Introduction:

Manufacturers and retailers needs information related to the effect of in-store stimuli on the consumer buying behavior inside the store. Manufacturers need this information to make decisions about packaging, displays and to know extent to which these in-store stimuli influence consumer purchasing behavior for their brands. Retailers need such information to determine the efficiency of resources designed to stimulate additional sales and perhaps to differentiate their store from those of competitors. Obtaining such information is the purpose of this study.

Impulse buying or unplanned buying is a purchase decision that is made by the shopper inside the store with no explicit recognition of the product before entering the store (Stern, 1962). There are two explanations of why impulse buying occurs? The first is “exposure to in-store stimuli”. The exposure to in-store stimuli means that theses stimuli act as reminders to shopper of their needs. They help the shopper in making purchase decisions and offer shopper new ways of satisfying needs. The second explanation is the “customer commitment hypothesis” i.e. the unplanned purchases are not actually unplanned at all but it is due to the methodology used to measure it, either the shopper is unable or unwilling to commit time etc. (Kollat & Willett, 1967)

The study will be conducted to find out the effect of different variables on the consumer buying behavior inside the store. The main variables that will be analyzed are group, shopping list and income. Whereas the main focus of this study will be on the unplanned and the brand switching behavior of shopper.

Rational:

Due to the clutter created by the traditional advertising mediums, the manufacturers are always in search of a new medium that can be more efficient. If we take the example of televisions first there were only two channels that had 90% viewership but now there are ninety channels that do not even have 20% viewership. Although In-store advertising is an important medium for advertising but it is not being used efficiently. It may be because of the fact that not much work has been done on this medium for Islamabad. Although stores in Islamabad are using in-store advertisements but the lack of data related to the consumer buying behavior makes it difficult for the manufacturer and retailer to work efficiently. This situation creates a space for this type studies which would provide the information about the shoppers behavior inside the store and the effect of different variable on their behavior.

Purpose of the study:

The purpose of this study will be hypothesis testing because the researcher will trying to find the relationship that exists between group, shopping and income and their effect on the consumer purchase behavior, specifically the unplanned and brand switching behavior. The researcher will also try to find the rate of unplanned and brand switching behavior for certain product categories.

Literature review:

Consumer decision making has been the interest of the researchers in the past. Early economist, led by Nicholas Bernoulli, John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern, about 300 years ago started to examine the basis on the which consumer make their decisions (Richarme, 2007).The work done in the past on the consumer decision making approached the topic from economic perspective, and focused only on the purchase (Loudon and Della Bitta, 1993). The most prevalent model from the previous perspective is ‘Utility Theory’. Utility theory proposes that consumers only make rational decisions and make choices based on the expected outcome of their decisions. Consumers are only concerned with self interest and are viewed as rational decision makers (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2007, Zinkhan, 1992).

According to utility theory the consumer is viewed as a ‘rational economic man’ (Zinkhan1992). Current research suggests many factors influences the consumers and acknowledges a wide range of utilization activities away from purchasing. These utilizing activities includes, need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, the building of purchase intention, the act of purchasing, consumption and finally disposal. This more complete view of consumer behavior has evolved through a number of stages over the past century in light of new research methodologies and typical approaches being adopted.

Before understanding the impulse buying behavior the most important thing is to understand the buying behavior of the consumer because the marketer has to have some knowledge about the buying behavior of the consumer. Consumer behavior helps the marketer and the organizations to improve their marketing strategies accordingly through understanding their buying behavior.

Stern (1962) defines impulse buying as any purchases by shopper which were not planned before entering the store. He further explained that impulse buying and unplanned buying are synonymous. He classified impulse buying into four broad classification i.e. pure, reminder, suggestion, and planned impulse buying. Kollat and Willett (1969) explains that the unplanned purchasing is not confined to any product category i.e. unplanned purchasing has been found in jewelry wearing apparel, furniture shops, grocery products, and in drugs and toiletries. They further explained that the concept of unplanned purchasing is also found in different retail setting such as super markets, department stores, drug stores, gift shops, barber, auto supply and furniture shores.

(Point Of Purchase Advertising Institute [POPAI], 1995) and other researchers have categorized buying behavior into four categories. Specifically planned purchases are those where the shopper had in mind a specific brand and the product category and shopper actually purchased that brand and product category. Generally planned are those where the consumer had decided what product category to buy but do not have any brand in mind. Brand switching behavior of the consumer is where it had a specific brand in mind but it purchases another brand after entering the store.

Whereas unplanned purchases are those purchases which were not planned at all before entering the store.

Now that we know little about impulse buying we should also know that why impulse buying occurs. Kollat and Willett (1969) explains that there is differences of opinion that why impulse buying occurs? But the two explanations are (1) the “exposure to in-store stimuli hypothesis”; and (2) the “customer commitment hypothesis”. According to the exposure hypothesis, exposure to in-store stimuli produces unplanned purchases because (1) shoppers use product assortments and other in-store stimuli to remind them of their shopping needs; that is shoppers make some purchase decisions in the store rather than relying solely on a shopping list; and/or (2) in-store promotional techniques result in shoppers recognizing new ways of satisfying needs”. According to the customer commitment hypothesis the measured purchase intentions and the actual purchase intentions are not same because the shopper may be unwilling or unable to express his purchase intentions. Because the customer is unwilling or unable to commit time therefore they suggests that the actual rate of unplanned purchases are lower than that are measured.