Title: Impulse Buying
Author: Mariam Majeed Khan
Literature Review:
1.To Buy or Not to Buy? Female Ritual in Home Shopping Parties
Gainer and Fischer (1991) examine home shopping parties to understand why women attend and make purchases. Based on participant observation, they argue that these events are not simply about buying products but are mainly social gatherings. The authors show that purchasing at these parties is largely social rather than economic. Women often buy products out of social obligation and support for the hostess rather than actual need. These parties function as a kind of “gift” or “moral” economy where maintaining relationships is more important than the product itself. They also function as female-centred rituals that strengthen social bonds and traditional domestic roles. Overall, home shopping parties should be understood as social and cultural rituals that supports relationships and feminine identity, rather than purely rational consumer decisions (Gainer & Fischer, 1991).
2.Trait and Emotion in Cruise Customers’ Impulsive Buying
Ahn and Kwon (2022) utilized Trait Activation Theory to examine how personal traits and emotions lead to impulsive purchases among cruise passengers. By analysing data from 143 travellers, it was found that an individual’s impulsive buying tendency significantly triggers both positive and negative emotions, which subsequently lead to unplanned buying behaviour. Results indicate that emotions act as critical mediators in this process. Notably, in the cruise environment, negative affect exerts a stronger influence on impulsive behaviour than positive affect. This suggests that the restricted, high stimulus nature of a cruise ship uniquely shapes how personality traits translate into spending.
3. Impulse Buying Behaviour in the Toy Market
Soni et al. (2025) examined the factors influencing impulse buying of toys among children aged 2–15 years and their parents in Indore city. A structured questionnaire and a sample of 350 respondents was used along with reliability testing and multiple regression analysis to evaluate the impact of various marketing variables. The results showed that discounted prices, buy-two-get-one-free offers, and sales personnel reminders did not significantly influence impulse buying. However, window and in-store displays, festival seasons, point of purchase (POP) displays, and social media/online reviews had a significant positive impact. POP displays and social media marketing were the most influential among these. Overall, visual merchandising and digital marketing strategies are more effective than price-based promotions in encouraging impulse purchases in the children’s toy market (Soni et al., 2025).
4.Social Medium Influence on Indian Consumers’ Impulse Buying
Sharma et al. (2018) investigated the impact of Social Media Communities (SMC) and Social Media Advertisements (SMA) on the impulse purchase intention (IPI) of consumers in India. The researchers found that two main things lead to these impulse purchases: social media groups (where people share opinions) and paid advertisements. By surveying 250 people, they found that most users spend 4 to 5 hours a day on social media mostly Facebook and LinkedIn. The results show that when people see ads or positive reviews from others online, they are much more likely to buy something they hadn’t planned to.
5.Social Media and Impulse Buying
Kumar and Kumar (2025) investigated how social media content shapes consumer behaviour specifically through the lenses of social comparison and materialistic values, which in turn encourage impulse buying. Using survey data from 250 respondents and analysing it through confirmatory factor analysis, the authors find that higher exposure to social media increases social comparison and materialism, both of which significantly drive impulsive purchasing. They highlight the powerful role of social media in shaping consumption patterns and suggest the need for responsible marketing and greater consumer awareness to mitigate negative behavioural outcomes linked with social media usage.
6.FOMO and Impulse Purchase
The conceptual study by You (2025) explores how social media sharing increases the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), which in turn drives consumers toward impulse purchases. The research proposes that sharing content containing scarcity cues or social proof (validation from other’s actions) significantly amplifies FOMO, particularly when the products are luxury or publicly visible items like fashion, travel and others. Furthermore, the framework suggests that FOMO is more effectively triggered when the source is a friend or digital influencer rather than a traditional advertiser, and when the information is presented on video or image centric platforms like Instagram or TikTok. It was found that consumers from collectivist cultures like Japan, China are more susceptible to these triggers due to a stronger emphasis on social belonging. Overall, the researcher concludes by advising marketers to elicit FOMO by tailoring content cues, sources, and platforms to specific target audiences.
7.Neuro-Marketing and Digital Impulse Buying
Jain and Mishra (2025) explore the “Dopamine Economy,” where digital platforms employ neuro-marketing tactics such as scarcity cues, countdown timers, personalized ads and “frictionless” 1-click ordering to trigger anticipatory dopamine releases that drive impulse buying. By analysing data from 312 consumers and industry experts, they reveals a strong correlation (r=0.62) between these neurological triggers and unplanned purchases, particularly on platforms like Amazon, TikTok, and Instagram. Ultimately, the authors argue that while these strategies successfully maximize engagement and revenue, they raise significant ethical concerns regarding behavioural addiction, necessitating a shift toward “ethical innovation” and stronger regulatory safeguards to protect consumer well-being.
8.Quick Commerce and Impulse Buying
Quick commerce apps like Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy Instamart influence impulsive buying behaviour among urban consumers. Using survey data from 59 respondents, the relationship between impulsive purchases, post-purchase emotions (such as regret, guilt, and dissatisfaction), price premiums, and customer loyalty was explored. The findings reveal that convenience, speed, and promotional offers encourage impulsive buying, with many users admitting to occasional regret after purchases. However, despite these negative emotions, most users continue using the apps, suggesting that convenience outweighs post-purchase regret. Overall, quick commerce promotes impulsive consumption while maintaining customer loyalty (Goel et al., 2025).
9.Nostalgic Marketing and Gen Z Buying
In Digital Nostalgia Marketing: How Past-Centric Ads Affect Gen Z Consumption, Jain, Mishra, and Kothari (2025) examine how digital advertisements that evoke nostalgia influence the emotional engagement, brand trust, and purchasing intentions of Generation Z consumers in urban India. Using a mixed-method approach that combined content analysis of nostalgic digital ads with a survey of over 380 Gen Z respondents, they demonstrated that nostalgia significantly increases brand affinity and impulsive buying behaviours. Key factors such as the intensity of nostalgic cues, cultural familiarity, and authentic brand storytelling were found to shape how Gen Z emotionally and cognitively responds to past-centric marketing, offering practical insights for brands aiming to craft emotionally resonant digital campaigns (Jain et al., 2025).
10.Social Commerce and Impulse Purchases
Reddy, Chaudhary, Raja, and Noordeen (2025) examines how specific social commerce features—such as social interaction tools, user-generated content, recommendation systems, and trust cues affect impulse purchase intentions among consumers in emerging markets like India, Brazil, and Indonesia. Using survey data and structural equation modelling (SEM), the authors find that interactive social elements and user-generated content significantly enhance emotional engagement and trust, which in turn increase consumers’ spontaneous purchasing behavior. The research applies the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework and highlights that social engagement and enjoyment serve as key mediators in driving impulse buying in digitally connected but culturally diverse contexts, offering theoretical insights and practical implications for marketers targeting emerging economies.
11.Conclusion:
Impulse buying has evolved from being viewed as a socially driven behavior to one increasingly shaped by digital technologies. Early research shows that purchasing decisions in home shopping parties are rooted in social bonding and relational obligations rather than purely rational evaluation. This establishes impulse buying as a socially embedded act. Shifting to internal factors, personality traits and emotions significantly trigger impulsive purchases, particularly in high-stimulus environments, highlighting the role of emotional states in unplanned buying.
Environmental cues further strengthen this behavior. It was demonstrated that visual merchandising, festive displays, and social media promotions influence impulse buying more strongly than price discounts. With the rise of digital platforms, social media communities and advertisements increase impulse purchase intentions among Indian consumers. Expanding on this, it was found that social media intensifies social comparison and materialism, both of which drive impulsive consumption. Similarly, studies on FOMO explain how scarcity cues and influencer content create urgency, increasing spontaneous purchases.
In digital contexts, impulse buying becomes strategically engineered. In “dopamine economy,” where countdown timers, personalized ads, and one-click ordering stimulate neurological responses that encourage impulse buying. Similar effects were found in quick commerce apps, where convenience and speed promote impulse purchases despite post-purchase regret. Emotional branding also plays a role, were nostalgia-based advertising enhances impulse buying among Gen Z. To conclude, social commerce features such as user-generated content and trust cues drive impulse buying in emerging markets by increasing engagement and emotional involvement.
Overall, impulse buying progresses from social and emotional influences to technologically driven and platform-engineered consumption, reflecting its transformation in the digital age.
12.References:
Ahn, J., & Kwon, J. (2022). The role of trait and emotion in cruise customers’ impulsive buying behaviour: An empirical study. Journal of Strategic Marketing, Vol 30, No 3, pp 320–333.
Gainer, B., & Fischer, E. (1991). To buy or not to buy? That is not the question: Female ritual in home shopping parties. Advances in Consumer Research, Vol 18, pp 597–602.
Goel, R. K., Aggarwal, R., Gupta, S., & Mehra, P. (2025). Tap, order, regret? Understanding impulsive purchases on quick commerce apps. Advances in Consumer Research, Vol 2, No 6, pp 1366–1371.
Jain, T., & Mishra, V. K. (2025). The dopamine economy: How neuro-marketing shapes impulse buying in digital spaces. Advances in Consumer Research, Vol 2, No 4, pp 786–792.
Jain, T., Mishra, V. K., & Kothari, D. (2025). Digital nostalgia marketing: How past-centric ads affect Gen Z consumption. Advances in Consumer Research, Vol 2, No 4, pp 4279–4291.
Kumar, H., & Kumar, S. (2025). Influence of social media content on consumer behavior: A study on social comparison, materialism, and impulse buying. IUP Journal of Marketing Management, Vol 24, No 1, pp 31–54.
Reddy, P. C., Chaudhary, N., Raja, A., & Noordeen, A. R. (2025). The influence of social commerce features on impulse purchases: Evidence from emerging markets. Advances in Consumer Research, Vol 2, No 5, pp 459–465.
Sharma, B. K., Mishra, S., & Arora, L. (2018). Does social medium influence impulse buying of Indian buyers? Journal of Management Research, Vol 18, No 1, pp 27–36.
Soni, V., Sahu, E., & Joshi, R. (2025). A study of factors having impact on impulse buying behavior for toys: With special reference to children aged between 2 to 15 years in Indore city. Advances in Consumer Research, Vol 2, No 6, pp 567–570.
You, Y. (2025). Social media sharing, fear of missing out, and impulse purchase: A conceptual study. Advances in Consumer Research, Vol 2, No 4, pp 765–772.