All News

Blog & News

Impulse Buying & Why Your Store Layout is Important [Small Business Saturday Success]

Different from regular purchases, impulse buying is the unplanned, unconscious shopping decisions we all splurge on. Understanding the psychology and influences of impulse buying is crucial for business owners, especially during this holiday season. How you have your business set up, and the environment you create, can have a direct effect on your customers’ impulse decisions. In this blog, we will explore the causes of impulse buying and tips to enhance impulse purchases for your business.

What drives a customer to make an impulse buy? There are many influences on impulse purchases.

We have listed below the three most common factors that lead a customer to make an impulse purchase.
  1. Sales

Customers are more willing to buy on a whim when they believe they are taking advantage of a deal. No one wants to buy at full price, so they are happier and more eager to purchase an item with a promotion. Seeing a sign or advertisement for a promotion catches the customer’s eye. Additionally, purchasing an item for less than its initial value creates a sense of accomplishment, even if the product was not a planned purchase.

  1.  Store Environment

The physical store has a huge impact on the customer’s decisions. How do employees interact with the customer? How are products placed within the store? Is the store environment welcoming? Minor factors such as music, decor, and employees can ultimately cause customers to browse longer or spark interest in purchases.

  1. Emotions

Emotions have a huge impact on shopping decisions. Purchasing on a whim can enhance or change moods. How a customer is feeling will determine what decisions they will make.

Now that we understand the key factors of customers’ impulse buying, take a look at these tips to increase impulse buying for your business!
  1. Checkout Line & Register

How and where you place your products has a huge impact on whether customers will purchase them. Point of purchase displays are a great tactic to use in retail stores to increase last-minute purchases. Placing smaller, less expensive products where customers wait in line or at the register will encourage these decisions. Big retail stores provide great examples of this strategy.

  1. Store Pathway

In order to maximize visibility, create a layout in your store for customers to browse through. The layout should be specific and intentional, allowing for customers to see all signs and available products. This will create a flow within your business that will increase the likelihood of a customer’s purchase.

  1. Promotions, Promotions, Promotions!

Use sales and promotions to encourage purchases of specific items (especially where sales are hurting). This will motivate shoppers to really consider the purchase and lead to product loyalty.

  1. Product Samples

No one can resist anything free. When introducing a new product, or reintroducing an old one, using samples or demos is a great way to expose them to customers.

  1. Employee Interaction

How employees interact with customers is an important part of the shopping experience. There is a fine line between too little and too much employee interaction. Ensuring employees know how to read customers is important to create a positive environment. When customers are relaxed and happy, they feel comfortable making impulse decisions. Employees can lead customers to potential impulse products to make these decisions

Impulse purchases are a huge portion of business sales, especially during the holiday season. For business owners, it’s important to understand how and why customers make these decisions. Using the strategies above, we can equip ourselves and our businesses with tools and tactics we need to ultimately reach our goal to maximize sales and drive impulse purchases.