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Impulsive purchasing in grocery shopping: Do the shopping companions matter?

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  • Chen, Xuqi
  • Kassas, Bachir
  • Gao, Zhifeng

Abstract

Impulsive purchasing occurs when consumers succumb to urges to make purchases without careful evaluation. Unlike research examining personal factors as the predictors of impulse purchase behavior, our study incorporates internal and external factors by exploring the interpersonal influences of different types of shopping companions. A survey was conducted with 791 participants who indicated the types of companions they accompany when grocery shopping and reported how each type influences their purchase decisions. Results show that parents and spouses are the most common shopping companions and the most influential on the shoppers' impulse purchase decisions compared to other types of companions (e.g., significant others, colleagues, children, friends, and other shoppers). Additionally, the effect of different shopping companions varies based on the shoppers' internal characteristics and the social distance between the shopper and the shopping companion. Finally, while individual factors (e.g., age, gender, income, education, impulsivity, and emotional susceptibility) significantly affect shoppers’ impulse purchase decisions, the magnitude and direction of the effect of these factors differ significantly based on the type of shopping companion.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Xuqi & Kassas, Bachir & Gao, Zhifeng, 2021. "Impulsive purchasing in grocery shopping: Do the shopping companions matter?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:60:y:2021:i:c:s0969698921000618
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102495
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    Cited by:

    1. Wilken, Robert & Stimmer, Elena & Bürgin, David, 2022. "Should retailers encourage couples to shop together?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. Mimi Tian & Zhixing Li & Qinan Xia & Yu Peng & Tianlong Cao & Tianmei Du & Zeyu Xing, 2022. "Walking in China’s Historical and Cultural Streets: The Factors Affecting Pedestrian Walking Behavior and Walking Experience," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-25, September.
    3. Tobias Benjamin Scholz & Sven Pagel & Jörg Henseler, 2023. "Shopping Companions and Their Diverse Impacts: A Systematic Annotated Bibliography," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    4. Gigliotti, Marina & Rizzi, Francesco, 2023. "Resilient shopping behaviours by change, not by chance: are disruptive events’ effects permanent?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Impulsive purchasing; Impulsivity; Emotional susceptibility; Shopping companions; Social distance; Interpersonal influence;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • Q13 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Markets and Marketing; Cooperatives; Agribusiness

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