An impulse purchase is defined as the shopper’s tendency to buy a product or a service on the spur of the moment. Impulse purchases are triggered by emotions or feelings and they are not planned.
Impulse buying is a fairly common habit of customers and stats show that 86% of people have made this type of purchase at least once in their life. Also, 61% of customers aged 18 to 29 make impulse purchases at least once a month.
Apart from the grocery list of things we really need, emotions are the ones that guide us when it comes to shopping. This is why impulse buying is very common.
Retailers and brands can benefit from impulse buying. However, there are only a few products that can trigger people to buy them impulsively. Nobody buys a refrigerator out of impulse. However, people buy impulsively products that they consider small and low budget. Why? Because they think that it won’t affect their budget too much.
If you want to leverage impulse buying, you should consider adding some of these products right next to the checkout:
Another great way to encourage impulse purchases is to present additional or complementary products. For example, when a customer wants to buy a mobile phone, you could also show the smartwatch that can be connected to the phone or some wireless headphones.