Five impulse buying strategies

In March American marketing specialist Katie Kochelek published an article on the Shop! website. The topic was 5 strategies that can be used to motivate shoppers for impulse buying.

1. The excitement of discovery: US retailer Costco uses the treasure hunt strategy as in-store marketing when they keep changing the place of different products in stores. This makes shoppers walk around the store if they want to find the products they like. During this time they are exposed to new stimuli and put new products in their baskets, too. Shoppers aren’t annoyed by this practice because they like the excitement of discovery.

2. Being afraid that there isn’t any left: another typical characteristic of shoppers is that that they don’t like to miss out on something. Marketing messages such as ‘Buy it now!’ or ‘Until the stock lasts!’ make people buy, so that they don’t have to be afraid that the product they want is already out of stock.

3. Stories of brands and products: today, when companies use online platforms to publish exciting and attractive brand/product contents and stories, it is something extra if in-store selling is also a bit spectacular. Attractive displays, interactive shelves and counters can help create a positive image for a brand in the shopper’s head. Screens where display videos can be watched also motivate customers for buying the given branded product.

4. In-store game rules: grocery stores have their own strategies for making customers buying things that they originally didn’t intend to. For instance once a supermarket doubled the size of shopping trolleys and people started buying 40 percent more products. Products purchased often such as milk and eggs are placed far from the entrance, so that shoppers have to walk quite a distance to get them and they are more likely to buy other things too in the meantime.

5. Time spent together in-store: retailers find creative ways to convince more and more people to enter their stores. For instance the Target chain opened Starbucks cafés inside certain stores. Generous tasting sessions can also attract lots of people – a good example of using this strategy is Costco. //