Impulse buying in the supermarket
Author:
P. Van den Hul
Student number: S1761099
Place:
Groningen
Date:
20 - 07 - 2009
Albert Heijn Paterswolde Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Hoofdweg 202 Postbus 800
9765 CK Paterswolde 9700 AV Groningen
Contact person Supervisors
Mr. E. Schlepers Dr. L.M. Sloot
Store Manager Drs. E. De Vries
Faculty of Economic and Business Msc BA Marketing
2
SUMMARY
Impulse buying has been a major interest of researchers for decades. They have yet to agree on an accurate definition. Up until this day, the concept remains ambiguous. There are two main streams of research. One distinguishes between different forms of impulse buying each varying in their degree of planning. The other recognizes only one form of true impulse buying which is characterized by a strong, sudden urge and little deliberation.
Impulse buying is influenced by a great number of variables. These can be grouped into four broad categories: Trip-specific variables, the store environment, shopper characteristics and product-specific variables. One or any combination of these variables can cause the so-called ‘urge’ to buy on impulse to occur. The consumer can either act on it or reject it. This is dependent on affect, normative evaluation and self-control. Even if the consumer decides to resist the purchase, the process of resistance still has to follow through by successfully employing one or more resistance strategies. If the consumer acts on the urge, actual impulse buying behavior occurs. Post-purchase affect can be either positive (pleasure and excitement) or negative (guilt and regret).
Three focus groups sessions were conducted as a form of qualitative and explorative research. Also, it served to reveal some of the reasoning behind the degree of planning during grocery shopping. Subsequently, a web-based survey was created, focusing on general shopping behavior and administering a 20-item scale measuring the impulse buying trait. The final component of the field research consisted of in-store research in 8 different categories were about 20 consumers each were subjected to short interviews after they had purchased the product of interest.
3
About 60% of survey respondents does their shopping alone, whilst only 25% is single. Albert Heijn is by far the most popular as the primary supermarket of choice and Aldi emerged mainly as a secondary supermarket, possibly for fill-in purchases. Most respondents regularly make unplanned purchased. Their self-reported frequency of unplanned purchases also proved to be an important predictor of the impulse buying trait. Another predicting factor is the use of a shopping list, which is negatively related to the IBT.
The main finding of the in-store interviews is that consumers are highly habitual in their grocery shopping. Most products were planned in advance and often the same variant is bought over and over again. Products such as wine and chips were planned to a lesser degree, mostly just on the product level but not the specific brand. Another interesting outcome is that consumers sometimes choose another brand just for the sake of variation. Finally, utilitarian and especially basic assortment products were planned more than hedonic products.
One of the main findings for supermarkets is that habits of consumers can be broken through promotions, special displays and tastings. There is no need to worry about post-purchase negative affect, because consumers are unlikely to experience it with grocery purchases.
4
PREFACE
After several years of following the study management, economy and law at the Hanze University, something was missing. It was specialization and in-depth treatment of the subject I liked most: Marketing. Through an accelerated program which I followed during the second semester of the fourth year of the bachelor’s study, I was admitted to the University of Groningen to follow a Master in Marketing Management. Scarcely a year after completing my previous research, the next already lies before you.
The subject of impulse buying is interesting because it combines marketing with psychological concepts of consumer behavior. It is also one of the few areas of which the exact workings are not clear to academics. Ample previous research was available, but the difficulty was in summarizing the most important workings into one conceptual model. This model became so extensive, that it was impossible to verify every part of it in the field research. New challenges came up during this phase of the research, because of the measuring problems surrounding impulse buying. A variety of research methods were employed, sometimes resulting in quite surprising findings.
I would like to thank Dr. Sloot for his brief but accurate feedback and encouragements to work independently. Thanks are also in place for Drs. De Vries for sharing her view on impulse buying. Finally, I would like to thank all the family, friends and colleagues who were kind enough to assist me in my research by participating in the focus groups and/or submitting the questionnaire.
Patrick van den Hul
20 - 07 - 2009
“No great marketing decisions have ever been made on quantitative data”
John Sculley
5
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION ... 8
2 IMPULSE BUYING DEFINED ... 9
2.1CONSUMER’S BUYING PROCESS ... 9
2.1DEFINING IMPULSE BUYING ... 10
3 IMPULSE BUYING EXPLAINED ... 14
3.1INTRODUCTION ... 14
3.2 SHOPPER CHARACTERISTICS ... 14
3.3PRODUCT-SPECIFIC VARIABLES ... 17
3.4STORE ENVIRONMENT ... 19
3.5TRIP-SPECIFIC VARIABLES ... 20
3.6 THE IMPULSE BUYING URGE ... 23
3.7 RESISTANCE OR ENACTMENT ... 24
3.8 CONSEQUENCES ... 26
3.9 CONCLUSION ... 27
4 MODEL AND HYPOTHESES ... 28
4.1 PLANNING IN GENERAL... 28
4.2 IMPULSE PURCHASING ... 28
4.3 THE IMPULSE BUYING TRAIT ... 29
4.4 IMPULSE BUYING BY CATEGORY... 30
5 RESEARCH DESIGN ... 32
5.1 FOCUS GROUPS ... 32
5.2SURVEY ... 33
6 6 RESULTS ... 36 6.1 FOCUS GROUPS ... 36 6.2 SURVEY... 38 6.3 IN-STORE INTERVIEWS ... 43 6.4 DISCUSSION ... 47 7 CONCLUSIONS ... 50 7.1 HYPOTHESIS ... 50 7.2 RELEVANCE ... 53 7.3 LIMITATIONS ... 53 8 RECOMMENDATIONS ... 54 8.1 MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS ... 54
8.2 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ... 55
REFERENCES ... 56
APPENDICES ... 59
1. AGENDA FOCUS GROUPS ... 60
2.SURVEY QUESTIONS ... 61
3. IMPULSE BUYING TRAIT SCALE ... 65
4. SURVEY RESPONSE ... 66
5. SURVEY SAMPLE ... 67
6. SURVEY FACTOR ANALYSIS ... 68
7. SURVEY REGRESSION ANALYSIS ... 69
8. SURVEY CORRELATION ANALYSIS ... 70
7
INDEX OF TABLES AND FIGURES
T2.1 POPAI NETHERLANDS,2001 ... 9
F2.1 JUDGMENT AND DECISION MAKING BASED ON LOW CONSUMER EFFORT ... 10
T3.1 IB VARIES BY PRODUCT ... 18
F3.1 NFT AND IB ... 19
F3.2 PLANNING PYRAMID ... 27
CONCEPTUAL MODEL... 31
F5.1 RESEARCH DESIGN ... 32
T5.1 IN-STORE INTERVIEWS PRODUCT CATEGORIES ... 35
F6.1 WHO DOES THE SHOPPING? ... 39
F6.2 WHICH SUPERMARKET? ... 40
F6.3 IMPULSE BUYING TRIGGERS ... 40
T6.1 OTHER QUESTIONS ... 41
8
1
INTRODUCTION
Economic and marketing theory has long focused on consumers acting fully rational, employing sophisticated strategies to optimize their so-called ‘utility’. Throughout the last decades however it becomes clear that not all consumer behavior is well thought out and fully rational. Especially with low involvement products, many purchases are unplanned or impulse purchases. This poses both significant challenges and opportunities for retailers and manufactures. Impulsive behavior can have a great effect on sales, but it’s true workings are still not fully explored. A clear example is the debate amongst researchers with regard to a uniform definition of impulse buying.
Most research has focused on defining impulse purchasing, discovering specific variables influencing the impulse purchase, the process of impulse purchasing itself or post-purchasing consequences. This thesis attempts to review these findings and incorporate them into one holistic model. The field research is focusing on impulsive behavior and degree of planning in general in the supermarket, were most studies focus on retailers as a whole.
9
Buying situation Percentage
Brand and product planned 21%
Only the product is planned 23%
Brand or product planned, but substitute bought 4% No intention to buy product before entering the store 52%
2
IMPULSE BUYING DEFINED
Impulse buying has been a major issue for researchers and practitioners alike for many decades. This importance has been appraised accurately by Underhill (1999) in his book about shopping ‘Why We Buy’. He aptly stated that retailers might as well close their doors altogether if consumers would only shop when they really need something and would buy nothing but the exact item(s) they planned to buy. Estimations of the proportion of products bought on impulse range from about 20% to as much as 80% (Kollat & Willet, 1967). POPAI (Point of Purchase Advertising Institute) also does regular research on this topic and has found 65% of all supermarket purchases to be decided upon in-store. About half of all purchases is completely unplanned. In their more recent research of 2001, even 80% is identified as being unplanned to some degree (table 2.1). However, much of grocery shopping behavior is driven by habits and therefore not impulsive or unplanned. Also, the EFMI report that a huge underestimation of the amount of planned purchases can occur because shoppers use the grocery store as a ‘mental shopping list’. This issue will be addressed further in the field research, specifically in the in-depth in-store methodology interviews.
Table 2.1: POPAI Netherlands, 2001
These differences in estimation can be explained by the vagueness that exists around the concept. This will be addressed in paragraph 2.2, after a brief introduction in which impulse buying will be placed within the context of general consumer buying behavior with low involvement. Finally, a conceptual framework will be presented, in which various antecedents and consequences of impulse buying are explained.
2.1 Consumers’ buying process
10
Figure 2.1: Judgment and decision making based on low consumer effort (Hoyer & MacInnis, 2007, p. 254)
Impulse buying is essentially another ‘decision process’ that can be added to the figure, with the note that it involves a strong affective component. Also, various aspects from other tactics, such as prices and normative influences play an important role.
2.2 Defining Impulse Buying
Even though impulse buying has been researched by academics for about 60 years now, there is still no agreement on a definition that is both conceptually sound and pragmatic. An overview of the most influential conceptualizations will be presented, after which the definition that will be used in this report will follow.
2.2.1 Early classifications
11 Stern (1962) distinguishes four broad classifications:
• Pure Impulse Buying. This involves a purchase that is really novel and falls outside of the normal buying patterns;
• Reminder Impulse Buying. The consumer sees an item in the store and remembers either that stock is low or a previous decision to purchase (e.g. from an advertisement);
• Suggestion Impulse Buying. A consumer sees a product for the first time and visualizes a need It is different from reminder IB in the sense that there is no prior product knowledge and different from pure IB because it can be entirely rational;
• Planned Impulse Purchase. The shop is entered with some specific purchases in mind, but the intention to make other purchases as well, which depend on cues during shopping (e.g. promotions, coupon offers etc.).
This conceptualization is certainly clarifying but not all types are defined accurately. It can be argued that reminder and suggestion IB are not IB at all and the distinction between a planned and a pure IB is somewhat vague.
It is also possible to classify impulse buying within a broader scheme of purchase intentions. For example, Kollat & Willett (1967) use the typology of Applebaum (1951) to operationalize IB. The intentions continuum consists of product and brand planned (completely planned), product only, product class only, need recognized and need not recognized (completely unplanned). The last one is used by Kollat & Willet and characterizes a purchase for which the need was latent or not recognized, prior to entering the store. Thus, in-store stimuli play an important role in triggering IB. However, in practice it’s hard to distinct this from other types of unplanned purchases. Consumers will not always be able to name all their intentions when asked prior to their shopping trip. Some researchers argue to pragmatically define IB as purchases where the decision to buy was made in the store (Bellenger et al., 1978).
2.2.2 Impulse buying and the consumer
12
introduce the term decisional time lapse in this context. The more rapid the decision is made relative to normal buying patterns, the more impulsive the decision is (e.g. A consumer buys a piece of clothing in 2 minutes, whilst the normal decision time for this consumer on a product like this is 15 minutes). It must be noted that though this conceptualization has theoretical appeal, it is difficult to operationalize, because the normal and actual decision time lapse times has to be determined for each consumer and with each product.
The consumer continued to be the focal point of later studies. It was argued that IB is accompanied by strong emotions (Weinberg & Gottwald, 1982; Rook & Hoch, 1985). Rook (1987) elaborates on this by introducing a psychological model of IB that distinguishes it from other types of unplanned purchasing. According to this model, IB can be characterized by:
• A sudden and spontaneous desire to act;
• A state of psychological disequilibrium;
• The onset of psychological conflict and struggle;
• A reduction in cognitive evaluation;
• A lack of regard for the consequences of impulse buying.
It recognizes one of the fundamental issues in IB buying is whether to ‘buy or not to buy’. The formulation of the elements of this model has negative connotations, in the sense that IB can be harmful because of reduced cognitive evaluation and lack of regard for consequences.
From this framework, the following definition emerges: “Impulse buying occurs when a consumer experiences a sudden, often powerful and persistent urge to buy something immediately. The impulse to buy is hedonically complex and may stimulate emotional conflict. Also, impulse buying is prone to occur with diminished regard for its consequences.” (Rook, 1987). Accordingly, IB is emotional, more ‘bad’ than ‘good’ and characterized by feelings of being ‘out of control.’
13
The paper formally defines IB as unplanned, the result of an exposure to stimuli and decided “on the spot”. Furthermore, a distinction is made between experiential and non-experiential impulse purchases, in which the former is accompanied by emotional and/or cognitive reactions. Recently, Wood (2005) proposed that not all IB is non-rational or inevitably associated with regret, and a distinction should be made for discretionary unplanned buying, which is considered a normal part of buying behavior. For example ‘treats’ or some other ‘affordable luxury’.
2.2.3 Conclusion
In this thesis, the definition of Beatty & Ferrell (1998) is adopted, which is an extension of the definition by Rook:
“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.
14
3
IMPULSE BUYING EXPLAINED
3.1 Introduction
An extensive literature review of notable articles published between 1960 and 2009 has resulted in a model that tries to explain the antecedents, enactment and consequences of impulse purchasing. It is by no means complete, if only because some possibly influencing factors have not yet been (academically) researched. For example, the theory that IB during a grocery shopping trip might increase if the consumer is hungry. This can be traced back to psychological concepts that have something to do with goal fulfillment behavior and the hierarchy of needs.
Still, the model touches upon some of the most important elements involved. The general arrangement of the model will be explained first, after which the individual variables will be detailed.
The antecedents are divided into four main categories: trip-specific variables, store environment, shopper characteristics and product variables. IB can therefore be seen as an interaction between the shopper and the environment with the product found therein, which is moderated by the circumstances of the specific trip.
These antecedents do no lead directly to IB behavior but to the urge, as accurately described by Rook (1987) and used in the definition adopted in this thesis. Subsequently, the consumer can either act upon it or resist it. This process is dependent on normative evaluation, mood and self-control.
If the consumer does act on the urge to buy on impulse, there can be both negative and positive consequences (paragraph 3.8). Negative effects such as guilt, regret and even the general wellbeing are stressed in the literature, but many consumers also report to find IB enjoyable and exciting.
3.2 Shopper characteristics
Even the earliest research has been incorporating certain consumer characteristics to assess their influence on IB. They will now be individually discussed.
3.2.1 Gender
15
This theme was taken to a new level in the research of Dittmar et al. (1995), which focuses entirely on gender and IB, specifically gender identity. They found that men tend to buy instrumental and leisure items on impulse, while women mainly buy symbolic and self-expressive goods. Gender certainly seems to be an important factor in IB, but the direction and strength of the relationship remains ambiguous.
3.2.2 Age
In the paper of Bellenger et al. (1978) impulse buying appears to be great for the under-35 and over-65 age groups. A finding of Rook & Hoch (1985) is that younger people tend be more impulsive in their shopping behavior than older people. Wood (1998) found an increasing pattern between the ages of 18 and 39 and a decline thereafter. In their cross-cultural study, Kacen & Lee (2002) also found IB to decrease with age, but only for the Asian sample and not for Caucasians. This is consistent with previous research among Caucasians (Bellenger et al., 1978; Wood, 1998) which also found age to be insignificant in IB. Thus, current research is contradictory.
3.2.3 Income
Beatty & Ferrell (1998) report that the perception of available money produces positive feelings and therefore has a enforcing influence on IB. They label this as a situational variable, but it is obviously closely related to income and can therefore also be seen as a consumer characteristic. When asked to indicate triggers for IB, 60% of a sample of consumers reported “having money” (Youn & Faber, 2000). However, other research found income to be unrelated to IB (Wood, 1998). Money in general is certainly a factor, but it is not yet clear if income relates directly with IB.
3.2.4 Education
Not much research on IB has incorporated education as a dependent variable, possibly because the connection is not obvious. Still, one research finds that higher levels of IB are associated with some form of higher education (college or other post high school) experience (Wood, 1998).
3.2.5 Shopping enjoyment
16 3.2.6 Culture
Culture has not been of much interest to IB researchers until quite recently. The purchasing power of non-western countries is growing. Kacen & Lee (2002) focused their research on this issue and their main finding is that culture moderates the relation between the impulse buying trait and impulse buying behavior. Both regional level factors (individualism vs. collectivism) and individual difference factors (independent – interdependent self-concept) influence IB. Specifically, the impulse buying trait (IBT) was more strongly associated with actual IB in individualistic cultures. This will be elaborated upon in the paragraphs on self-concept and normative influences.
3.2.7 Self-identity
The link between IB and self-identity has not been examined until well into the 90’s. The hypothesis of Dittmar et al. (1995) that identity-relevant products are more likely to be high impulse items than purely functional goods, was strongly supported by their research. Burroughs (1996) adopts a similar approach in his research which indicates that IB is a type of holistic information processing in which a match is recognized between the symbolic meaning of a product and the self-concept of the consumer. This cognitive perspective is a plausible answer to the question why the urge to buy on impulse can experienced with such speed and strength. Kacen & Lee (2002) find further evidence in this area, suggesting that whether a consumer has an independent or interdependent self-concept, systematically influences IB behavior.
3.2.8 Need for touch
People differ in many ways, one of which is their need-for-touch (NFT) during shopping. One study shows that consumers which score higher on NFT, have a higher IB baseline. Thus, they are more likely to make impulse purchases overall. On a 7-point Likert scale, the average score for consumers low on NFT was 3.8 and it was 4.6 for people high on NFT (Peck & Childers, 2006).
3.2.9 Impulse buying trait
17
and costs of IB. Verplanken & Herabadi (2001, 2005) found IBT to be strongly correlated with the number of impulse purchases. They also found IBT to have both cognitive and affective facets and that it is strongly rooted in personality. In their later study, they found IBT to be correlated with low self-esteem, negative effects and eating disorders. Silvera et al. (2008) elaborate on this research and also conclude that people high on IBT can experience negative affect. The IBT is also found to be associated with chronic hedonic goals and people high on this trait display increased intensity of impulse behavior over time, when primed with a hedonic goal (Ramanathan & Menon, 2006). Rook & Fisher (1995) concluded in their research that the relationship between the IBT and IB behavior is moderated by normative evaluations (which will be discussed further in 4.7.2). This research was later replicated by Peck & Childers (2006), which produced the same results.
3.3 Product-specific variables
Most research on IB focuses on the relationship between individual difference factors and the store environment, but it should not be forgotten that the product itself also plays a role. Even though it cannot be stated that some products are impulsive and others are not, there are notable differences between product categories and product elements.
3.3.1 Price
In early research, price was thought of as the most important predictor of IB. It automatically eliminated expensive items such as cars as IB items (Stern, 1962). We now know that all items can be bought on impulse, but price is still an important predictor (Cobb & Hoyer, 1986). In the research of Abratt & Goodey (1990), price was mentioned by 15% of respondents as a stimuli involved in unplanned purchasing, second only to signs on the shelf. In a similar research consumers were also asked to name cues for IB, sales (53.3%) and low prices (48.1%) were among the most frequently mentioned (Youn & Faber (2000).
3.3.2 Size or weight
18
3.3.3 Strength of preference, brand loyalty and advertising
Cobb & Hoyer (1986) found that brand preference and loyalty are still considered in IB. Brand loyalty (broken down in the behavioral and attitudinal component), exerted the greatest influence on unplanned buying of all the factors researched. Stern (1962) also noted an issue related to this: mass advertising. Although this is generally aimed at making consumers plan to buy a specific brand, the brand recognition effect of advertising might enhance impulse purchases of the brand.
3.3.4 Purchase frequency and perishability
Stern (1962) poses that the shorter the buying cycle for an item, the more likely it is to be purchased on impulse. Frequent purchasing reduces the need for planning. Although this line of thought seems reasonable, little empirical research has been done to support or dismiss this statement. However, there is at least some evidence that seems to confirm that purchase frequency influence IB (Cobb & Hoyer, 1986). A paper by Kollat & Willett (1967) affirms this, but reports that high frequency products (milk, bread, eggs) are bough less on impulse than low frequency items (drugs, toiletries, desert items).
3.3.5 Product category
Some IB research has been focusing on multiple product categories and identified some notable differences. The research of Abratt & Goodey (1990) focused on 128 categories in supermarkets, which were grouped together to 28 for practical reseasons. The rate of incidence of unplanned purchases showed notable differences. Bellenger et al. (1978) concluded that impulse purchases are more prominent in some merchandise lines than others. Empirical research by Dittmar et al. (1995), also resulted in significant differences. The outcomes are summarized in table 3.1.
Bellenger et al. (1978) Abratt & Goodey (1990) Dittmar et al. (1995)
Highest Costume jewelry, bakery products, meals and snacks
Confectionary, Books and magazines and Wine
Music, clothing, magazines and ornaments
Lowest Women’s lingerie, cosmetics/toiletries and Men’s sport/casual clothing
Washing powder, washing-up liquid, sanitary products, skin care and polishes
Car equipment, furniture, gardening equipment and kitchen items
19
A clear pattern emerges. It seems that products bought the most on impulse are more hedonic, while low IB items are more functional.
3.4 Store Environment
Some researchers argue that IB is triggered by environmental stimuli. In most definitions, IB constitutes decisions that were not made prior to the shopping trip but during it. Therefore, it makes sense that the environment would play an important role.
3.4.1 Shelf positioning and special displays
Early research already recognized that prominent displays of items is necessary to increase the opportunity for IB, since by definition, a consumer is not looking for impulse items (Stern, 1962). However, it was rejected by Cox (1964) that so-called ‘impulse items’ would respond more to variations in shelf space than staples (items with a high purchase frequency). Abratt & Goodey (1990) focused their research specifically on the effect of in-store stimuli in supermarkets on IB. The findings suggest that in-store stimuli significantly affect IB. The most important appears to be signs on the shelf, followed by price (paragraph 4.3.1) and special displays. These controllable promotional techniques accounted for 70% of all mentions. Also notable is that one fourth of impulse purchase was made because the consumer remembered a latent need. A popular location to situate items especially susceptible to IB is the checkouts. However, not all checkout purchases can be referred to as impulse purchases. Some shoppers purposefully buy some items at the checkouts to make efficient use of their time (Miranda, 2008). This does not change the fact that checkout shelf space obviously has high sales potential. As was mentioned earlier (paragraph 4.2.8), need for touch influences IB. Related to this, specific signs that encourage consumers to touch the products result in much higher impulse purchases, even more so for people high on NFT (figure 3.1).
20 3.4.2 In-store promotions
Promotions can significantly influence the amount of IB of a specific item of group of items. For example, a 3-item special discount might persuade a consumer that planned to buy 2, to buy one more (Stern, 1962). In some cases, this might effectively just be stocking-up behavior, but it can also increase sales. In the research of Youn & Faber (2000), some of the most frequently named cues are all in-store promotions: items on sale (53.3%), free samples (43.7%), free gifts (41.5%), coupons (36.3%) and a bargain (33.3%). Further evidence was found by Heilman et al. (2002) in their research on unexpected in-store coupons. The results show that the coupons increased the number and dollar value of unplanned purchases made on that particular shopping trip.
3.4.3 Store format
The type of store can be of influence in the amount of IB. Store characteristics such as the assortment and the amount of self-service can be of importance (Stern, 1962). Prasad (1975) compared the amount of unplanned purchases in department and discount stores. The incidence rate was significantly and consistently higher in the discount stores than in the department stores. However, Abratt (1990) found no statistically significant evidence that unplanned buying differed between the selected supermarkets. One could assume from this finding that the in-store stimuli of the selected supermarkets are similar to each other. Specifically for the Netherlands, one might imagine that IB might be different between a discount store such as Aldi, a premium format with little promotions like Jumbo and a premium store with a lot of promotions such as Albert Heijn.
3.4.4 Other factors
Besides the more obvious influences, a great number of other store environmental factors may influence IB. Mattila & Wirtz (2008) researched employee friendliness and environmental stimulation. They found that over-stimulation has a positive impact on impulse purchases and employee friendliness was found to be significant as well.
3.5 Trip-specific variables
21 3.5.1 Type of trip
With respect to grocery shopping, there are two main types of trips. The first is a major shopping trip and the second a fill-in trip. In the latter one, the consumer returns to the supermarket to buy a few items that were forgotten the first time around. The research of Kollat & Willet (1967) show that major shopping trips are characterized by substantially more unplanned purchases than are fill-in trips. This could be explained by the fact that a fill-in trip is usually accompanied by quite exact intentions to find the missing items and proceed to the checkout, while a major trip is usually longer and allows more time for browsing. Bellenger et al. (1978) looked at type of trip in a different way, by asking consumer their purpose for being downtown. The ones that reported ‘shopping’ made the most impulsive purchases, more than ‘work’, ‘business trip’, ‘school’ and other reasons.
3.5.2 Number of purchases
Kollat & Willett (1967) found that the percentage of unplanned purchases increases as the number of different products purchased increased. A similar result was reported a few years later by Prasad (1975). This paper showed total transaction size to be significantly related to the level of unplanned purchasing.
3.5.3 Use of shopping list
22 3.5.4 Time and money available
Beatty and Ferrell (1998) found IB to be related to time and money available. Time available obviously influences the time the consumer spends in the store. More time can result in more browsing and thereby more IB. Both time and money available also affect impulse buying through positive and negative emotions (paragraph 4.5.6). When asked about IB cues in the research by Youn & Faber (2000), many money related issues were named: having money (60%), receiving money (45.9%) money (37.9%) and credit cards (36.6%).
3.5.5 Shopping party
Being with friends was mentioned as a cue for IB by 44.4% of the sample in one research (Youn & Faber, 2000). In two experiments, the paper of Luo (2005) delves further in the influence of shopping with others on IB. Quite interestingly, the results show that shopping in the presence of peers increases the urge to purchase, while the presence of family members decreases it. This difference is greater when the group is cohesive and when participants are susceptible to social influence. A possible explanation for this effect is that family members may encourage a sense of responsibility while peer group members support spontaneity and the pursuit of hedonic goals.
3.5.6 Affect
23
Weinberg & Gottwald (1982) relate a great number of emotions to IB. They find that buyers assess themselves as more amused, delighted and enthusiastic than non-buyers. Also, buyers experience more interest, enthusiasm, joy and glee, but less astonishment and indifference than non-buyers.
3.5.6 Other factors
Some research focused on trip-specific factors that have not been considered before and have not been thereafter. They do provide some interesting insights in the workings of IB. The research of Vohs & Faber (2007) proposes that consumers have a certain amount of so-called self-regulatory resources available. Respondents whose resources were depleted, felt stronger urges to buy and were willing to spend more money in unexpected buying situations and actually did so. The resource becomes depleted by placing demands on customers to exert self-control, for example through an assignment to suppress thoughts about a white bear. Another interesting mechanism that is at play in the mind of consumers is the shopping momentum effect. This momentum occurs when an initial purchase provides an impulse that enhances the purchase of a second product. It occurs because the initial purchase moves the consumer from a deliberative to an implemental mind-set, which drives future purchases (Dhar et al., 2007). Mattila & Wirtz (2008) report that perceived crowding in the store affects IB in a negative way. However, this can be countered by apt employee assistance.
3.6 The Impulse buying urge
24
3.7 Resistance or enactment
The felt urge to engage in IB does not yet constitute the behavior itself. A number of factors can influence whether the consumer will be willing and able to enact or resist the impulse.
3.7.1 Affect
Beatty & Ferrell (1998) did not specify a link between affect and acting on the IB urge, but they found a negative loading nonetheless. Negative affect seemed to reduce a consumer’s tendency to act on the urge. The research of Tice et al. (2001) points to a similar effect: when people are upset (negative affect) they tend to indulge more. They want to make themselves feel better by acting on their impulses. This both confirms the effect found by Beatty & Ferrell and provides a possible explanation. The findings of Verplanken et al. (2005) are comparable, but do not distinguish clearly between the IB urge and IB behavior.
3.7.2 Normative evaluation
25
The research of Luo (2005) suggests that the presence of peers may decrease normative evaluation while the presence of family increases it. Also, special circumstances such as a natural disaster, may change normative evaluation and make IB (temporarily) socially more acceptable (Sneath et al., 2009).
3.7.3 Self-control
Situational variables can influence the success of self-control by the consumer. Mood and normative evaluation may influence whether a consumer is motivated to exert self-control. When he/she is motivated, several resistance strategies can be employed. Baumeister (2002) offers some insights into self-control by proposing that conflicting goals and standards undermine control, failure to keep track of one’s own behavior makes control difficult and self-control depends on the resource that operates like strength or energy and can be depleted. The last aspect is elaborated upon in great detail by Vohs & Faber (2007) in their paper on self-regulatory resource and IB. They have proven through a series of experiments that depletion of this resource predicts whether consumers can resist IB temptations. Ainslee (1975) concludes that delaying rewards causes their effectives to diminish as a highly concave function of time. He also identifies several devices to forestall temptation:
a) Rearrange the reward contingencies so that the earlier alternative is never preferred;
b) Irreversibly constrain future behavior so that an earlier alternative cannot be obtained when it is preferred;
c) Direct attention so that cues about the availability or proximity of specious alternative cannot be obtained.
Rook & Hoch (1985) also came up with a series of resistance strategies:
a) Cost-benefit analysis. Reasoning about monetary constraints and better ways to spend the money after saving up;
b) Distancing strategies. Moving away physically and/or mentally from temptation; c) Small rewards. Making a small purchase to resist a bigger and more costly one;
d) Pre-commitment. E.g. tying future rewards to one’s ability to resist more immediate rewards; e) Rationalizations. The non-objective recoding of in impulse purchase as non-impulsive;
f) Guilt. The urge itself is immediately met with a strong sense of guilt.
26
3.8 Consequences
The previous paragraphs focused on the antecedents leading to the IB impulse and whether or not the consumer will act upon this impulse. If the consumer does act, both short- and long-term consequences can be positive or negative.
3.8.1 Positive
The focus on IB consequences is on the negative aspects, but this is not quite in accordance with reality. Gardner & Rook (1988) found that IB is quite an effective way to break from an undesirable mood state and almost 80% of moods most likely to follow an impulse purchase can be classified as positive. Likely positive moods are feeling pleasure, excitement, relaxed and/or carefree.
3.8.2 Negative
27
3.9 Conclusion
There are different levels of planning when consumers shop for groceries (figure 3.2). On the first level both the product and the brand are planned (e.g. Heinz Ketchup). On the second level the specific product is planned, but no brand has been decided upon (e.g. toothpaste). On the third level, planning becomes vaguer and only the category is planned (e.g. desert). Purchase intention is simply the plan to go to the supermarket with the intention of buying groceries for a couple of days. For example: ‘dinner for tonight’. There is no impulsive behavior here, but the store acts as the trigger for the eventual purchases. Finally there are true impulsive purchases, as defined in paragraph 2.2.3.
Figure 3.2: Planning pyramid
28
4
MODEL AND HYPOTHESES
The entire model is too extensive to address in any single research. Therefore, certain aspects of respectively planning in general (by means of a shopping list), impulse purchasing in general, the impulse buying trait and differences in impulse buying by category will be researched.
4.1 Planning in General
H1: Shopping lists – when used – are vague reminders and only list the type of product. The exact variant is not mentioned, even when it is known.
Block & Morwitz (1999) did some extensive research on shoppings lists and one of their main findings was that they are mainly used as an external memory aid. Usually there is some incentive to remember the product, which can be financial (e.g. coupon), need-based (e.g. frequent use) or schema-based (e.g. fill-in trip). Since they are mostly used in this specific way, it is likely that keywords or vague references will do to fulfill its main function.
H2: Consumers living alone are less likely to use a shopping list.
As reported earlier, shopping lists are mainly used as a memory aid (Block & Morwitz, 1999). As the consumers shops for more household members, more items need to be bought and therefore remembered, increasing the need for a shopping list. Also, the preferred products of other household members need to be kept in mind, which may not always be the same as the buyer’s.
4.2 Impulse purchasing
H3: Consumers regard an impulse purchase as a purchase that has been decided upon in the store and involves little deliberation.
Many definitions views an impulse purchase to be spontaneous and sudden. Rook (1987) describes ‘a sudden state of disequilibrium and a strong urge’. D’Antoni & Shenson (1973) even introduced the term ‘decisional time lapse’ to argue that an impulse purchase differs from a regular buying situation, solely by the brief moment in which the decision to buy is formed. Piron (1991) scanned previous definitions of impulse buying for common elements and found ‘on-the-spot’ to be one of the most frequently recurring.
29
Youn & Faber found in-store environmental factors to be decisive in initiating the impulse purchase, specifically in-store promotions.
H4: Promotions are the most important trigger for impulse purchases.
Even some of the most early research on impulse buying concluded that promotions might be the most significant incentive to make unplanned purchases (Stern, 1962). Some of the most frequently self-reported cues in the research of Youn & Faber (2000) all have to do with promotions: items on sale, free samples, free gifts, coupons and a bargain. Heilman et al. (2002) found a direct relationship between coupons and the dollar value of unplanned purchases.
4.3 The Impulse buying trait
H5: There are little to none feelings of guilt an regret involving impulse purchases during grocery shopping.
Many researchers have assessed the negative consequences of impulse buying in general and specifically guilt and regret. Rook (1987) found that 80% reported to have some kind of problem. However, many of the reasons for guild and regret do not necessarily apply to low involvement products such as most groceries. The financial consequences of an unplanned purchase of a bag of chips are far less severe than those of impulsively purchasing a television or a car. Also, regret with the (quality of) the purchase may be less likely to occur because it involves a small, relatively cheap and usually easily consumable and disposable product.
H6: Shopping list use negatively influences the Impulse Buying Trait.
The impulse buying trait is usually measured by a number of statements involving the degree of impulsivity inherently present in the consumer, specifically during shopping. Structural use of a shopping list implies a certain need for planning with the consumer, which is exactly the opposite of impulsive behavior. Furthermore, some consumers are very complete in their lists and seldom deviate from it. Thus leaving little room for impulsive purchases.
H7: Age is negatively related to the Impulse Buying Trait.
30
It makes sense that consumers will become less impulsive once they mature and gain life experience. They may become more thoughtful about purchases.
H8: The number of times of grocery shopping negatively influences the Impulse Buying Trait.
Kollat & Willet (1967) found that the percentage of unplanned purchases increased when the number of purchased products did. When consumers shop for their groceries more often, naturally they need less items on each trip. Also consumers shopping less often are more likely to have a shopping list to remember all the items and be more goal-orientated in their purchasing behavior, thus leaving little room for impulsive purchases.
H9: The frequency of unplanned purchases positively influences the Impulse Buying Trait.
The question in the survey regarding the amount of unplanned purchases the consumers makes, was included as a control question. It is assumed that people reporting to buy on impulse more often, will score higher on a more indirect measure such as the impulse buying trait, which is derived from the 20-item scale administered later on in the survey.
4.4 Impulse purchasing by category
H10: Hedonic products are more often purchased on impulse than utilitarian products.
Several researchers compared the amount of impulse purchases among many categories (Bellenger et al., 1978; Abratt & Goodey, 1990; Ditmar et al., 1995). A clear pattern emerges in that the products purchased most on impulse are mostly hedonic: meal and snacks, magazines, wine, music and clothing. At the same time, most of the categories in which unplanned buying occurred the least can be classified as more utilitarian: cosmetic, sanitary products, car equipment and kitchen items.
H11: Frequently purchased necessity items are less likely to be bought on impulse.
The more often a product is bought, the more likely a habit is to emerge. Habits are formed by repeating the same behavior over and over again. Products such as milk and bread are bought (almost) every shopping trip and thus the formation of a habit becomes more likely.
31
The conceptual model below summarizes the literature review presented in chapter 3. Four major categories of influencing factors precede the impulse buying urge which is different from the actual behavior. Whether behavior occurs, is dependent on affect, normative evaluation, self-control and the successful employment of resistance strategies. Post-purchase affect can either be positive or negative or a combination of both.
Trip-specific variables
Amount purchased Type of trip Shopping list use
Affect/Mood Time Available Money Available
Shopping party Self-regulatory resource Shopping momentum effect
Perceived crowding
Store Environment
32
5
RESEARCH DESIGN
In the previous chapters, a model for impulse buying based on an extensive literature review has been proposed. Several hypothesis were established as well. In this chapter, the field research design will be clarified. Figure 5.1 provides a brief summary, which will be elaborated upon in the following paragraphs.
Focus groups
(3x 30-45 min.)Survey
(Internet-based, 17 questions)In-store interviews
2 days, 8 products, about 20 respondents each
Figure 5.1: Research Design
5.1 Focus groups
A focus groups is an interview conducted by a trained moderator in a nonstructured and natural manner with a small group of respondents. The main purpose of focus groups is to gain insights by listening to a group of people talking about issues of interest to the research. It is meant to be used a a form of exploratory research (Malthotra, 2007). Three focus group sessions were conducted each with the same basic agenda. Actual focus during the discussion varied slightly, due to the dynamical nature of this form of research. It served mainly as exploratory field research to shed some light on several issues that could be tested further in the survey. The composition of the groups was roughly as follows:
Employees of a bank. Differing lifestyles but most married or living together with or without children. Grocery shopping is focused on providing for a multiple person household;
33
friends or family who are visiting. Two separate sessions were conducted with respondents from this group.
This sample is by no means representative, but the two distinct groups do establish differing viewpoints. Each individual session lasted for about 30-45 minutes and the number of respondents was respectively six, six and five. Thus making up for a total of 17.
The agenda started with some general questions on grocery shopping to put the respondents at ease and familiarize those participating for the first time in a focus group with the workings of it. After that the main subject of impulse buying was discussed with a focus on definition, triggers and post-purchase affect. Please refer to appendix 1 for a complete agenda of the focus group.
5.2 Survey
Surveys are the primary means of obtaining information about consumers’ motives, attitudes and preferences. Survey data can be manipulated in many ways to look at intergroup differences, examine the effects of independent variables such as age or income, or even predict future behavior. A disadvantage is that consumer self-report and there is a gap between what people say and what they actually do (Malhotra, 2007). The latter is especially true in impulse buying.
The complete questionnaire in English and in Dutch can be found in appendix 2. The first six questions are meant to ease customers into the more important questions and to gather some background information on shopping in general. This can be cross-checked with other variables in subsequent analysis.
The seventh question about unplanned purchases was included as a control variable to check whether consumers scoring high on the impulse buying trait (IBT) also regularly make unplanned purchases. The eight is included to assess which trigger(s) is/are the most important and whether promotions are the most important, as found in the literature.
Question nine is about regret and the three questions will be tested for their validity as a scale. Question 9.3 has another goal as well, namely to check whether consumers blame the temptation in the store for their unplanned purchases.
34
The survey is concluded with a few personal characteristics and socio-demographic variables, all of which are included in the conceptual model as well. Gender, age and household situation are influential in shopping behavior in general and impulse buying specifically. Income and education were assessed to jointly make up social status.
5.3 In-store interviews
The in-store interviews are a good way to ask consumers about their buying behavior in the environment in which it occurs directly after it has occurred. One way to do in-store interviews on impulse buying is by asking consumers about their intentions before the trip and assessing the true purchasing after payment. However, this will take considerable time for both interviewer and respondent, yielding less respondents. Also, non-response may be quite high because of the effort required of the customer.
For the purpose of this research, specific products were chosen and the degree of planning for each of those was recorded. Consumers were randomly selected and asked about their purchase right after it had occurred. The chosen products consist of a mix of hedonic and utilitarian and are hypothesized to be either high or low in their degree of impulse purchasing. The products that were chosen are displayed in table 5.1
After a consumer had bought the product and was going on about their shopping, they were asked if they were willing to participate in a very short survey about the product they had just selected. If they were not willing to participate, no further attempts were made. If the response was positive, the consumer was first asked whether this product has been bought before. The answer to this started one of two possible further paths:
• Scenario 1: More often.
o Why do you buy this product regularly?
o Did you already plan to buy this specific variant of the product?
35 • Scenario 2: First time or only occasionally
o Did you plan on buying this product today? If so, why?
o If not, did you plan on buying ‘product category’?
o What made you decide to buy this product?
If this line of question seemed to indicate that a true impulse purchase was involved, some further in-depth questions were asked, focusing mainly on what exactly caused it.
Type of product Degree of impulse purchasing
Hedonic Utilitarian High Low
Wine X X Toothpaste X X Shampoo X X Milk X X Bread X X Apples X X Chips X X Pizza X X
36
6
RESULTS
6.1 Focus groups
6.1.1 Planning in generalThe general shopping behavior varies widely among respondents. Basically, there are three distinct groups that emerge from the focus group sessions:
• Irregular. No fixed times or days. Grocery shopping is done whenever there is time and groceries are needed for meals;
• Every (other) day. This consumer visits the supermarket daily or every other day. This type of shopping is characterized by little planning.
• Fixed days. Most focus group respondents fall into this category of shoppers. They usually have fixed days and times on which they do their grocery shopping. Most of them once or twice on workdays and the most products are purchased on fridays and saturdays.
Most of this selection of consumers makes use of a shopping list. Usually, items outside of meals that are out of stock are noted. As for the meals, the manner of detail varies. Some are very specific and plan their meals in advance, others just note ‘dinner, three times’ and decide in the store. Just like the EFMI reported, shopping lists are used increasingly when the consumers shops less often. For many of the products that are bought regularly, both product and brand are pre-selected. Promotions are influential in initiating a new habit.
6.1.2 Impulse buying triggers
When asked to define an impulse purchase, participants quite agreed during each of the sessions. Independently from each other, they came to the conclusion that reminder purchases are not impulsive purchases. An impulse purchase was being defined as a purchase for which the need is created inside the store. Thus not only is the product unplanned, there was also no latent need.
In the literature chapters of this thesis, four main categories of predictors were identified: Trip-specific variables, the store environment, shopper characteristics and product-Trip-specific variables.
37
the environment are of importance. For example, broad aisles and big, nice-looking displays can enhance impulse buying behavior.
In a specific sense, actions and promotions of all kinds are identified as THE main trigger. This varies from quantity promotions (3=2, 1+1) to plain discounts and also just prominent displays. Also the label ‘New! Try this!’ is a factor. Finally, tastings were named to influence impulse buying and try something new. Interesting is that promotions were also named to relieve the consumer from the decision of what to eat for dinner. Another store environment factor that was named is the smell and presentation of the fresh bakery. This can trigger the purchase of bakery products which were unplanned in advance. For some consumers, the checkout displays are also tempting, while others never buy anything from those. These findings are consistent with those of other research. The EFMI reports that retailers and manufacturers increasingly recognize the importance of the store in purchase decisions. Schuitema (2001) even reported that 80% of buying decisions are made in-store.
Second, the trip-specific variables were named to be of influence. Specifically the shopping party. When shopping with children, a lot of extra products are bought, which the child requests. Not all requests are acknowledged, but some are. Another key factor is time. When shopping is hasty, there is little room for impulse purchases. On Fridays and Saturdays in particular, when the consumer really takes ample time to do the grocery shopping, most of the impulse purchases are made. Whether or not the consumer is hungry at the time of shopping was also named as a factor.
Shopper characteristics were not specifically named. This can easily be explained by the fact that consumers do not like to call themselves impulsive. Often, they don’t even know if they are. The online survey will cover these aspects by use of a buying impulsiveness scale.
Product-specific variables were barely named. The only way in which these come into play is with a tasting and/or display promotion combined with a new product, packaged accordingly with a ‘new’ label. Many consumers are brand loyal and in that sense the product-specific variables are more an indicator of buying habits than impulse purchases which break those habits.
6.1.3 Products
38 6.1.4 The impulse buying process
All consumers were quite agreeing and clear as for the process. An impulse purchase is characterized by very little deliberation and a swift purchase. Little thought is involved and products are placed into the cart/basket in a matter of mere seconds. Only the price is considered briefly. If this is considered to be too high (above a certain personal threshold), one might choose to halt the purchase. Some consumers find it important for the product to be healthy.
6.1.5 Post-purchase affect
Just as the purchase can be described best as involving little deliberation, very few of the respondents evaluated their purchases afterwards. There is no substantial guilt or other form of negative effect. However, it should be noted that people may be inclined to legitimize their behavior and not admit that they regret their purchases. One matter that was specifically named is that some consumers find that they do not use the product bought on impulse before the expiration date. A concern of many store owners is that consumers might feel cheated into buying certain products. For a moment, turnover rises, but afterwards, consumers experience negative affect. An interesting conclusion of these focus group sessions is that negative affect was experienced not very often. Even when this is the case, the respondents blamed themselves and not the store that tempted them. They yielded to temptation and are responsible for their own behavior.
6.2 Survey
6.2.1 Response39 6.2.2 Sample
The average age within the sample is 33 with the youngest being 11 and the oldest 59. The standard deviation is 10. Somewhat more women (55%) than men (42%) are represented. Almost 60% is living together with or without children and 25% is single. The higher educated are overrepresented (71%) but still a significant proportion has a lower education (25%). Additional details on the sample can be found in appendix 5.
6.2.3 Shopping and impulse buying in general
A number of general questions about grocery shopping and impulse buying were asked to be correlated with the scales, but the results in themselves are of importance as well. The shopping is done alone on 60% of occasions (figure 6.1). This is important to note, because the shopping party is an important factor in impulse buying.
Figure 6.1: Who does the shopping?
40
Figure 6.2: Which supermarket?
Consumers were also asked which triggers might tempt them to make an unplanned purchase. Promotion was named by 80% and thereby by far the most influential (figure 6.3). Also, mood and a new product are important influencers. Somewhat surprisingly, a special display was not regarded by many as tempting. The least mentioned trigger was the packaging of the product.
Figure 6.3: Impulse buying triggers
41
Statstics Times Hurry List Unplanned
Mean 2.72 3.85 4.07 4.23
Standard deviation 1.53 1.44 2.20 1.56
Table 6.1: Other questions
6.2.4 Scale validity
Consumers were presented with several likert-scale questions, making up different scales as has been pointed out in the methodology chapter. These will first be tested for their reliability and thereby usability. Common factor analysis was used because it is the most appropriate when the main concern is to identify the underlying dimensions and the common variance is of interest (Malhotra, 2007).
6.2.4.1 Regret scale
Question 9 of the survey made up the regret scale using 3 variables. The KMO and Barlett’s tests revealed values of 0.645 and 0.000. The KMO test value can be classified as mediocre. The eigenvalues revealed that no other factor than the first resulted in a value of greater than 1. Other combinations of 2 of the 3 factors yielded worse results. Thus, the regret scale can unfortunately not be used in further analysis. However, the first question can be correlated with other factors. For additional details on the test results, please refer to appendix 6.
6.2.4.2 Impulse buying scale
The internal reliability of the cognitive and affective aspects of the impulse buying scale – both comprised of 10 items – are very good (respectively 0.837 and 0.877). Those of the scale as a whole is even slightly better (0.889). Details can be found in appendix 6. The factors can be used in subsequent analysis.
6.2.5 Regression analysis
42
engage in frequent unplanned purchasing, are likely to score higher. When regressing the same variables with either just the cognitive or the affective aspect of the IBT, some rather interesting results emerged. In predicting the cognitive aspect, the use of a shopping list is more important (B: -0.234) than when predicting the IBT as a whole. At the same time, it is insignificant in predicting the affective dimension of the IBT. In predicting this, frequency of unplanned purchases is still the most important (B: 0.436), but the number of times of grocery shopping (B: 0.136) and age (B: -0.125) are also significant. Please refer to appendix 7 for additional information on the output of the analysis and the output of the cognitive and affective aspects of the IBT.
6.2.6 Correlation
Correlation analysis yielded a great number of significant correlations. Only those which are significant at the 0.05 level and with a correlation of 0.20 or higher have been included in the table in appendix 8. The regret factors correlating with each other were excluded, as were the correlations between the cognitive and affective aspects of the IBT and with the trait as a whole. Only the most striking results will be discussed here. Age recurs frequently in the correlation analysis. As consumers get older they do their grocery shopping less often and they score lower on the IBT. Furthermore, the frequency of unplanned purchases correlates strongly with IBT. Finally, regret also correlates with the IBT, particularly regret 3 (“The purchase was a result of too much temptation in the store”). This could indicate that consumer who are more impulsive, are more likely to blame the temptation in the store as the cause.
6.2.7 Differences between groups
Several T-test were performed, yielding some interesting results (appendix 9). Women use a shopping list more often than men (4.40 vs. 3.62). Also they are more likely to blame the store on their unplanned purchase (3.20 vs. 2.73).
In terms of household, consumers living alone were compared with those living with others. Consumers living alone do their groceries more often (3.23 vs. 2.41) and are considerably less likely to use a shopping list (3.36 vs. 4.51).
Another comparison was made between high and low education. Consumers with a high education do their shopping more often (2.94 vs. 2.19) and are more likely to be in a hurry (3.98 vs. 3.48).
43
6.3 In-store interviews
The in-store interviews were conducted on two days in the Albert Heijn store in Paterswolde and 8 product categories were surveyed. The degree of planning in each of the categories will be presented in the planning pyramid introduced earlier and accompanied by a brief qualitative description.
44 6.3.2 Apples
45 6.3.4 Pizza
46 6.3.6 Shampoo
47 6.3.8 Wine
6.4 Discussion
6.4.1 Focus groups48 6.4.2 Survey
Grocery shopping is done alone on 60% of occasions. Albert Heijn is by far visited the most as a primary supermarket, whilst Aldi is popular as a secondary store, possibly for fill-in purchases of specific items. A regression was performed using the impulse buying trait (IBT) as the dependent variable and the following independents: The numbers of time of grocery shopping, being in a hurry during shopping, the use of a shopping list, the frequency of unplanned purchases and age. The model as a whole explains about 40% of the variation in IBT.
Shopping list use was proven to be significant in producing IBT with a standardized beta of -0.119. Consumers who use a shopping list more often are thus less likely to score high on the IBT. An explanation of this effect is that consumers using a shopping list are more careful and preplanned purchasers and therefore less impulsive. Also they might tend to stick to their list as much as possible, whilst those without a list have no such guideline. The most important factor was the frequency of unplanned purchases (Beta: 0.588). Consumers more inclined to make unplanned purchases are likely to be more impulsive.
Correlation analysis revealed that as consumers get older they do their grocery shopping less often and they score lower on the IBT.
Test for differences between groups indicated that women use a shopping list more often. This could be because they more often shop for others and need the list as a reminder. Women blame temptation in the store more often for their unplanned purchases. Possibly they feel a greater need to find some form of justification for their unplanned purchases.
Consumers living alone shop more often and are less frequent users of a shopping list. This could be because they do not need to shop for others and know their own wishes. Also, because of their frequent shopping, a list becomes less important. The same pattern emerges for consumers who are not living alone, but usually do the shopping alone. Higher educated people do their shopping more often and are more likely to be in a hurry. One possible explanation is that they are generally busier in live and therefore in a hurry during shopping. Also, they could be shopping more often because they do not have the time to plan a longer trip were purchases for several days or even for a whole week are made.
6.4.3 In-store interviews
