Impulse Purchasing

John Dinsmore, [email protected], Slide 1

What is an “Impulse Purchase”?

“Researchers agree that impulse buying occurs when an individual makes an unintended, unreflective, and

immediate purchase.” (Jones et al. 2003, Journal of Business Research)

Jones et al.’s Citation for this claim?• Rook 1987 • Rook and Fisher 1995

“There has been little consensus on what impulse purchasing actually is.”

(Rook 1987)


“Impulse Purchase”: Dissonance• “unplanned purchasing”. . . “occurring most frequently at the grocery

store” (Kollat & Willet 1967)• “Remembering that one needs a gallon of milk or some toilet paper does

not commonly involve truly impulsive behavior.” (Stern 1962)

• “Unintended and unplanned. . . not sufficient basis for categorizing a purchase as impulse” (Rook 1987)

• “impulsiveness” was not associated with impulse purchasing (Kollat & Willet 1967)

• Choices made without considering long term interests (Stigler and Becker 1977)

• Quick response to stimulus without deliberation and evaluation of consequences (Buss & Plomin 1975)


“Impulse Purchase”: Dissonance“Impulse buying is a sudden and immediate purchase with no pre-shopping intentions either to buy the specific product category or to fulfill a specific buying task. The behavior occurs after experiencing an urge to buy and it tends to be spontaneous and without a lot of reflection (i.e., it is “impulsive”). It does not include the purchase of a simple reminder item, which is an item that is simply out of stock at home.” (Beatty, Ferrell 1998)


“Impulse Purchase”: Dissonance

“a sudden spontaneous inclination or incitement to some usually unpremeditated action”

—Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary

an unpremeditated Purchase

“Impulse buying occurs when a consumer experiences a sudden, often powerful and persistent urge to buy something immediately.” (Rook 1987)

Why Do We Care @ Impulse Purchasing?


Why We Care @ Impulse Purchasing• Universal consumer phenomenon

• Entire industries based on impulse purchases• Home shopping (Rayport et al. 2005)

• QVC—70% of their $4 billion business are channel surfers• 3rd Largest TV Network by Revenue

• Infomercials

• 38.7% of all department store purchases bought on impulse (Bellenger 1978)

• Given high fixed cost structures of retailers, impulse shopping makes all the difference

• Impulse control disorders involving shopping


Why We Care @ Impulse Purchasing• Lipstick Effect

“Hard Times But Your Lips Look Great”, The New York Times, May 1, 2008

“After the terrorist attacks of 2001 deflated the economy, Mr. Lauder noticed that his company was selling more lipstick than usual. He hypothesized that lipstick purchases are a way to gauge the economy. When it’s shaky, he said, sales increase as women boost their mood with inexpensive lipstick purchases instead of $500 slingbacks.”

“April Lane Benson, a psychologist in Manhattan who works with compulsive spenders, said there are two reasons why women would want lip color more than other affordable pleasures. . .’The mouth is an organ of so much pleasure.’ . . . ‘When women use lipstick in times of stress,” Dr. Benson said, “they’re doing it to put forward an image that they are more alive and more vibrant, and not as down in the mouth. It’s part of the uniform of desirability and attractiveness. A shirt or a cup of gelato is much farther removed from that.”

What Do We Know @ Impulse Purchasing?

General AttributesInternal Factors (Affect)

External Factors (Stimuli)Purchasing Impulse GenerationImpulse Purchase Regulation


Impulse Purchasing: Attributes• Impulse Purchasing is:

• immediate (Barratt 1985)

• a “distinguishing personality trait” (Rook and Gardner 1993)• this trait is stable and consistent (Allport 1937, Rook and Fisher 1995)

• more emotional than rational. (Weinberg et al. 1982)

• “directly stimulus-controlled, reactive behavior” (Kroeber-Riel 1980)

• “hedonically complex”. . . “promotes emotional conflict”. . . “diminishes regard for consequences” (Rook 1987)

• self reinforcing (Hoch & Lowenstein 1991)


Impulse Purchasing: Factors—Internal• Weinberg et al. Study (1982)

• Resulting from Emotional & Behavioral Activation • “more amused, more delighted and more

enthusiastic than nonbuyers.” • Galvanic skin reaction (GSR) showed IPers had

different body language, posture

• 75% of shoppers feel better after an impulse purchase, 8% feel worse (Rook and Gardner 1992)


Impulse Purchasing: Factors—Internal• Affect

• encourages approach behavior which in turn encourages people to reward themselves (Cunningham 1979)

• also encourages overspending (Donovan and Rossiter 1982)

• Gender• There is a gender difference (Coley 2003) for impulse purchases with

regard to:• items purchased• affective traits• impulse management• cognitive process


Impulse Purchasing: Factors—External

• Time/Duration of Exposure to Stimuli• IP a function of time shopping (Belk 1975)

• Time a function of product involvement (Bloch et al 1986)• and knowledge of store/environment (Bettman 1979)• Longer is better. . . to a point (Singh et al. 2000)


Impulse Purchasing: Factors—External• Proximity (Rook 1987)

• Perceived “extra money” had only marginal association with impulse purchases (p<.06) (Jeon 1990)

• Number of items purchased, the more impulse purchases (Kollat & Willet 1967)• Also found longer someone married (could covary with age, affluence,

family size etc.)

• Demonstrations, Personal Interaction (Singh et al. 2000)• Mowrer’s Affective Feedback Theory (Mowrer 1960): Demos cause

empathy

• Smith & Swinyard’s Integrated Information Response Model (1982): Direct experience leads to information acceptance, belief & commitment

• Promotional stimuli (sales, displays, etc.)


Impulse Purchasing: Impulse Regulation• “Correlates positively with age, intelligence, social responsibility and

the presence of a father at home” (Rook 1987)

• Competing stimuli can “interrupt” the impulse purchase (Bettman 1979)

• Stated Attitude: Those who profess to disapprove of impulse purchases no less likely to make impulse purchase (Rook and Fisher 1995)• Consumers less likely to make impulse purchases when the purchasing is

socially visible

Are Purchasing Impulses Like Other Impulses?

Impulsivity Studies in PsychologyImpulse Studies in Neurology

Impulse Control Disorders


Psychology: General Impulsivity• “Originate from both conscious and unconscious activity. . .arising

immediately upon confrontation with a certain stimulus.” (Wolman 1973)

• Competition between the pleasure principle and the reality principle (Freud 1911)

• Impulsive behaviors usually coexist (Petry 2000)• Three factors consistent in major impulsivity scales: Impulse control,

novelty seeking & time orientation• Other factors include orientation to the present, inability to delay

gratification, lack of inhibition, risk taking, sensation seeking, boredom proneness, reward sensitivity, hedonism, poor planning

• Impulse gratification is often an attempt at affect regulation (Tice 2001)• Moderated by belief that giving into the impulse will change their mood


• Fishbein’s Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen and Fishbein 1977) where an individual complies with normative pressures on behavior

• Gray (1972, 1981) Theory of Brain Functions & Behavior• Two dimensions of personality: anxiety (BIS) and impulsivity (BAS)• Reward seeking, goal-directed

• Affective response to cues of impending reward• No consensus in how to measure BIS and BAS in people (Carver 1994)

• Ego Depletion (Baumeister 1998)• Distress spurs cognitive process, diminishing regulatory resources

(Clore, Schwartz, Conway 1994)

Psychology: General Impulsivity


• Separate neural systems value immediate and delayed monetary rewards (McClure 2004)

• Immediate rewards processed by limbic system (also distributes dopamine)

• Delayed rewards processed by prefrontal cortex and parietal cortex

• Dopamine Study on Impulsivity (Holman 2009)• Trial of drug Pramipexole for Fibromyalgia

• Of the 1356 people in trial, • 21 (18 women, 3 men) were identified with compulsive gambling,

shopping or both

Neurology: General Impulsivity


“Compulsions are ‘repetitive and seemingly purposeful behaviors that are performed according to certain rules or in a stereotyped fashion.” (APA 1985)

• Excessive, ritualistic, repetitive, irresistible• Acts hoped to alleviate tension, anxiety or discomfort aroused by

obtrusive thought or obsession.

• At early stage, provides relief from stress (Salzman 1981)

Impulse Control Disorders: Compulsivity


Impulse: Impulse/Compulsivity Continuum

ImpulseSpontaneous mental call to action marked by some sense of

urgency

Repetition: HighRegulation Function: LowFantasizing: FrequentPriorities: FluidAffect: VolatileCognition: ImpairedLong-Term Consequences: Negative Addiction Compulsion

Impulse Purchase

Repetition: LowRegulation Function: Normal-HighFantasizing: Low or IsolatedPriorities: ConsistentAffect: ConsistentCognition: NormalLong-Term Consequences: Negligible to Positive

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• Influenced by both low (boredom) and high (stress, excitement) levels of arousal (Miller 1980)

• Seen in other compulsive behaviors as well—drugs, alcohol, gambling (Segal 1976)

• Most consistent finding across compulsive behaviors is low self esteem (Marlatt et al 1988)

• Compulsive buyers buy for the buying process itself (O’Guinn & Faber 1989)

Impulse Control: Compulsive Shopping


• O’Guinn Study (1989)

Impulse Control: Compulsive Shopping


• Obese do not experience physical hunger (aka ‘gastric motility’) more than anyone else (Stunkart 1959)

• Non-obese identify hunger correctly 71.6% of the time, non-obese 47.6% of the time

• Obese and normal subject do not refer to same bodily state when they say hunger

• Clock experiment (Schachter, Goldman, Gordon, 1968)• Obese patients ate as much, sometimes more when they were full

(p<.05)• Obese patients responded to time of day

• Yom Kipur Experiment (Goldman, Jaffa and Schachter 1968)• 296 Practicing Jewish College Students

• 83.3% of obese students fasted• Correlation of hours in synagogue to perceived

unpleasantness of fasting: -.50 (P=.03)• 68.8% of non-obese fasted

• Correlation of hours in synagogue to perceived unpleasantness of fasting: -.18 (P=.03)

Impulse Control: Obesity


• Treated uni-dimensionally and with inconsistent definition (Moeller et al. 2001)

• Impulsivity measures are highly subjective and “treat impulsivity as a global, undifferentiated concept.” (Carrillo-de-la-Pena et. al., 1993)

• There is no accepted definition or measure of impulsivity and is “likely best treated as a multi-dimensional construct” (Harmstead & Lester, 2000)

The Trouble With Impulse


• 16PF Impulsivity Scale• Barratt Impulsivity Scale*• Carver and White (1994) BIS/BAS Scales• Cloninger Scale• EASI-III Impulsivity Scale• Eyesenck and Eyesenck (1978) Subcomponents of Impulsivity• GZTS Restraint, Thoughtfulness and General Activity Scales• I-5 & I-7 Impulsivity Scale• Kagan’s Mathcing Familiar Figures Test (1966)• Patton, Stanford & Barratt (1995), Three Main Subtraits of Impulsiveness• PRF Impulsivity Scale• Quilty & Oakman’s Assessment of Behavioral Activation (2003)• Sensation Seeking Scale*• The SSS MMPI Items • Torrubia, Ávilab, Moltób and Caseras: Sensitivity to Punishment/Reward

Scales• Whiteside & Lynam (2001) Four Factors of Impulsivity

The Trouble With Impulse: Scales


• Scales for Purchasing Impulsivity• Puri 1986• Rook and Fisher 1995• Rook and Gardner 1993• Weun et al. 1998

• Trouble-shooting these scales• Impulsive behavior can be the result of:

• being too impulsive• having too little inhibition • both

• Gray argued there are multiple types of impulsivity (Gray 1983)

The Trouble With Impulse: Scales