JOHN STANLEY ASSOCIATES

Impulse selling …is it a science or a culture?

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Impulse selling …is it a science or a culture?

I often talk about impulse selling in my presentations. It is something that is important to all retailers and a way of increasing the average sale per customer.

In January, Plyush Sharma, a Professor at Curtin University in Western Australia, released a research paper on impulse selling. His research reveals that impulse buying is based on personality traits in the shopper, the biggest impulse shoppers tend to be those that enjoy adventure sports or adrenaline induced activities. Impulse buying increases in western culture when we are shopping with friends. Impulse buying in western culture helps us identify our individuality. In eastern cultures individuality is discouraged and hence impulse selling is less likely to occur.

Research in the UK carried out by the Cooperative supermarket chain found that 1 in 4 shoppers decide what to eat on the day and 1 in 6 never use a shopping list which increases impulse purchases in that country. In most western countries restaurants are selected on impulse.

This piece is based on an article The science of impulsive buying, published by The West Australian on 1/2/16.