Impulse purchase

Impulse purchase, impulse or stimulus also purchase means a purchase behavior that spontaneously or impulsively, on a sudden incentive seemingly thoughtless, expires. Totally unplanned but a spontaneous purchase is not. " Every purchase is planned, and the impulse purchase. For him, only the planning period has shrunk to a minimum, and sometimes fractions of a second. ". Goods that can easily trigger an impulse purchase, called pulse goods or impulse items. As a counterpart to impulse purchase is regarded as any before entering a business planned purchase (so-called plan purchase) as well as the routine and the habit of buying.

It is typical for spontaneous purchase that he is guided by emotions or instincts ("... looks good, I might give away ..." or " ... I must have. "). These are processed in the body on the limbic system, therefore creating a greatly increased incentive if this is directly addressed, such as the smell of freshly baked or freshly ground coffee. Although prices are " only within the individual price thresholds of the relevant group ," but solve ( real or perceived ) Special Offers charms as well like a limited time offer. A typical example is the success of teleshopping.

Another incentive is created by skillfully arranging suitable goods: Since many people are easy " weak" in sweets, find this in the area of ​​probable queue near the checkout, possible in the immediate field of view and at a comfortable handle height, and in package sizes that should make it easy, " a little something to treat yourself ." Goods that appeal to toddlers are aligned correspondingly lower on the eye level of a child in a stroller and called Quengelware.

The same applies in principle to cigarettes, alcohol in small containers and magazines whose turnover is enhanced by skillful placement. For the latter, the Schuppungsgrad is relevant: The customer should as much as possible to see from the title, the dealer on the other hand wants to offer on the available space as many titles.

Pulse goods are to be found except in supermarkets, especially at gas stations, where the customer resides mostly very short and needs to be encouraged to quickly purchase decision.

The significance for the commercial management psychology impulse buying, ie with the diverse, appealing to all the senses incentive techniques, but also with their economic, legal and ethical limits, the Study of commerce, especially her youngest branch trading psychology is concerned.