Impulsive buying is a common buying phenomenon and has received a lot of attention from customer psychology researchers in the world. Businesses always monitor and take advantage of this behavior to boost sales. In this article, we provide 5 tactics to trigger impulse buying in your retail store.

Overview about impulse buying

Impulse buying refers to the tendency of customers to purchase goods and services without prior planning. When a customer makes such a purchase decision, it is often driven by emotions and feelings. 

This form of buying is often not categorized for a specific product category but can be found in many products like clothing, chocolates, mobile phones, or in valuable items like cars, jewelry, and more. This is an unplanned purchase, based solely on irrational thinking. Today’s marketers often try to exploit this customer behavior to drive sales. For example, many mobile phone manufacturers tend to exploit this buying behavior in customers by introducing mobile phone add-on products such as fitness bands, watches, etc.

5 tactics to trigger impulse buying in your retail store

Create a guide for customers to follow

To encourage customers to make impulse buying, businesses need to guide customers along a predetermined path through your store. You can do this by drawing specific store layouts and interior design principles, which can lead customers through your high-demand items and plan for traffic. In addition, designing the right shopping and entertainment processes for customers is also a must.

Showcase products around high-demand items

Another tactic you can use is to display products that need to promote sales near products that are in high demand. When conducting such a display, your retailer should choose lower priced products to complement the anchor products on demand. For example, a grocery store might display waffles in the front of the ice cream freezer.

Anticipate your customers’ needs

Retail stores also need to anticipate the customers’ needs to succeed in impulse buying campaigns. You need to understand that your customers are the ones who shop for hours and go from store to store. Try to think about whether your customers are shopping for home decor to capture a particular feeling in their space.

Offer product samples or demos

To convince shoppers to buy anything they didn’t plan on, retailers may offer trial samples or demos of the product for customers to try. As an example, Sephora makeup retailers always offer customers free samples in the store, people who come to buy foundation will probably love the lipstick they tried.

Display seasonal items

A very effective tactic for triggering impulse buying in your retail store is to display seasonal or festive products. For example, when you display Christmas decoration products such as scented candles, hand soap and toiletries, they will attract customers to make an unexpected purchase. Seasonal items are a great way to help your customers make purchasing and paying decisions successfully. Choosing to display seasonal items also makes it easier for retailers to change their point-of-purchase displays and is also a way to promote the store.

Conclusion

Implementing good and sensible tactics will help your retail store succeed in encouraging impulse buying, thereby increasing store sales. 

Contact us for assistance in managing programs to launch such campaigns.