Abstract:
The phenomenon of impulsive buying – making purchases on spur of the moment – has interested consumer researchers as well as retailers for over 50 years. Today, impulsive purchasing is an integral part of consumer society, as more time is spent in shopping environments. At the same time. As a Shopping environment is becoming more important in the daily lives of consumers, as consumers make an increasing ratio of their purchases. The purpose of this research is to analyze and understand consumer experiences of impulsive buying in the clothing shopping environment. The research strategy is based on interpretive consumer research, with influences from phenomenology. The main research data was generated by getting questionnaires filled by the consumers about their experiences of purchases made ‘on spur of the moment’. To answer the research question, this research presents an analytical framework that identifies of impulsive buying experience, i.e. shopping environment, product, and consumer. All in all, these elements represent the different levels of the consumer buying experience. The element of shopping environment includes the themes of convenience, delayed gratification, and product variety. For the element product the product presentation, return policies, and trustworthiness. The element consumer consists of themes of price and risk, and the main element of consumer takes in the themes of interests, loyalty, and mood. This research contributes theoretically by increasing understanding of consumer impulsive behavior in general. As retailing environment evolves and new shopping environments are developed, it is important to examine impulsive buying behavior in other than brick-and-mortar contexts. In addition, this research enables consumers to tell about their impulsive buying experiences in their own experiences as a result, it gives an interpretation of the phenomenon without imposing any predefined theoretical models on it.
