Consumer Impulsive Purchase
An overview of the research on impulsive purchase
There are many researches have examined the impulsive purchase. Extensive research on impulsive purchase began in the early 1950s and pursued to study consumers’ purchase decision that are made after consumers enter a retailing environment (Rook 1987). The DuPont Consumer Buying Habits Studies (1948-1965) and studies sponsored by the Point-of-Purchase Advertising Institute (e.g. Patterson 1963) boosted the research of impulsive purchase during this period. Subsequently, numerous studies investigated unplanned buying from the angle of consumer behavior, psychological approach, economic models and social constructionist. This research stream will focus on the development of impulsive purchase’s definition, cause of the phenomenon, and theories on impulsive purchase. The frame of the research stream is shown in Fig 1.
Fig 1. The frame of the research stream
Definition of impulsive purchase
Impulsive purchase is first defined as an “unplanned” purchase by DuPont studies, the difference between a consumer’s total purchase and those were listed as intended purchase before entering a store (Rook 1987). Stern (1962) and Willett (1969) criticized that the definition of unplanned impulsive purchase is too vague and encompasses too many different types of behavior. Stern (1962) categorized impulsive purchase into four different kinds of buying, as shown in table 1.
Table 1. Topology of impulsive purchase (Stern, 1962)
|Classifications |Description |
|Pure impulsive buying |It is most easily to distinguish pure impulsive buying which is truly impulsive |
| |buying. |
|Reminder impulsive buying
There are many researches have examined the impulsive purchase. Extensive research on impulsive purchase began in the early 1950s and pursued to study consumers’ purchase decision that are made after consumers enter a retailing environment (Rook 1987). The DuPont Consumer Buying Habits Studies (1948-1965) and studies sponsored by the Point-of-Purchase Advertising Institute (e.g. Patterson 1963) boosted the research of impulsive purchase during this period. Subsequently, numerous studies investigated unplanned buying from the angle of consumer behavior, psychological approach, economic models and social constructionist. This research stream will focus on the development of impulsive purchase’s definition, cause of the phenomenon, and theories on impulsive purchase. The frame of the research stream is shown in Fig 1.
Fig 1. The frame of the research stream
Definition of impulsive purchase
Impulsive purchase is first defined as an “unplanned” purchase by DuPont studies, the difference between a consumer’s total purchase and those were listed as intended purchase before entering a store (Rook 1987). Stern (1962) and Willett (1969) criticized that the definition of unplanned impulsive purchase is too vague and encompasses too many different types of behavior. Stern (1962) categorized impulsive purchase into four different kinds of buying, as shown in table 1.
Table 1. Topology of impulsive purchase (Stern, 1962)
|Classifications |Description |
|Pure impulsive buying |It is most easily to distinguish pure impulsive buying which is truly impulsive |
| |buying. |
|Reminder impulsive buying