Buying Fashion Impulsively: Environmental and Personal Influences

The purpose of this study was to develop an explanatorymodel of impulse buying that addressed antecedents of impulsebuying. For this research, impulse buying was defined as anunplanned, hedonic purchase that follows a sudden urge.
Impulse buying reflects a rapid decision in response to astimulus reflecting little cognitive consideration and disregardfor consequences. Donovan and Roissiter (1982) suggested thata pleasant store environment (S) causes shoppers¡¯ positiveemotional states (O) and this in turn, yields shoppers¡¯approach behaviors (R), that is, a desire to remain in a storeand explore its offerings. Applying this idea to impulse buyingsuggests that there are environmental stimuli in a store thatcould impact shoppers¡¯ impulse buying tendencies and thatindividual shopper characteristics could moderate the influenceof these environmental influences. Therefore, environmentalinfluences on impulse buying and personal characteristics ofimpulse buyers were examined in a modified stimulusorganism-response (S-O-R) framework.
Environmental stimuli (i.e., ambient factor, aesthetic factor,layout factor, excitement factor, promotion factor, salesassociate factor) were predicted to influence shoppers¡¯ moodand subsequently, contribute to impulse purchases. In addition,specific shoppers¡¯ characteristics (i.e., lack of control,extroversion, innovativeness, hedonic consumption tendency,impulse buying tendency) were predicted to moderate therelationship between environmental stimuli and shopper¡¯simpulse purchases.
Data was collected from a convenience sample of 299undergraduates at two Midwestern universities in the UnitedStates. Participants were asked to complete the questionnaireimmediately after they had gone shopping for apparel, shoes,or accessories. Participants answered questions on theirpurchase, perceptions of the store environment, mood, andpersonal characteristics.
Most of the participants were females (93.3%), agedbetween 18 and 23 (92.6%). They were never married (95.8%)and Euro American (83.5%). Participants¡¯ impulse buyingreflected pure impulse buying (28.3%), suggestion impulsebuying (20.3%), reminder impulse buying (34.1%), andnon-impulse buying (17.4%). Approximately 40 percent of the participants classified their purchase as either very impulsive orimpulsive. The prices of the items that participants purchasedranged from $1 to $319 (m=$ 45). Participants purchased anitem of apparel (65%), shoes (21%) or accessories (14%).
Hypothesis 1 predicted that specific store environmentalstimuli are associated with the perceived impulsiveness of apurchase. Only the relationship between store layout andimpulsiveness of purchase was significant (t=3.30, p<.01) witha path coefficient of .20. Hypothesis 2 posited that shopper¡¯smood will be attributed to specific store environmental stimuli.
The ambience, excitement, and sales associate variables hadsignificant relationships with participants¡¯ mood. The pathcoefficient was .27 (t=4.77, p<.01) for the relationship betweenstore ambience and mood, .29 (t=4.83, p<.01) for therelationship between store excitement and mood, and .18(t=3.11, p<.01) for the relationship between sales associate andmood. Hypothesis 3 proposed that the perceived impulsivenessof a purchase is associated with shopper¡¯s mood. There was asignificant relationship (t=4.01, p<.01, path coefficient of .24).
The more positive the reported mood of participants, the morethey perceived their purchases as impulsive. Hypothesis 4predicted that specific participant¡¯ characteristics (i.e., lack ofcontrol, extroversion, innovativeness, hedonic consumptiontendency, and impulse buying tendency) would moderaterelationships between store environmental cues and theperceived impulsiveness of their purchases. A specificcharacteristic of participants, lack of control moderated therelationship between store layout and the perceivedimpulsiveness of their purchases.
Our findings supported the proposed research framework, thestimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model; positive emotionalresponses (O) resulted in approach behaviors (R), an impulsepurchase. As reflected in the model, specific storeenvironmental stimuli (S) such as ambiance, excitement, andsales associates were a significant positive influence onshoppers¡¯ mood during shopping. The findings supported theexistence of a direct relationship between a store environmentalstimulus (S), store layout and a consumer approach behavior(R), impulse buying. Store aesthetics and promotion were notassociated with either participant¡¯s mood or impulse buying. Apersonal characteristic, lack of control moderated therelationship between store layout and impulse buying.
Clearly our findings point to the importance of store layoutwhen shopping for fashion related items. In addition, providingentertainment that enhances the hedonic and the experientialvalue of the store experience can influence young adultconsumers. Since consumers¡¯ mood at the point-of-purchasemay be influenced by interactions with sales associates, sales associate training to enhance the consumer experience shouldnot be neglected.