Impulse buying still prevails in grocery stores

Two university professors have found that consumers are shopping much as they did 30 years ago: Whether shoppers have lists or not, impulse buying represents the majority of purchases.

J . Jeffrey Inman of the UW-Madison A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Research and Russell S. Winer of the University of California at Berkeley conducted a major research project on consumer purchasing behavior and the relationship of in-store promotions and consumer choice. They analyzed how consumers decide what to buy, and the role of advance planning versus impulse decisions.

After analyzing 30,000 purchases of 4,200 consumers in 14 cities, the team found that unplanned purchases account for 68 percent of items bought during major shopping trips and 54 percent of smaller trips. Shoppers are heavily influenced by in-store displays, especially at the end of aisles, and at the checkout counter, the research found.

Their findings, recently reported in The Wall Street Journal, also suggest ways for marketers and retailers to influence customers at the point of purchase.

For a copy of the study, contact Professor J. Jeffrey Inman, A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Research, UW–Madison School of Business, (608) 263-6437.