., Sivakumaran, B., & Sharma, P. 2013). People starts looking when some unusual thing happen around them when they are in a shopping mall thats why brands do flash mob for their product awareness, doing something different in their own way to become unique. People enjoy shopping with their family and friends when they have free time, it is an element of entertainment for the people to have in store browsing. Shopping enjoyment is defined as the pleasure one obtain in the shopping process. Generally people who like to shop a lot and they enjoy shopping is likely to browse longer in the shopping mall for any specific shopping occasion (Sharon E.Beatty and M.Elizabeth Ferrell 1998). It is found that the longer an individual found browsing in a shopping mall he or she will tend to encounter more items that enhance the likelihood of an impulse purchase ( Jarboe and McDaniel 1987) . Marketers need to promote attractive store layout to maximize the convenience of the potential customer that will reduce the frustration of the customer in finding things. Confusion of the customer can be solve by well-trained salesperson who can guide and aid the customer to purchase different product (Crawfordand Melewar, 2003). Impulse buying is stimulated by store atmosphere like some brands have created there store outlet in such a fashion that imitate the consumer to buy immediately. It has been seen that impulse buying is done on low involvement products that are verity seeking product. It has been discuss earlier that factors that enhance store atmosphere like dcor, smells, color, sound and visual stimulation induce certain effect in buyers and lead to buying behavior. Color have immense effect on consumer buying behavior especially light colors which conveys the feeling of peacefulness, dark colors like red leads to consumer nervous and blue represent calmness and bright colors have the ability to create excitement in consumers . It is said that what kind of customers are likely to visit and/or end up visiting the store have a lot to do with

your display of the store. "The image of a store defines what kind of consumers it attracts. Some stores have a more distinct image while others are more of the type that blends into the crowd. These types of stores may not have any distinct fea-tures which can make them be ignored in the eyes of the consumers. The store image is then the sum of different features including location, merchandise suitability and the knowledge and congeniality of the sales personnel." (Solomon, 2006). Promotional Approaches Promotional approaches are also a factor which may result in an impulse buying behavior; these approaches have been divided into two categories, cash discounts and free products. ( Janakiraman 2006) stated that unexpected cash discounts tend to bring about a positive feeling amongst customers and makes them consider products they might not think about otherwise. Since impulse buying behavior can often be price induced as unexpected discounts increase the willingness to pay for items that are not mentioned on the shopping list. The second category is that of free products, if a free product is being offered with a particular product a customer is more likely to buy the product even if he/she did not intend to buy the product before entering the retail store, in other words free products prompt customers to buy products they may not have bought otherwise. One of the variable of impulse buying is product price and it is said that majority of the consumer tend to be more impulsive when there is a sale season or discounts on product which have shorter product life, smaller size and easy to storage (Wong and Zhou, 2003). Since early seventies, price promotion has the largest share of the marketing budget in consumer product categories and it has been established that short term price promotion lead to higher sales (Cur rim and Schaeder 1991). The likelihood that a product will be purchased on an impulse depends on the product category as hedonic product such has grocery items (Mai et al., 2003). It is consider that the amount spent on the essential item of the shopping trip if increase or decrease has an impact on the buying behavior of the customer toward the other goods producing a congruent spillover effect (Karbasavar and Yarahmadi, 2011). For instance if an essential item is on a discount in a retailing store, customer spend extra money they save on the other product they urge to buy hence doing impulse purchase. Sale promotion consists of short-term incentives to encourage purchase or sale of the products.

Time availability The antecedent refers how much time the shoppers have and how they feel about spending their time shopping. This variable relates to the availability of time a shopper possesses in a retail store. It has a direct effect on impulse buying as more time a shopper possesses along with no time pressure (a component opposite to time available) will bring about a positive response in form of buying products (Iyer 1989). ( Beatty & Elizabeth Ferrell,1998) suggested that there is a correlation of available time on in store browsing and seller must try to convince the shoppers they have sufficient time available in store. This can be done on point of retailers by making the products in demand a customer readily available in no time. The quickly dose availability of product is made to the customer he or she has more time to spend in a shopping environment and this particular point brings about more impulse buying giving that the customer have a sufficient amount of time available to spend. As a result buyer spent more time in shopping environment and are more likely to make more impulse buying. Now unrestricted and unplanned shopping has become a part of core of consumer society. (Mesrinata,2009). Time available for shopping refers to the amount of time the shopper feels he/she has available that day during the shopping trip. Time pressure alters individuals mood and impedes their search activities while shopping. Specifically, limited time available for shopping may lead to frustration and negative reactions to the surrounding environment, which in turn generates negative emotional states. Ample amount of time available for shopping, however, does not guarantee to bring forth positive emotional states. (M. Elizabeth Ferrell, 1998). Consumers who have low entertainment values for shopping will be more efficient, spend less time in the store, and see a lower net benefit of engaging in unplanned purchasing (Amir Foroughi, Nor Aishah Buang & Reyhane Haj Mir Sadeghi ,2012). Shortage of time can have a great influence on person state on mind; it is observed that if a person has shortage of time he or she can come under stress. A consumers mood or physiological state when they are in a buying situation can have a great influence on their decisions of what they purchase and how they evaluate their consumptions. An individual consumers information processing and the ability to solve problems are slower down when a person is panic due to limited availability of time (Solomon et al., 2006 p.345). Previous researches have also stated that impulse buying behavior is strongly linked with the personality

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traits of customers, those who have a higher tendency towards impulse buying tend to find ways to rationalize their purchase even if they know that the consequences will be negative. Urge to buy impulsively Beatty and Ferrell (1998) believed that it is important to make distinction between urge and impulse buying. Their model assessment provided evidence of the distinction between these two variables. They described impulse purchase as an irresistible urge to buy a certain item. However, if the urge was literally irresistible, resisting them would be impossible in any situation. Certainly the consumers would not make their impulse purchases if their lives are threatened by any means. However failure in self-control results in impulse purchases. An effective self-control depends on three factors working together; standards, monitoring process and effective ability to change own behavior. It can be weakened if any one of these three factors miscarries (Amir Foroughi, Nor Aishah Buang & Reyhane Haj Mir Sadeghi ,2012) The first factor of self-control is a persons standards, meaning aims, models, norms, and other principles and plans that specify the preferred state of an individual. A standard could for example be a preferred emotional state or living style of an individual. Consumers who are certain about their goals and desires are less likely to be affected by any sale staff or attractive deals; ultimately they are less prone to impulse purchase. Where consumers who are not sure about their plans and goals will be vulnerable and will not be able to keep their self-control. In addition to this there are conflicts like a consumer wants to buy a thing which will make him feel delighted but he has to save money too. In this situation it is difficult for him to choose one. In normal situations persons control their behavior in order to reach long-term goals, but when they are emotionally distressed, self-control fails to work (Eeva Vnni, 2013). The second factor of self-control is monitoring, which means that a person is conscious of his behavior and keeps a track on it according to his aims and situation. It means he keeps control of his temptations and actions that would take him away or closer to his goal. Monitoring could for instance keep a money-saving consumer from taking a closer look of clothes they know they would like to buy in a shop. (Baumeister, 2002 p.672673) This would indicate that consumers who are cautiously monitoring their expenditures have a smaller tendency to do impulse purchases (Eeva Vnni, 2013).

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The third factor self-control depends on a persons ability to change his behavior according to his goals. In a buying situation it could mean the ability of off-putting impulses and resisting the urge to buy and try to save money. Consumers, who are already indulged in things requiring selfcontrol such as dieting or a decision-making job, have less self-control left for all the other actions they are making or trying not to make. This state is known as ego depletion. The willpower will then be exhausted after a series of self-control demanding tasks in a short period of time, but operate again with new power after rest. Consumers who are ego depleted are less able to change their behavior according to their goals and very likely to do impulse purchases when being in a shop (Baumeister, 2002 p.674). As Rooks also emphases that the felt urge to buy impulsively is a sudden or a spontaneous action taken by a buyer.

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Frame Work

Credit Card

Window Display Consumer Impulse buying

Promotional Approaches

Urge to buy impulsively

Time availability

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Questionnaire Q1 I buy only what is on my shopping list. ? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly agree

Q2 I tend to buy clothing if I really like it? ? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly agree

Q3 After I make an impulse purchase I feel regret. ? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly agree

Q4 Sometimes I shop to feel better. ? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly agree

Q5 I am less concerned with the price of the cloth. ? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly agree

Q6 How often I buy clothing impulsively? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) Once a week Once a month Twice a month Once in a year

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Never

Q7 I am actually impulse shopper ? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral Agree 4 5 Strongly agree

Q8 I generally use Credit Card ? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly agree

Q9 I use Credit Card to buy clothing? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly agree

Q10 Use credit card patronage me to buy clothing impulse? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly agree

Q11 I use credit card to buy impulse? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly agree

Q12 I buy clothing if I can get free product? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly agree

Q13 Free product can be reason for me to buy clothing impulse? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011)

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1 Strongly disagree

2 Disagree

3 Neutral

4 Agree

5 Strongly agree

Q14 I buy clothing in shops with discount price? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011)

1 Strongly disagree

2 Disagree

3 Neutral

4 Agree

5 Strongly agree

Q15 If I see discount price, I tend to buy impulse? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly agree

Q16 sometimes I only visit shops because there window display are beautiful? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly agree

Q17 I pay attention to shops window display? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly agree

Q18 I am interested in shopping at well-designed window shop? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree Disagree 2 Neutral 3 Agree 4 Strongly agree 5

Q19 Sometimes I buy clothing in effect of shops window display? (adapted from Alireza Karbasiverand Hasti Yarahmadi, 2011) 1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Neutral 4 Agree 5 Strongly agree

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