PROJECT REPORT

ON

“A STUDY ON INFLUENCING IMPULSE BUYING BEHAVIOUR”

At

ADITYA BIRLA FASHION AND RETAIL

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the post graduate diploma in Management (Marketing) at

Xavier Institute of Social Service, Ranchi

By
Name of the student- SHIPRA NARAUNEY
ROLL NO: -- 58
SESSION- ---- 2017-2019
Under the guidance of

Name of the faculty

PROF. TINA MURARKA

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT 1

INTRODUCTION 2

FACTORS EFFECTING IMPLUSE BUYING 3

PROBLEM STATEMENT 3-6

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY 7

RESEARCH METHODLOGY 7

RESEARCH DESIGN 7

DATA ANALYSIS 8-10

FINDINGS 11

SUGGESTIONS 11

CONCLUSIONS 11

REFRENCES 11

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 Abstract

This paper is an attempt to find the variables/factors that effects customer impulse buying behaviour .the
impact of various impulse buying factors like sales and promotions placement of product of product, window
merchandising, effective price strategy etc. on customer impulse buying behaviour has been analysed .A study
is based on the primary data collected from Salem city. Data analysis has been done using SPSS software.
After the thorough analysis of the available data it has been found out that since income of individual is
increase and more and more people are moving towards western culture in dressing sense, in eating etc. so the
purchasing power of the people has really gone up and thus the impulse buying of the commodities is on a
great increment mainly due to price strategies.

Keywords: Impulse buying, buying behaviour, promotions,

Introduction

An impulse purchase or impulse buy is an unplanned decision to buy a product or service, made just
before a purchase. One who tends to make such purchases is referred to as an impulse purchaser or
impulse buyer. Research findings suggest that emotions and feelings play a decisive role in purchasing,
triggered by seeing the product or upon exposure to a well crafted promotional message.
Impulse buying can also extend to so-called "big ticket" items such as automobiles and home appliances.
Automobiles in particular are as much an emotional purchase as a rational one. This in turn leads auto
dealers all over the world to market their products in a rapid-fire, almost carnival-like manner designed
to appeal to emotion over reas

Impulse buying disrupts the normal decision making models in consumers' brains. The logical sequence
of the consumers' actions is replaced with an irrational moment of self gratification. Impulse items
appeal to the emotional side of consumers. Some items bought on impulse are not considered functional
or necessary in the consumers' lives. Preventing impulse buying involves techniques such as setting
budgets before shopping and taking time out before the purchase is made.
An impulse purchase or impulse buy is an unplanned or otherwise spontaneous purchase. One who tends
to make such purchases is referred to as an impulse purchaser or impulse buyer Impulse buying can also
extend to so-called "big ticket items such as automobiles and home appliances. Automobiles in
particular are as much an emotional purchase as a rational one. This in turn leads auto dealers all over
the world to market their products in a rapid-fire, almost carnival-like manner designed to appeal to
emotion over reason.

Factors Affecting Impulse Buying

According to Hausman (2000), most studies before 1987 focused on the definitional issues of impulse
purchasing, and ignored the understanding of ‘why’ consumers act impulsively on a frequent basis. In
the recent past, several researchers have highlighted various factors that can trigger the impulsive
buying behaviour of a consumer.

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 Mentioned that such a behaviour can be influenced by “anything that is going on at that time”;
both ‘psychological and physical’ or ‘internal and external’. Though the words customer and consumer
are used interchangeably, they are not the same.

FACTORS AFFECTING

INTERNAL EXTERNAL

Emotions Demographic

Personality Socioeconomic

Marketer

Others

Internal Factors

The internal cues refer to consumers’ self-feelings, moods, emotional states (Youn and Faber, 2000),
and personality traits (Weinberg and Gottwald, 1982) (see Figure2). Consumers’ emotions and
personality traits have been regarded as important components of internal triggers for impulse buying. It
has been speculated that impulsive buyers are more likely to be responsive to their emotional conditions
(Gardner and Rook, 1993) than non-impulsive buyers (Weinberg and Gottwald, 1982).

Internal Factors

Emotions Personality Traits

Sudden Self-Control

Exciting Stress Reaction

Mesmerizing Absorption

Emotional Conflict

Emotional States

Emotions can be defined as, “a mental state of readiness that arises from cognitive appraisals of events
or thoughts; has a phenomenological tone; is accompanied by physiological processes; is often
expressed physically; and may result in specific actions to affirm or cope with the emotion, depending
on its nature and meaning for the person having it” (Bagozzi et al., 1999:184).
Personality Traits
The strength or intensity (how exciting or inspiring the emotion was), direction or symptom (whether the
emotion was pleasant and amusing or not), and quality or content (how much joy, guilt, or astonishment
did the emotion elevate) of an emotion highly depend on the personality traits of the customer developed
a nine-item scale for measuring the impulsive traits of a consumer, lack of self control, stress reaction,
and absorption, which affect the emotional behaviour, impulsiveness and normative decisions of a
consumer

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 External Factors

Though emotional states and personality traits are important ingredients for impulsive purchase, these
factors in most circumstances are activated or triggered by the external cues. The impulsive behaviour is
viewed to be directly controlled by stimulus and though a large part of individual’s reaction depends on
his or her personality traits a major role is played by the external factors as the initiator of impulse.
Having discussed the internal factors (emotional states and personality traits) that influence the
impulsiveness of a buyer, it is now important to understand the affect of various external factors, that are
not in control of the consumer, on customer impulsivity, to fully answer the ‘why’ of impulse buying
EXTERNAL

DEMOGRAPHICS SOCIOECONOMIC IN-STORE ENVIRONMENT

Gender Culture Ambience

Age Income Design

Life style Social

Others

Demographics

Several researchers and authors have concluded that demographics play a very important role in the
purchasing and consumption decisions of consumers Variables like gender and education level make a
significant difference to consumer impulsiveness and in the number of impulse purchase transactions
completed. As mentioned earlier, consumers consume products not only for its functional benefits, but
also for the symbolic meanings associated with it.
Also say that shoppers under the age of 35 years are more prone to impulse buying compared to those
over 35 years of age. Research on trait impulsiveness shows that younger individuals score higher on
impulsivity compared to older people (Eysenck et al., 1985; Helmers etal., 1995) as they demonstrate
less self-control than adults (Logue and Chavarro, 1992).Impulsiveness is linked to emotional
stimulation; and older individuals display greater command over emotional expression than the younger
adults (Lawton et al., 1992).

Socio-Economic
In the past impulse buying behaviour had been considered socially wrong (Solnick et al., 1980) and
economically superfluous (Rook, 1987), and people tried to suppress their natural impulse instinct in
accordance with social norms (Hausman, 2000). With time the consumption pattern has changed and
people now consume conspicuously to express a sense of self-identity (Dittmar et al., 1996) and make an
impression in the social world (Crawford and Melewar, 2003), making shopping a leisure and lifestyle
activity (Wood, 2005).

Ambient Factors
Music is capable of evoking complex affective and behavioural responses in consumers (Mattila and
Wirtz, 2001) in retail environments (Milliman, 1982; Yalch and Spangenberg, 1990). A musical
composition is composed of three dimensions, physical dimension, emotional tone and preferential
dimension (Bruner, 1990). The consumer is likely to stay longer in an environment where the music is
being played to his preference, compared to, the environment where the music is not up to his/her taste
(Milliman, 1982; Yalch and Spangenberg, 1990). Music also helps the consumer to relieve tension
andgenerate a positive affect (Lam, 2001).

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 IN-STORE ENVIRONMENT

DESIG
AMBIENCE N SOCIAL OTHERS

Music Display Employees Price

Scent Layout Crowd Sales Promotions

Lightin
g Colour

In-store Factors
Scent has been divided along three different (not necessarily independent) dimensions, the affective
quality of the scent, its arousing nature, and its intensity (Spangenberg et al., 1996). Ambient scent is
different from non-ambient scent, as it does not originate from any particular object but is present in the
environment (Mattila and Wirtz, 2001). It affects individuals’ perception about the store and the
products (Gulas and Bloch, 1995).

Design factors
Colour can produce certain autonomic biological reactions, create certain emotional responses and
obtain attention (Bellizzi et al., 1983). Bellizzi et al. (1983:22) defined approach orientation of colour
“as the power of stimulus colour to encourage attention during and after exposure to this stimulus”.
Retailer have used colour to put consumers in the buying mood. The use of warm colours like, red or
yellow, on ackaging, and the use of cool colours, like blue or violet, on the background and walls, draws
customer attention (Bellizzi and Hite, 1992). In previous researches it was found that overall warm
colour help attract consumers and cool colours help generate consumer responses favourable to the
retailers (Lam, 2001), thereby, influencing the consumer behaviour in the store. The store layout
represents the ‘task environment’ (Iyer, 1989:42). The characteristics of the in-store situation (Bloch and
Richins, 1983) may increase interest in differentiated aspects of the environment and thus capture the
consumer’s attention (Underhill, 1999).

Social Factors
The density and behaviour of consumers and employees in a retail environment has a major impact on
consumers’ decision making processes. With an increase in the number of consumers and employees in
an environment the atmosphere gets crowded and reduces pleasure for consumers (Eroglu and Machleit,
1990). In a crowded surrounding individuals will have less control over the environment and the
satisfaction would be less (Hui and Bateson, 1991).

Other Factors
A few other factors like price and in-store sales promotions, act as major initiators of impulse purchases.
Goff (1995:124) proposed that “prices can make even the smartest of the executives to buy a product at
an impulse” and it even makes it easier for the children to buy the small toys (pick-up items) at the
billing counters just because it cheap (Kellachan, 2002).Boorstin (1973:113) describes the basic
principle upon which Woolworth’s built a successful business: “If an attractive item was offered at a low
enough price, the customer would buy it if he needed it—but if the price was low enough and in
convenient coin, perhaps the customer would buy it anyway on the spur of the moment, whether or not
he ‘needed’ it”.

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 Statement of the problem
Sporteam license merchandised was deemed a product that was likely to be purchased impulsively base
on the descriptions provided in various researches. As such products characteristics were not examined
in this study. Instead this study focused on consumer a characteristic that is shopping enjoyment band
spot identification which measured consumer. Identification with the product to be purchased and
situational factors money and time availability during the shopping encounter. The dependent variables
in this study were impulse buying behaviour and the actual amount spent on spot licensed merchandised.

Objectives of the study

The over all objectives of the present study are to analysis the impulse buying behaviour with special
reference to Salem city. The following specific objectives are;
To find out the demographic factor of respondents.
To find out the factors influencing impulse buying products.
To analyse the impulse buying behaviour of customer.
To know the customer attitude towards impulse buying.

Research Methodology
This chapter deals with description of methodology and the steps undertaken for collection and
organization of data and presenting the findings of investigation. The methodology of research indicates
the general pattern of organizing the procedure for gathering valid and reliable data for the purpose of
investigation (Kothori 1996).The methodology of the study includes the description of research design,
population, sample size, sampling technique, development and description of tool, data collection
procedure and method of analysis.

Research Design
Research design refers to the researchers over plan for obtaining answers to the research questions and
the strategies that the researchers adapt to develops information that as adequate, accurate, objective and
interpretable. Research design is a blue print study that maximizes control over factors that could
interfere with the study-desired outcome.

Limitation of the study

The study is based on the information of the representation sample group selected from total population.
So it will cover the whole customer in Salem city .The analysis was based on the collection with the help
of questioners and this might has its own limitation. The period of study restricted to want of arability of
data. The study is focused on only customers based. The area of the study is not applicable to other then
Salem city. The researcher is focused only limited impulse buying product. The data collected only from
customer attitude.

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 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Gender wise Classification
Particular No Of Respondents Percentage

Male 51 42.5%

Female 69 57.5%

Total 120 100%

Source: primary data

From the above table was clear that out of 120 respondents taken for this study, 57.5% of the
respondents were female and remaining 42.5% of the respondents were male.
Gender wise Classification
60
%
percentage
0% 20% 40%

57.5%
42.5%

Male Female Gender

Factor influencing wise Classification

Particular No Of Respondents Percentage

Low price 21 17%

Discount 12 10%
Attractive Packaging 21 17%
Advertisement 15 13%
Offer 15 13%
Substitute 3 3%
Availability 15 12%
Quantity 3 3%
Popularity 15 12%
Total 120 100%
Source: primary data

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 From the above table it was identified that out of 120 respondents taken for this study, 17% of the
respondents were influencing on low price, 17% of the respondents were influencing on attractive
packaging, 13% of the respondents were influencing on advertisement, 13% of the respondents were
influencing on offer, 12% of the respondents were influencing on availability in near, 12% of the
respondents were influencing on popularity, 10% of the respondents were influencing on discount, 3%
of the respondents were influencing on quantity, and remaining 3% of the respondents were influencing
on substitute.

Factor influencing wise Classification

0. 18 17% 17%

0. 16

0. 14
13% 13% 12% 12%
0. 12
perc entag e

0. 1 10%
0. 08

0. 06

0. 04
3% 3%
0. 02

0
ctive Advertisement

price count Offer titute ntity rity

S Availability P
Dis ackaging
Low P
ubs Qua opula

Attra
Infulencing factors

Shopping is a way I like to spend any leisure time

Particular No Of Respondents Percentage

Strongly Agree 27 22%

Agree 54 45%
Moderate 24 20%
Disagree 12 10%
Strongly Disagree 3 3%
Total 120 100%
Source: primary data
From the above table it was identified that out of 120 respondents taken for this study, 45% of the
respondents were agree to spend their leisure time with shopping. At the same time 22% of the
respondents were strongly agree, 20% of the respondents were moderately agree, 10% of the
respondents were disagree and remaining 3% of the respondents were strongly disagree.

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 Shopping is a way I like to spend any leisure time

0.5 45%

0.4
percenta

0.3 22%
ge

0.1 20%
0.2
10%
3%
0
Strongly Agree Agree Moderate Disagree Strongly
Disagree
satisfaction level

Shopping is entertaining

Particular No Of Respondents Percentage

Strongly Agree 21 18%
Agree 36 30%
Moderate 39 32%
Disagree 18 15%
Strongly Disagree 6 5%
Total 120 100%
Source: primary data
From the above table it was identified that out of 120 respondents taken for this study, 32% of the
respondents were moderately agree that shopping is an entertainment. At the same time 30% of
the respondents were agree, 18% of the respondents were strongly agree, 15% of the respondents
were disagree, and remaining 5% of the respondents were strongly disagree.

Shopping is entertaining
32%
0.35 30%
0.3
0.25
18%
percentage

0.2 15%
0.15
0.1 5%
0.05
0
Strongly Agree Moderate Disagree Strongly
Agree Disagree
satisfaction level

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 Findings
1. It was found from the analysis that maximum 17% of the respondents’ was influencing by low
price, and the minimum 3% of the respondents’ were influencing by quantity.
2. It was found from the analysis that maximum 45% of the respondents’ agree were I like to spend
any leisure time at the same time minimum 8% of the respondents’ were strongly agree.
3. It was found from the analysis that maximum 32% of the respondents’ moderately agree with
shopping is entertaining at the same time minimum 5% of the respondents’ were strongly
disagree.

Suggestion
1. Three general personality factors, lack of control, stress reaction, and absorption, were found to
relate to impulse buying tendencies. The lack of control dimension demonstrates that a general
character of impulse may lead to acting impulsively in a specific consumption context.

The association with stress reaction suggests that impulse buying may serve a mood regulating
function for some people. Finally, the relationship between absorption and impulse buying
suggests that some people may be particularly susceptible to environmental stimuli that can
contribute to their impulsive behavior.

Conclusion
If impulse buying is rational one we have accept.
Where impulse buying is are irrational it is a dangers.
References
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Bilincinin Etkileri” Ege Akademik Bakış, 9 (2): 435-461
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Öğrencilerinin Çevreye Duyarlı Ürünleri Kullanma Eğilimlerini Belirlemeye YönelikBir
Araştırma” 47-49
3. Babaoğul, Muberra, Bener, Ozgun. 2008. “Surdurulebilir Tüketim Davranısı ve Çevre Bilinci
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