Fancy is getting a lot of revenue traction into the retail sector.


Impulse buying refers to the unplanned decision taken by a consumer to buy a service ora product. Psychological researches reveal that emotions play a crucial role inmotivating the consumers in making the buying decisions. People are emotional by nature. Emotional thoughts stimulate shoppers 3000 times much faster than rational thoughts. Feelings play a vital role in almost all the buying decisions. To dominate the market, retailers are now increasingly focusing on manipulating the customer emotions and making sales happen.


Much often laughed off as a guilty pleasure, impulse buying is getting all the retail attention. Retailers tend to manipulate on the customer's impulse related to the basic instinct of instant gratification. A person may generally drop in as a shopper with no specific intention of buying. However, the way merchandise is displayed in the window, and in-store may trigger the buyer tobuy what, may otherwise not be considered. Attractive display of clothing in beautiful mannequins will create a fancy in the minds of the customer. This fancy lets the customer to buy high end things on a retail store.


Some facts about impulse buying:

  • Impulse buying is made not because it is necessary, but to lift the shopper's mood.
  • More than 88% of the impulse shopping is made because the merchandise is on sale.
  • On an average impulse buying is made on 40% of the store visits.
  • 25% of the impulse buying consists of clothing items.
  • In case of unplanned and sudden shopping trips, impulse buying goes up by 23%.

Impulse buying disrupts the normal decision making process of the consumer. The logical sequence of the consumers' thinking process is replaced with an irrational urge for self gratification. Displaying merchandise in an attractive way appeals to the emotional side of the shopper. This stimulates the shopper's impulse,ultimately motivating him to make the buying decision. Much of the marketing is designed to make use of the customer's impulse buying nature. Retailers use every possible psychological technique to steer the customer to make the decision.

Drivers of impulse selling:

The process of impulse selling is initiated through tangible elements. Mediums like logos, websites, etc bring the emotions of the consumers into surface. Using appealing images, colors, objects, or phrases will inspire a favorable reaction in the minds of the consumers; favorable to the retailers.


Colors play a vital role in encouraging impulse buying. Certain colors arouse particular feelings in the shoppers' minds. Green induces relaxation, red grabs attention, blue brings forth a feeling of peace, and brown creates a wistful mood. Communications through stories can also be persuasive, and promote deeper emotional benefits related to the product.


Simultaneously, retailers also need to focus on the strategies adopted for stimulating the consumer's impulse. Appropriate tools need to be used, and delivery of message should be successful using a variety of elements. Appropriate strategies need to be adopted to grab the customer's attention, initiate interest in them, and evoke an emotional response. Successful delivery of message also depends on the consumer's perception about the retailer's brand, and also a variety of other elements such as; the emotional and cognitive responses from the way in which the communication is perceived.


Shoppers today are increasingly looking for branding and in-store arrangement of the merchandise as clues based on which they make a decision whether or not to buy. A 2012 Shopper engagement study states that 76% of the shoppers take the buying decision based on attractive packaging and appearance. Retailers also use the in-store arrangement in such a way that creates an impulse to buy. For instance, $200 apparel will be placed very next to$1000 apparel. As $1000 apparel is comparatively expensive over$200 apparel, the customer would prefer to go in for the cheaper choice. Merchandise is also displayed near the check out points where the customer needs to wait in a queue. This is also to grab the customer's attention towards the product, and motivate them to buy.

Through association strategies, the retailer may also create positive emotions connected to the product. The retailer may project a likable image which will be the result of using his product or service, thus creating a positive emotion in the customer's mind regarding the product. Sales staffs are also taught to talk to the customer about other people, preferably celebrities known to the customer who are using the same product.

A major factor of creating an impulse for buying is the limited time offers, special offer and limited stock schemes. They work well as they motivate the customer to buy on an impulse rather than a logical one. It makes the customer to think that if they do not buy right now, it is never. This creates enough urgency to make the buying decision.


Inducing impulse buying strategies can certainly bring about a significant impact in the business. Innate human process of reacting is well planned and manipulated through successful marketing strategies.


References:


1.      Dailymail.co.uk

2.      Healthguidance.org

3.      Femalefriendly.wordpress.com