Customer Impulse Purchasing Behavior

Author(s): David T. Kollat and Ronald P. Willett

Source: Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Feb., 1967), pp. 21-31
Published by: American Marketing Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3150160 .
Accessed: 15/10/2014 15:59
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

American Marketing Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Journal of Marketing Research.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 111.68.103.163 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:59:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

DAVIDT. KOLLAT
and RONALDP. WILLETT*
In past studies of impulsebuying, the customerusuallywas ignored. Thisarticle
attemptsto explain customerdifferencesin unplannedpurchasingbehavior.Thus
serious questions are raised about the meaning and significance of impulse
buying.

Customer

Impulse

Purchasing

Impulse purchasing is not confined to any type of

marketing institution, but it probably most frequently
refers to food purchasing decisions. Many studies have
used impulse purchasing to view a segment of consumer
behavior. Studies by du Pont [8] have measured the
incidence of impulse purchasing and have shown how
different kinds of products are affected by it. Other studies have investigated how type of store [7, 20], shelf
location [16], shelf space [9], and display location [14]
affect impulse purchasing. Others [5, 15] purport to
have identified and measured various reasons for impulse purchasing, while another [19] has hypothesized
circumstances that appear to be associated with the
occurrence of the behavior.
Customers make impulse purchases, and it is surprising that most studies did not have the shopper as an
independent variable.' Does impulse purchasing truly
represent an impulsive choice by the shopper, or is the
purchase merely unplanned. Does unplanned purchasing
occur with equal frequency among all customers, or are
certain shoppers more likely to make unplanned purchases? What kinds of customers are most susceptible
to unplanned purchasing?
The objectives of the present study were: (a) to determine the degree to which customers differ in their susceptibility to unplanned purchasing; (b) to discover what
customer characteristics are associated with differential
susceptibility to unplanned purchasing; and (c) to identify some of the precipitating conditions that lead to an
unplanned purchase.

Behavior

The intentions typology consists of the major stages

of planning that presumably exist before the customer
is exposed to instore stimuli.2 The major intentions are:
1. Product and brand-Before entering the store the
shopperknows both the productand brandof product
to be purchased.
2. Product only-Before entering the store the shopper
knows which product she wants, but has not decided
on the brand, e.g., a plan to buy potato chips but not
a particularbrand.
3. Product class only-Before entering the store the
shopperknows the class of productthat she intends to
purchase,but has not decided on the productsin that
class; e.g., intention to buy meat but must decide on
steak or hamburger.
4. Need recognized-Before entering the store the
shopperrecognizesthe existenceof a problemor need,
but has not decided which product class, product
or brandthat she intends to purchase,e.g., a need for
somethingfor dinner.
5. Need not recognized-Before entering the store the
shopper does not recognize the existence of a need,
or the need is latent until she is in the store and has
been exposedto its stimuli.
The basis of the intentions typology is to specify the
customer's planning prior to going to a supermarket. Or,
the various stages indicate the kind and extent of in-store
decision making.
The outcomes typology consists of the major kinds
* DavidT. Kollatis assistantprofessorof businessorganization, the Ohio State University.RonaldP. Willettis associate
professorof marketing,GraduateSchool of Business,Indiana

METHODOLOGY

University.
1There are isolated exceptions to the tendency not to investigate differential customer susceptibility to unplanned purchasing. For these exceptions see [5, 11, 12, 15, 17].
2 Major refers to the presence or absence of a product or
brand decision prior to entering the store. A more sophisticated
typology would be N dimensional to reflect pre-shopping decisions concerning the amount to be purchased, the size and
kind of package or container to be purchased,etc.

Conceptualizationof UnplannedPurchasing
An unplanned purchase results from a comparison of
alternative purchase intentions with actual outcomes.
Accordingly, an intentions typology, an outcomes typology and the categorization that results from a pairing
of the typologies were used to structure the research.
21

Journal of Marketing Research,

Vol. IV (February1967), 21-31

This content downloaded from 111.68.103.163 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:59:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

1967
FEBRUARY
JOURNALOF MARKETING
RESEARCH,

22

Figure 1
MATRIX
AN OPERATIONAL
INTENTIONS-OUTCOMES
Outcomes
Product
N
o purchased;
purchase Brand not
purchase Brand not
purchased

Intentions

Product
and brand
purchased

Product and brand mentioned

Product only mentioned
Product class mentioned
Need recognized
Need not recognized

4
6
8
9

5
7

of behaviorthat could result from shopping;the outcomes are:3

1. product and brand purchased;
2. product and brand not purchased,i.e., no purchase;
3. product purchased, brand not purchased, i.e.,
brandsubstitution;
Conceptuallythere are 15 categoriesthat resultfrom
the pairingof the aboveintentionsand outcomes.Fortunately,this categorizationcan be compressedsince severalcategoriesare not empiricallyidentifiable.
When the conceptualintentions-outcomesmatrix is
modifiedto reflectthe operationalrequirementsof the
study, the resultingmatrix can be collapsed into nine
categories, (Figure 1). Using this intentions-outcomes
matrix,Category9 becomesthe definitionof unplanned
purchasing.
Research Design
The methodologyin this study representsa modification and expansionof the du Pont [8] and West [20]
approaches.The researchplan consistedof two phases:
(a) store interviewing,and (b) home interviewing.
The presentinvestigationis a field study ratherthan
a survey [13]. Therefore,it is more concernedwith a
comprehensiveaccount of the investigatedprocesses
thanwith theirtypicalityin a largeruniverse.
Since asking respondentsto itemize purchaseintentions might affect subsequent shopping behavior, a
"Pretest-Postest,SeparateSamplePostest Only Control
Group"design was used [3]. Samplingfractions were
used to identify those shoppingparties eligible for the
study and to assign the eligible shopping parties to
an experimentalor control group. Shoppersin the experimentalgroupwere askedwhat they plannedto purchase at the time they entered a supermarket,4while
'
Again we are concerned with the major types of outcomes
that occur. Consequently, the observations made in Footnote
2 are applicable. An additional type of outcome would be:
product not purchased;brand purchased. This kind of outcome
was omitted because it infrequentlyoccurs.
' Experimental group respondents were first asked if they
had a shopping list. If shoppers had a list, the interviewer
copied it; and if a brand were not mentioned he asked if the re-

shoppersin the controlgroupwere not questionedabout

purchaseintentions.Shoppersin both groupsconducted
their shopping, and purchases were recorded at the
checkout. A 4 x 4 Latin square design was used to
balanceout systematicvariationin unplannedpurchasing attributableto type of store, time of day, and day
of week. Eight units of a national supermarketchain
were pairedinto four groups,and randomlyassignedto
TreatmentsA throughD. In each cell, the stores were
randomly assigned for either morning or afternoonevening interviewing.Interviewswere done on Friday,
Saturday,Sunday and either Tuesday or Wednesday,
with the occurrenceof Tuesdayor Wednesdayrandomly
determined.A total of 596 interviewswas obtainedin
a four-weekperiod.5
Home interviewingwas conductedto obtain the detailed informationthat could not be gathered during
store interviews. This phase involved 196 follow-up
interviewsof the 596 originalshoppingparties. These
respondentswereinterviewedwithintwo days aftertheir
originalinterview.
Effects of the Store Interview
Since shoppers were systematicallyassigned to experimentaland control groups and only experimental
grouprespondentswere askedto tell purchaseplans,differences in purchasingbehavior between the groups
mightbe attributedprimarilyto the influenceof the entry
interview.The experimentaland control groups were
comparedby usingthreeindicesof purchasingbehavior:
(a) grocerybill; (b) numberof differentproductspurchased;6and (c) mixtureof productspurchased.
The differencesbetweenthe experimentaland control
groupgroceryexpendituresare not significantat the .05
probabilitylevel. The entry interview did not appear
to affect the amountspent duringthe shoppingtrip.
Since the groceryexpenditurecategoriesused in the
study consist of $3 to $5 intervals,the entry interview
could actuallycause an increasein groceryexpenditures
up to $5 and still not appearin the data. To overcome
this problema moresensitivemeasureof transactionsize
was used-number of differentproductspurchased.
spondent had decided on a specific brand. After the interviewer
finished copying the list, she asked the shopper if there were
anything else that she planned to purchase that was not included in the shopping list. If the respondent did not have a
shopping list, the interviewer continued to ask the respondent
for the products and brands that she planned to purchase until
the shopper presumably exhausted her purchase intentions. A
technique was used that minimized the probability that shoppers
would know that their purchaseswould later be recorded.
'The number of experimental and control group interviews
conducted in each store on each interviewing day was proportional to that store's customer traffic on the day relative to the
total traffic of all eight stores during all interviewing days.
SNumber of different products purchased differs from number of products purchased in that it does not reflect multiple
purchases of the same product. For example, if a shopper
purchased two quarts of milk and one loaf of bread the
number of differentproducts purchasedwould be two.

This content downloaded from 111.68.103.163 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:59:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

CUSTOMER
PURCHASING
IMPULSE
BEHAVIOR

The mean numberof productspurchasedby experimental and control group shopperswas 13.1 and 12.9.
This differenceis not significantat the .05 probability
level. Thus, the entryinterviewdid not appearto affect
the numberof differentproductspurchased.
Althoughthe entryinterviewdid not affectthe transaction size, it could have precipitatedan increasein the
incidenceof purchaseof some items and a decreasein
others.A finaltest assessedthe effectsof the entryinterview on the mixture of productspurchased.
Purchasefrequencies'were computedfor 64 product
categories.For each productcategory,the experimental
group purchasefrequencywas comparedwith the control group frequency.The coefficientof correlationbetween the productpurchasefrequenciesof the experimental and control groups is .91. It appearsthat the
entry interviewcould have only slightly distortedthe
mixtureof productsthat customerspurchased.
Thus, asking respondentswhat they plannedto purchase did not affecteitherthe money spent in the store
or the numberof differentproductspurchased,and had
little effect on the mixtureof productspurchased.
CUSTOMER DIFFERENCES IN UNPLANNED
PURCHASING BEHAVIOR
Number of Purchases

The average customer made eight unplannedpurchases while the averagenumberof specificallyplanned
purchaseswas only 2.5. The mean numberof purchases
for any of the other intentions-outcomescategorieswas
less than 1.0. In absolute terms then unplannedpurchasingwas by far the more frequent.
Table 1 gives the dispersionof respondentsfor two
major intentions-outcomescategories. The maximum
numberof unplannedpurchasesmadeby a shopperwas
40, the minimum 0 and the standarddeviation 9.2.
Both the rangesand standarddeviationsof the remaining intentions-outcomescategories are considerably
smaller.It is apparentthat the incidenceof unplanned
purchasingvaries greatly for shoppers, absolutelyand
relatively,from the customervariationin other intentions-outcomescategories.
Percentage of Purchases

The intentions-outcomescategoriescan also be expressed in percentages.The percentagerefers to the

number of purchases in a given intentions-outcomes
category for one respondent divided by the total of
different products purchased by that respondent.
In terms of relative frequency, the average customer
purchased 50.5 percent of the products on an unplanned
basis. In contrast, the mean percentage of specifically
Here, purchase frequency is the number of purchases of
a product divided by the sample size. Division by sample size
is necessary to approximate experimental group-control comparability since the former consisted of 596 respondents and
the latter 196 shoppers.

23

Table 1
DISTRIBUTION
OF RESPONDENTS
BY NUMBER
AND
PROPORTION
OF PURCHASES
IN MAJOR
INTENTIONS-OUTCOMES
CATEGORIESa
Number of
purchases

Intentionsoutcome
planned purchasesb

Unplanned
urchasesc
purchases

0-7

93.8%

66.0%

8-15
16-23
24-31
32-40
Total

5.7
.5
100.0

16.4
10.0
4.7
1.9
100.0

Percent of
Purchases

Intentionsoutcome
planned purchasesb

purchasesc

0-11
12-23
24-35
36-47

36.3%
22.0
17.9
6.4

18.8%
3.2
10.0
9.3

Unplanned

49-59

8.6

14.4

60-71
72-81

2.9
1.0

21. 1
11.5

82-93

94-100
Total

4.9
100.0

8.8

3.0
100.0

a 596 respondents.
b Corresponds to

Category 1 in Figure 1.
c Corresponds to Category 9 in Figure 1.

plannedpurchasesis 25.9 percent,and the highestmean

for any of the remainingcategoriesis only 8.2 percent.
In percentagetermsthe incidenceof unplannedpurchasing is greaterthan the combinationof all other intentions-outcomescategories.
The wide variationin the percentageof unplanned
purchasesis demonstratedby the nearlyequal distribution of shoppersacrossthe percentagecategories(Table
1). Specificallyplanned and other intentions-outcomes
categories display considerably less variation among
shoppers.
Overall,then unplannedpurchasingis the most common intentions-outcomescategory, expressedin either
absoluteor percentageterms.Also, shoppersvarywidely
in the numberand percentageof unplannedpurchases.
Only the proportion of unplanned purchases will
be the dependentvariable. In this manner the effects
of numberof purchasesare nettedout, allowingnumber
of productssoughtto be a possibleexplanatoryvariable.
Two stages of analysisare necessaryfor understanding customerunplannedpurchasingbehavior.The first
stageis to determinewhichvariablesare associatedwith
the occurrenceof differentrates of unplannedpurchasing, but this stage does not explainhow unplannedpurchasing occurs or what it involves. The second stage
attemptsto reconstructsome of the precipitatingconditions that lead to an unplannedpurchase.

This content downloaded from 111.68.103.163 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:59:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

FEBRUARY
1967
JOURNALOF MARKETING
RESEARCH,

24
FINDINGS-CORRELA TES OF IMPULSE
PURCHASING BEHAVIOR

Many variableswere used in an attemptto explain

customerdifferencesin unplannedpurchasingbehavior.
The analysisproducedthree major kinds of variables:
(a) variables that are not related to unplannedpurchasinganddo not affectit; (b) variablesthat are related
to but do not affectunplannedpurchasing;and (c) variables that are relatedto and affect unplannedpurchasing.
Variables Not Associated with Unplanned Purchasing

Figure2 itemizesvariablesthat are statisticallyindependentof customerdifferencesin unplannedpurchasing behavior. Economic and demographicvariablesincome, numberof wage earners,occupation,and education-do not influencethe rate of unplannedpurchasing.
The personalityvariablesused in the studyhave been
used by Brim [6] and were derivedfrom French's[10]
factor analytic review of personalitytests. These personality variables are statistically independent of unplanned purchasing on the basis of chi-square and correlation coefficient tests of significance. The highest

correlationcoefficientis only .09.

Figure2
VARIABLES
WITH
NOT ASSOCIATED
PURCHASING
UNPLANNED
C. General Food Shopping
A. Economic and DemoBehavior Variablesc
graphic Variablesa
1. Income of the house1. Size of shopping party
2. Existence of a food budhold
2. Number of full-time
get
3. Frequency of food budwage earners in the
household
get revision
4. Role of wife in determin3. Occupation of the
household head
ing food budget
5. Use of food coupons
4. Formal education of
6. Use of trading stamps
the household head
7. Recalled exposure to
B. Personality Variablesb
1. Impulsiveness
newspaper advertisements for grocery
2. Dominance
3. Optimism
products
8. Frequency of discussion
4. Self-confidence
about grocery products
5. Self-sufficiency
6. Belief in fate
7. Future time orientation
8. Desire for certainty
9. Belief in the predictability of life
10. Belief in multiple
causation of events
a 596
Respondents. Variables are independent of the percentage of customer unplanned purchases at the .05 level of
probability (chi square).
b 196 Respondents. Variables are independent of the percentage of customer unplanned purchases at the .05 level of
probability (chi-square and correlation coefficients).
e 196 Respondents. Variables are independent of the percentage of customer unplanned purchases at the .05 level of
probability (chi square).

Finally, an arrayof generalfood shoppingvariables

are independentof customerdifferencesin unplanned
purchasing.The presenceof food budgetsand the use of
food couponsand tradingstampsdo not affectcustomer
rates of unplannedpurchasing.
Variables Associated with Unplanned Purchasing

Severalvariablesare related to customerdifferences

in unplannedpurchasingonly because they are related
to another variable, the number of differentproducts
purchased.Whenthe numberof differentproductspurchased is held almost constant,these variablesdo not
influencethe percentageof unplannedpurchases.8Althoughthesevariablesare relatedto customervariations
in unplannedpurchasing,they do not affect the behavior. These variablesare:
A. Demographic variables
1. Number of people living in the household
2. Sex of the shopper
B. Generalfood shoppingbehavior variables:
1. Number of shopping trips made per week
2. Distance traveled to the store
3. Day of week
4. Time of day
5. Size of store

The shopper's sex does not affect unplannedpurchasingbehavior.Womenpurchasea higherpercentage

of productson an unplannedbasis, becausethey usually
make more purchases.When the numberof purchases
is held constant,men and women have the same degree
of susceptibilityto unplannedpurchasing.
Day of week does not affect unplannedpurchasing.
In-store promotional activities are, of course, more
intensiveon Thursday,Friday, and Saturday.Percentages of unplanned purchases are higher on Friday
and Saturday,only because more products are purchased on these days; when the number of products
purchasedis held constant,day of week is not related
to unplannedpurchasing.
Variables Affecting Unplanned Purchasing

Three categoriesof independentvariablesaffect customerunplannedpurchasingand are relatedto it. They

are: (a) transactionsize variables,(b) transactionstructure variablesand (c) characteristicsof the shopping
party.
This study used two measures of transactionsize:
numberof differentproductspurchasedand grocerybill.
Figure 3 depicts the approximate area containing the
8 The analytical strategy of holding transaction size approximately constant as to remove one source of concomitant variation involved the following: (a) total number of different products purchasedwere divided into quartiles;(b) contingencytables
and the resultant chi squares were derived for the relationship
between the independent variables and the percentage of unplanned purchases for each of the four quartiles. Since this
procedure leaves some intracell variation in the number of
different products purchased, transaction size has been controlled rather than left as a continuous variable.

This content downloaded from 111.68.103.163 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:59:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

PURCHASING
BEHAVIOR
CUSTOMER
IMPULSE

25

Figure 3
DIAGRAMOF THERELATIONSHIP
CONFIGURATION
OF THE SCATTER
BETWEEN
THENUMBEROF DIFFERENT
PRODUCTSPURCHASED
AND THE PERCENTAGE
OF UNPLANNED
PURCHASESa
Percent of
unplanned
purchases
100

90 80
70
60
50
40

30
20
10

I
5

10

I
15

I
, 20

I
25

Different
aCoefficient

of correlation

559 coordinatesof number of differentproductspurchased and the percentageof unplannedpurchases.The

relationshipsuggeststhat when the numberof different
productspurchasedis low, the proportionof unplanned
purchases may be either high or low, but when the
number of different products purchased is high, the
percentageof unplannedpurchasesis also high. Generally, the greater the number of different products
purchased,the greaterthe percentageof unplannedpurchases.
Since the percentageof unplannedpurchasesis actually the numberof unplannedpurchasesdividedby the
total numberof differentproductspurchased,Figure 3
showsthe relationshipbetweenthe numberof unplanned
purchases and the number of differentproducts purchased.9
If the numberof differentproductspurchaseddetermined all variationin the number of unplannedpurchases, then the relationshipwould be Line segment 1
purchased,the verticaldistancebetweenthe actualper' In Figure 3 the y axis is equal to a/b, and the x axis is
equal to b where a is the number of unplanned purchases, b
is the number of different products purchased and a/b is the
percentage of unplannedpurchases.
0oIn Line segment 1 of Figure 3, the absolute change in

I
35

I
40

I
45

50

55

products purchased

of the two variables

in Figure 3.1o Given any number of different products

I
30

equal to .44 with n at 559.

centageof unplannedpurchasesandthe percentageindicated by Line segment 1 indicates the variation in

the number of unplanned purchases that is not accounted for by the numberof differentproductspurchased.
In Figure 3 all observationslie in the area formed
by Line segments 1 and 2. As the numberof different
productspurchasedincreases,the vertical distance betweenLine segments1 and2 decreases.Therefore,as the
numberof differentproductspurchasedincreases, the
unaccountedvariationin the numberof unplannedpurchases decreases.
Grocerybill is also a measureof transactionsize. Figure 4 depicts the relationshipbetween unplannedpurchasingandgrocerybills. The percentageof respondents
purchasingover 55 percent of their total purchaseson
an unplannedbasis increases as the grocery bill increases until the bill exceeds $20, then the percentage
declinesslightly.
Transactionstructurerefers to the mixtureof products purchased.Two measuresof transactionstructure
affect customerunplannedpurchasingand are related
the number of unplanned purchases equals the absolute change
in the number of differentproducts purchased;that is, the number of different products purchased accounts for all of the
variation in the number of unplannedpurchases.

This content downloaded from 111.68.103.163 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:59:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

JOURNALOF MARKETING
FEBRUARY
1967
RESEARCH,

26

Figure4
OF UNPLANNEDPURCHASES
BETWEENGROCERYBILLSAND THE PERCENTAGE
RELATIONSHIP
Percent of respondents
purchasing over 55
percent of products
on an unplanned basis
100 -

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Under
$2.00

$2.01
to

$5.01
to

$5.00

$10.00

$10.01
to

$15.01
to

$15.00

$20.00

over
$20.00

Grocery bill

to the behavior: (a) kind of shopping trip and (b) product purchase frequencies.
Kind of shopping trip may measure some of the
things that transaction size measures, but some it does
not. When transaction size is held constant, kind of
shopping trip is still significantly related to the percentage of unplanned purchases. As Figure 5 indicates,
major shopping trips are generally characterized by a
larger percentage of unplanned purchases than are fillin trips.
Additional empirical measures of transaction structure are not available; thus further study of the relationship between unplanned purchasing and transaction
structures requires an indirect approach. One approach
uses the unplanned purchase percentage for each product category as the dependent variable and attempts to
find product characteristics that affect this percentage.
Using some of the insights advanced by Stern [19], four
product characteristics were tested: (a) product purchase
frequencies, (b) price, (c) amount of product advertising,
and (d) ease of product storage.

Only product purchase frequencies are significantly

related to product unplanned purchase rates. The linear
correlation coefficient of the 63 product purchase frequencies and product unplanned purchase rates is -.60.
Products such as milk, bread, eggs, etc., which have a
high frequency of purchase, tend to have a relatively
low unplanned purchase percentage. In contrast, products having a low frequency of purchase like drugs,
toiletries, and dessert items, tend to have a relatively
high unplanned purchase percentage.
Given two customer transactions of the same size,
one would expect an inverse relationship between the
purchase frequencies of the products included in the
transaction and the percentage of unplanned purchases
that comprise the transaction. For example, if the
shopper purchased products having high purchase frequencies, she would be expected to be a relatively low
percentage unplanned purchaser. If she purchased the
same number of products, but the products purchased
are not purchased frequently, she would be expected to
make a higher percentage of unplanned purchases.

This content downloaded from 111.68.103.163 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:59:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

27

BEHAVIOR
PURCHASING
IMPULSE
CUSTOMER

Figure5
PURCHASES
OF UNPLANNED
KINDOF SHOPPINGTRIPAND THEPERCENTAGE
BETWEEN
RELATIONSHIP
Percent of respondents
in each unplanned
purchase percentage
category
40

35
30
Major Trip
25

15
I0

10

5
0

34-55

56-71

72-100

0-33
Percentage

of unplanned purchases

Only two of the shoppingparty characteristicsaffect

customer unplanned purchasing.These characteristics
are: (a) presence of a shoppinglist and (b) numberof
years the shoppingpartyhas been married.
The effect of a shoppinglist on unplannedpurchase
percentagesis uncertain.In fact, the mean percentage
of unplannedpurchasesfor customershavinga shopping
list is the same as for those withouta shoppinglist--51
percent.Further analysisindicates that the effect of a
shoppinglist on unplannedpurchasingdependson the
transactionsize. When more than 15 or 20 products
are purchased,shoppershaving a list make a smaller
percentage of unplanned purchases. However, when
less than 15 or 20 productsare purchased,the shopping
list does not affect the percentageof unplannedpurchases.
Finally, couples marriedless than 10 years have the
lowest rate of unplanned purchasing.Generally, the
percentageof unplannedpurchasingincreasesirregularly
as length of marriageincreases.
CompositeDeterminantsof UnplannedPurchasing
Thus far the effectsof only one independentvariable
on unplannedpurchasinghave been considered.Using
the percentageof unplannedpurchasesmade by customers as the dependent variable, the effects of all

combinationsof four independentvariables are now

examined."
Since three of these four variablesare discreterather
than continuous, the analytical device is analysis of
variance.However,analysisof variancecannot be used
in its most usual manner because the data violate assumptionsof the procedure.12This, however,is not too
debilitatingsince analysisof varianceis not being used
to test the significanceof these variables, as this has
alreadybeen accomplishedusing other statisticaltechniques. Rather, analysisof varianceused here assesses
the differenteffectsof variouscombinationsof variables.
Accordingly,withincell or unexplainedvariationcan be
used as the criterionfor determiningwhich combination of independentvariablesaccountsfor the greatest
" Product purchase frequencies cannot be included in this
analysis since it requires the use of another dependent variable
-product unplanned purchase rates. Number of different products purchased rather than grocery bill will be used as the
measure of transactionsize.
12The various classifications of the four independent variables result in a 48-cell table. When the 586 respondents are
assigned to appropriate cells, cell sizes are neither equal or
proportional. The addition theorem for sum of squares does
not hold in the four variable case when cell sizes are both
unequal and disproportionate. Consequently the common significance test and estimation of components of variance are
not possible [18, p. 379]. This limitation was overcome by
separately calculatingeach within cell sum of squares.

This content downloaded from 111.68.103.163 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:59:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

JOURNALOF MARKETING
FEBRUARY
1967
RESEARCH,

28

portionof the variationin unplannedpurchasing.Therefore, the smallerthe within cell variation,the more the
givenindependentvariablecombinationaccountsfor the
variationin unplannedpurchasing.
Table 2 presentsthe withincell or unexplainedvariation for each possible combinationof the four independent variables. The number of different products
purchased accounts for more variation in unplanned
purchasingthan any other variable.Number of years
marriedappearsto be the second strongestvariablefollowed by the kind of shoppingtrip. The fact that shopping lists do not produce any variationin unplanned
purchasingis consistent with the earlier findings that
shoppinglists affect unplannedpurchasingonly when
more than 15 or 20 productsare purchased.
First and second order combinationsagain demonstratethe relativestrengthof numberof differentproducts purchased.The percentageof accounted-forvariation is increasedfurtheras the other three variablesare
combined with the numberof differentproducts purchased. The least amountof unaccounted-forvariation

Table 2
TO INDEPENDENT
APPLIED
OF VARIANCE
ANALYSIS
RELATED
TO THE
SIGNIFICANTLY
VARIABLES
PURCHASESa
OF UNPLANNED
PERCENTAGE

Independentvariable combinations
Number of different products purchased
Major or fill-in shopping trip
Presence of shopping list
Number of years shopping party has been married
1st order combinations
Number of products purchased; major or fill-in
Number of products purchased; shopping list
Number of products purchased; years married
Major or fill-in; shopping list
Major or fill-in; years married
Shopping list; years married
2nd order combinations
Number of products purchased; major or fill-in;
shopping list
Number of products purchased; major or fill-in;
years married
Number of products purchased; shopping list;
years married
Major or fill-in; shopping list; years married
3rd order combination
Number of products purchased; major or fill-in;
shopping list; years married
Total

in customerunplannedpurchasingresultswhen all four

variables are used together.
FINDINGS--CUSTOMERS'PRE-SHOPPING
PURCHASE SITUATIONS AND
UNPLANNED PURCHASES
The discussion of the relationships between unplannedpurchasingand other variablesis based on the
usual definitionof unplannedpurchasing;a purchaseis
unplannedif the respondentdid not indicate a plan to
purchase it. Thus, all unplanned purchasingis consideredas homogeneousbehavior.
However,as somewriters[19] havepointedout, there
may be several kinds of unplanned purchases. The
classificationused in this studyis an abbreviatedversion
of Alderson's [1] classificationof purchasesituations.
An unplannedpurchase is classified on the basis of
whetherthe productwas purchasedbefore, then further
classifiedaccordingto whetherit representsout-of-stock
or inventoryadditionpurchases,and then accordingto
whether the brand purchasedis the same as the last
brandpurchased.
The classificationconsists of five categoriesof unplannedpurchases.Each of 187 shoppingparties,interviewed in Phase II, was asked to indicatethe appropriate categoryfor earlierunplannedpurchases.

600

Pre-ShoppingNeed and Experience

Table 3 gives an analysisof unplannedpurchasesfor
the purchaser'sexperiencewith productand brand and
his pre-shoppinginventorysituation.Of the unplanned
purchases, 97 percent involved products purchased
before. Of the unplanned purchases representedby
productsthathad been purchasedbefore,nearly64 percent were out-of-stocksame brand purchases,six percent were out-of-stock differentbrand purchases, 23
percentwere inventory-additionsame brand purchases
andfourpercentwereinventory-addition
differentbrand
purchases.
Nearly 86 percentof the unplannedpurchasesrepresent situationsin which both product and brand have
been purchased.Slightly over 10 percent represent a
situationin which the productbut not the brand has
been purchased.

768

COMPETINGEXPLANATIONS FOR

Within cell
variation
mean
squareb
693
841
861
793
627
615
641
772
784
799
605
607

574
861

a
Significantly related means: (a) relationships with chisquare tests of significance equal to or less than .05, or linear
correlation coefficients that are significantly different from zero
at the .05 level of probability and (b) relationships that apparently are not attributable to concomitant variation.
b Mean square is the within cell sum of squares divided by
the appropriate degrees of freedom.

UNPLANNED PURCHASING

Only competingexplanationsof the relationshipswill

be discussed, they are: (a) the exposure to in-store
stimuli hypothesis and (b) the customer-commitment
hypothesis.
Withone exception[2], previousinvestigationsof unplannedpurchasinghave explainedit as exposureto instore stimuli.In fact, unplannedpurchasingseems to be
the same as in-store decisionsor the effects of in-store

This content downloaded from 111.68.103.163 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:59:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

PURCHASING
BEHAVIOR
CUSTOMER
IMPULSE

suggestion.In-storestimuliapparentlycreatenew needs
or remindthe shopperof temporarilyforgottenneeds.
The customer-commitmenthypothesis suggests that
differencesbetweenpurchaseintentionsand actualpurchases are caused by incompletemeasuresof purchase
intentions. Differences exist between measured and
actual purchaseintentionsbecause the shopper is unwilling or unable to spend the time and effort necessaryto itemizeherpurchaseplans.
The customermay be unwillingto itemize her purchase intentionsbecause she does not want to devote
the time and thoughtnecessaryto give the interviewera
comprehensivelist of her purchaseplans. Instead she
gives the intervieweronly an incompleteitemizationof
her purchaseplans.
Several plausible reasons explain why the shopper
may be unableto itemizeher purchaseintentions.First,
the shoppermay know what she will purchasebut may
be unable to express her purchase intentionsbecause
of the nature of the interview. The methodology requiredthe shopper,withouta shoppinglist, to relyon her
memory for purchase intentions. Unaided and nearly
spontaneousrecall is used to measurepurchaseplans.
This procedurealmost guaranteesthat measuredpurchase intentions will deviate somewhat from actual
purchaseplans. Also, the shoppermay know what she
will purchasebut be unable to relate these intentions,
regardlessof the interviewer'sassistance.Withoutexposure to in-store stimuli, the shoppermay be unable to
tell the interviewerwhat she will purchase.
The validity of these hypothesesis assessed by examiningthe degreeto which each accountsfor the findings of the presentstudy and otherinvestigationsof unplanned purchasing.
TransactionSize
Figure 4 indicatedthat the percentageof unplanned
purchasesincreasedas the numberof differentproducts
purchasedincreased.Further,as the numberof different
products purchasedincreased, it accounted for more
variationin the number of unplannedpurchases.
For the in-store stimuli hypothesis to apply, it is
necessaryto assume that the amount of customerexposure to in-store stimuli increases as the number of
differentproductspurchasedincreases.Then the greater
the numberof productspurchased,the greaterthe exposure to in-store stimuli and, hence, the greater the
percentageof unplannedpurchases.
The customer-commitmenthypothesis explains that
as the numberof differentproductsa customerintends
to purchaseincreases,the customerfinds it increasingly
more difficultand time consumingto itemize his purchase intentions.Consequently,as the numberof products purchasedincreases,the differencebetween actual
and measuredpurchaseintentionsalso increases.
If the customer commitment explanation has any
validity, it would seem that measuredpurchaseinten-

29

Table 3
CUSTOMERS'
PRE-SHOPPING
EXPERIENCE
AND
NEEDFORUNPLANNED
PURCHASESa
Composition of unplanned
purchases
Purchased before
Out-of-stock; same brand
Out-of-stock; different brand
Inventory-addition; same
brand
Inventory-addition; different
brand
Not purchased before
Total
a

Numberof
unplanned
purchases

Percent of
unplanned
purchases

813
78
297

63.6%
6.1
23.2

52

4.1

39

3.0

1279

100.0%

187 respondents

tions shouldcorrespondmore closely to actualpurchase

intentions when the customer's time and effort are
minimized.In orderto minimizecustomercommitment,
each shopper was asked to indicate during the store
entryinterviewhow much she plannedto spend. Spending intentionswere then comparedwith actual grocery
expenditures.
There is a strongtendencyfor actualexpendituresto
approximatespending intentions (Table 4). Shoppers
are more likely to spend less than they anticipatedthan
they are to spendmorethan they planned.
Shopping Trip

Figure5 showsthat the percentageof unplannedpurchases was larger during major shopping trips than
duringfill-intrips.The exposurehypothesisjustifiesthis
findingby assertingthatduringfill-intripsthe shopper's
needs are more clearly identified so that she is less
susceptibleto in-store suggestion.During major trips,
however,the shopper'sneeds are not well defined,thus
the shopperis more receptiveto in-storestimuli.
The customer-commitment
hypothesisalso accounts
for the relationship.Fill-in trips typically satisfy relatively urgentneeds. Moreover,productspurchasedduring fill-in trips probably have higher purchase frequencies and a longer purchase history than most
productspurchasedduringmajortrips.Therefore,fill-in
trips probably involve smaller effort and time commitmentsthan major trips, so that measuredpurchase
intentionsdeviate less from actual purchaseintentions.
Frequency of Purchase

The exposure hypothesis gives two reasons for the

inverse relationship between product purchase frequencies and productunplannedpurchaserates. First,
productswith high purchasefrequenciesusually receive
less promotionalemphasisthan other products.Second,
customersmaybe less susceptibleto in-storepromotions
for productswith high purchasefrequencies.

This content downloaded from 111.68.103.163 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:59:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

30

JOURNALOF MARKETING
FEBRUARY
1967
RESEARCH,

Table 4
SPENDINGINTENTIONS
WITH
COMPARED
ACTUALEXPENDITURESa
Grocery billb
Spending
intentions
$ 2.00 or Less
2.01-$5.00
5.01-10.00
10.01-15.00
15.01-20.00
20.01-25.00
25.01-30.00
Over 30.00

Less
than

The
same

More
than

19.3%
32.1
38.3
37.8
32.3
50.0
56.3

76.1%
68.6
54.5
30.0
33.3
47.1
25.0
43.7

23.9%
12.1
13.4
31.7
28.9
20.6
25.0
-

100.0%
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

a 596 respondents
b Shown in percent of respondents.

The customer-commitment
hypothesisuses a simple
to
account
for the relationship
learningtheoryparadigm
[4]. Products having high purchase frequencies also
usuallyhave an extendedpurchasehistory.Thus during
any shoppingtrip, a customeris more likely to purchase
products with higher purchasefrequencies.Thus, frequentlypurchasedproductshave lower unplannedpurchase rates;it is easierfor the shopperto rememberthat
she plansto purchasethem.13
Shopping List
A shoppinglist influencesunplannedpurchasingonly
when more than 15 productsare purchased;shoppers
with a list have lower unplannedrates. The exposure
hypothesisassumesthat a shopperwho expects to purchase a smallnumberof items has clearlydefinedneeds
and is less susceptibleto in-store stimuli. A shopping
list does not affectthis behavior.However,the shopper
with plans to purchase a large number of products,
according to the exposure hypothesis, uses in-store
stimulito identifyshoppingneeds.
According to the customer-commitment
hypothesis,
when few productsare purchased,the time and effort
commitmentsinvolved in itemizingpurchaseplans are
small and are only marginallyreduced by a shopping
list. If a large numberof products are purchased,the
effort and time commitmentsare high, and are greatly
reducedby a shoppinglist.
Years Married
The exposure hypothesis can account for the increasedrate of unplannedpurchasingas years married
increase.First, as years marriedincreaseand the children grow, both the quantityand varietyof their food
consumptionincrease.Pre-planningbecomesmore time
statement is consistent with purchase intentions data.
Frequently purchased products are more likely to be mentioned
as purchase intentions regardless of whether these products are
actually purchased.
'" This

consumingand difficult,so the shoppermay rely more

on in-storestimuli.Also, otherhouseholdmembersmay
accept the housewife'spurchasesso that she can make
more in-store purchase decisions. Finally, older
shoppershave probablyhad more shoppingexperience
and may feel betterqualifiedto evaluatepurchasealternativesin the store.
The customer-commitment
explanationassumesthat
shoppers marriedfor shorter times can give a more
accurate itemization of purchase intentions. Since
younger shoppers usually have smaller incomes, they
may plan grocery expenditures.Younger households
may have greaterhusband-wifeparticipationin determining grocery expenditures,and their purchasesmay
be thoughtout before the shoppingtrip. Since the number and varietyof purchasesusuallyincreasewhen the
size of the household increases, it may be easier for
youngercouplesto give a more completelistingof purchase plans.
Types of Unplanned Purchases

Most unplannedpurchasesrepresent either out-ofstocksamebrandor inventory-addition

samebrandpurchases. In-store stimuli usually remind shoppers of
presentor futureneeds ratherthan evokingnew needs.
Out-of-stock same brand unplanned purchases do
seem consistent with the customer-commitmenthypothesis.That is, most of these purchasesare probably
routine,so the customercould probablyidentifythem as
purchaseintentionsgiven an appropriateresearch design. However, inventory-additionsame brand purchases may have actually been planned, others were
probablyprecipitatedby in-storestimuli.
Unplannedpurchasingcan be describedas a blend
of the hypothesis.Some unplannedpurchasesare probably precipitatedby exposureto in-storestimuli.Others
are not unplannedat all but are caused by the way in
which the behavior is usually measured. These purchases are classified as unplannedbecause measured
purchaseintentionsdeviatefrom actual purchaseplans
because of the customer'sinabilityor unwillingnessto
give the time and thought necessaryto tell the interviewer her purchaseplans. Unfortunately,the data do
not seem to permit a conclusion about these two explanations for customer unplanned purchasing behavior.
REFERENCES
1. Wroe Alderson, Marketing Behavior and Executive Action,

Homewood,Ill.: RichardD. Irwin,Inc., 1957.

2. WilliamApplebaum,"StudyingCustomerBehaviorin Retail Stores,"Journal of Marketing,16 (October 1951),
172-8.
3. Seymour Banks, Experimentationin Marketing, New York:

McGraw-Hill
BookCo., 1965.

4. James A. Bayton, "Motivation, Cognition, Learning-Basic

Factorsin ConsumerBehavior,"Journalof Marketing,22

(January 1958), 282-9.

This content downloaded from 111.68.103.163 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:59:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

IMPULSE
PURCHASING
BEHAVIOR
CUSTOMER

31

5. Brand Switching and Impulse Buying, New York: Pointof-PurchaseAdvertisingInstitute, 1963.

6. Orville Brim, et al., Personality and Decision Processes,
Stanford:Stanford University Press, 1962.
7. Vernon T. Clover, "Relative Importance of Impulse Buying in Retail Stores," Journal of Marketing, 15 (July 1950),
66-70.
8. ConsumerBuying Habits Studies, E. I. du Pont De Nemours
and Company, 1945, 1949, 1954, 1959, 1965.
9. Keith Cox, 'The Responsiveness of Food Sales to Shelf
Space Changes in Supermarkets,"Journal of Marketing Research, 1 (May 1964), 63-7.
10. John W. French, The Description of Personality Measurements in Terms of Rotated Factors, Princeton, N.J.: Educational Testing Service, Princeton University Press, 1953.
11. How People Shop for Food, Market Research Corporation
of America, manuscript.
12. Impulse Buying, Philadelphia: The Curtis Publishing Company Research Department,February 1952.
13. Daniel Katz, "Field Studies,"in Leon Festinger and Daniel

14.
15.
16.
17.

18.
19.
20.

Katz, eds., Research Methods in the Behavioral Sciences,

New York: Holt, Rinehart,and Winston, 1953.
Robert F. Kelly, "An Evaluation of Selected Variables of
End Display Effectiveness,"Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, 1965.
One on the Aisle, New York: Life Marketing Laboratory,
manuscript.
Lawrence W. Patterson, In-Store Traffic Flow, New York:
Point-of-PurchaseAdvertisingInstitute, 1963.
James D. Shaffer, "The Influence of Impulse Buying or Inthe-Store Decisions on Consumers'Food Purchases,"Michigan Agricultural Experimental Station Journal Paper No.
2591.
George W. Snedecor, StatisticalMethods, Ames, Iowa: Iowa
State College Press, 1961.
Hawkins Stern, "The Significance of Impulse Buying Today,"Journal of Marketing, 26 (April 1962), 59-62.
C. John West, "Results of Two Years of Study Into Impulse Buying," Journal of Marketing, 15 (January 1951),
362-3.

Reprints of all articles in this issue are available(as long as supply lasts) at the
followingprices:
Single reprint ..............
Two reprints ..............
Three reprints .............

$ 1.00
1.50
1.80

Four to 99, each ...........

First 100 .................
Additional 100's ...........

.50
40.00
20.00

Covers are available on orders of 100 or more at a surcharge of 15 percent.

Special prices are available for large quantities.
Send your order to:

AMERICAN MARKETINGASSOCIATION
230 NorthMichiganAvenue
Chicago, Illinois60601
Duplication, reprinting, or republication of any portion of the JOURNAL OF
MARKETING RESEARCH is strictly prohibited unless the written consent of
the American Marketing Association is first obtained.

This content downloaded from 111.68.103.163 on Wed, 15 Oct 2014 15:59:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions