Impulse purchases in retailing

Masters Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, grade: 6,0, University of St. Gallen (Institute of Retail Management), language: English, abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to examine impulse buying from the consumers perspective, pinpoint criteria that help to identify impulse shoppers, and help retail managers increase the level of impulse buying in their stores. Two studies were conducted: An online study (N=72), and a field study in a drugstore that comprised 111 participants. The extant literature on impulse buying was comprehensively reviewed to give the reader profound background knowledge. The online study yielded rich descriptions of consumers definitions of impulse purchases and self-reported impulse purchase episodes. Both studies corroborated the important role of emotions in impulse buying and identified the most prevalent emotions. The pervasiveness of a variety of impulse buying motives was determined, as well as the importance of different retailer-related buying determinants. The field study also served to detect seven variables, out of fifteen, that help to distinguish impulse shoppers. The author addresses the studies limitations, indicates promising future research avenues, and derives managerial implications from the studies results. The thesis provides insights into shoppers view of impulse buying and serves as a starting point for retail managers seeking to increase the level of impulse purchasing in their stores.