By

A STUDY OF INFLUENCE OF
DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS ON CONSUMER
IMPULSE BUYING BEHAVIOUR
Authored by Abu Bashar and Arshad Ahmad

ABOUT THE ARTICLE

The above article has been written by Abu Bashar and Arshad Ahmad assistant Professors
Brown Hills College of Engineering & Technology, Faridabad, and Mohamad Wasi from AlFalah School of engineering. This article has been published in International Journal of
Management and Strategy 2012, Vol No.3 Issue 5, July-Dec 2012. As the title suggests this
article touches various aspects involved in impulse buying behavior. The buying behavior of a
human being can be classified as rational and Impulse buying behavior. Impulse buying
behavior is normally for the consumable goods and low value goods e.g. chocolate. Nowadays
impulse buying behavior is on the rise and the author attributed the reason for the same on the
various demographic factors. He also proposes that impulse buying nature in person is a
consequence of his shopping experience e.g. prominent display of sweets while entering the
mall, the aroma etc. The article establishes a correlation between buying behavior and
demographic factors.
.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

As mentioned above Impulse behavior is gaining tremendous importance. This can be mainly
attributed to the increasing mall culture. The mall culture improves our experiences, pleases
our sensory organ as a result of which anything that is displayed tempts us in positive way and
induces the urge to buy. Author wished to study exactly which demographic factors are
influenced by these experience and in turn create urge for buying. This is a Basic Research
conducted by the authors. Since this is a basic research there is no problem statement
involved. On the bases of his experience author had identified following demographic factors
age, gender, income level, educational qualification and profession. The author had
conducted this study just to improve his knowledge base at the same time he is hopeful that
his research is useful for retailer and manufacturers. This kind of research paper might also be

useful for retail chain while opening their malls. Based on 5 variables identifies above five
hypothesis statements were formed.
RESEARCH PROCEDURE

As mentioned above author had identified 5 demographic variables. For collecting information
(qualitative as well as quantitative) Primary data collection mode was adopted. A stratified
sample was then formed in Delhi- NCR region. Through this stratified sampling around 250
respondents could be identified. Mode of information/data collection was mainly by means of
opens ended and close ended questionnaire. After collection of data descriptive statistical
methods were used to present the results
Though this procedure looks plausible at first glance, there are few pointers which author
should have kept in mind
1) An important point that author wanted to prove is that experience induces impulse
buying, however none of the hypothesis stated captures this fact. It focuses on how
demographics i.e. age of person is related to buying behavior. For instance it could have
been aroma causes impulse buying or display causes buying behavior. Hence these
variables such as aroma and should have been a part of hypothesis. The second part of
the analysis should have been how age of person gets influence by aroma and how it
induces buying behavior. Thus the process which would have summarized it is as

Experience- Aroma,
Display, packaging
etc.
Demographic factors
age, gender,
qualification, etc.

Impulse buying
behavior

2) Author never mentions what technique was used to come up with the given variables. A
proper exploratory research should have been conducted to ensure that only these factors are
responsible for impulse buying. Technique like participant observation, In- depth interviews
and projective technique would have been useful in determining the factors. A proper
exploratory research would have also given exactly what are the experiences that a consumer
would like to experience when he enters a shopping mall or when he goes out for shopping.
3) The article has no mention as to how the researcher has went ahead about carrying the
research. The first part of the research would be qualitative data analysis part. In this part
researcher should have ideally done deskwork first and come up with questions that would
answer the questions like, What is the first thing that attracts you when you go to a mall or for
shopping?. Then would come the field work part where the researcher would go about
collecting the answers from the respondents. Third would again be deskwork where based on
the responses a researcher can come up with factors that determine experience.
4) Also Impulse buying behavior is hugely influenced by the culture and ethics of the person.
This survey was carried in Delhi- NCR region. Now the respondents would have been mainly
Punjabis who dominate that region. Now due to their culture of showing off things impulse
buying urge may be more dominant in them, this urge might be less in a Marwadi or a Gujrati.
The study doesnt focus on these parameters. Hence an ethnographic approach would have
more suited in this experiment. Or the study should have been extended to other states as well.
TOOLS FOR DATA ANALYSIS

After collecting the data, author has performed parametric test as wells as non-parametric
test. In non-parametric test he has conducted percentage analysis. This percentage analysis is
an easy way of getting a broader picture of what researcher is trying to tell. For instance the
researcher has come to the conclusion that 46% of the population engaged in purchasing
activity are women. Similar analysis were presented for other variables also. Author has tried to
establish a cause and effect relationship between these 5 factors and purchasing behavior. This
relation he has mentioned it with help of regression equation. This entire analysis was carried

out at 95% confidence level. As far as analysis part is concerned the approach used by
researcher was apt and short. A cause and effect model was also established between the
purchasing behavior and demographic factors.
This again gives a limited view. In point no 3 above our qualitative analysis gave us some
factors contributing to the experience. After the qualitative part a quantitative analysis was
required. In this quantitative analysis we have found correlation between demographic factors
like age, gender, income level and profession of the respondents with the experience factor that
they would like to experience. This would answer one part of the study.
Now the next part of the study is to link impulse buying with the experience. For this what
constitutes impulse buying has to be identified. This hasnt been mentioned in the paper as to
how the researcher is calculating impulse buying behavior. For determining correlation between
experience factor and impulse buying survey questions should have been on following lines,
Does aroma influence your sensory organs so much that you immediately buy that sweet or
pastry. This would have required similar qualitative and quantitative analysis exercise.
REFLECTION

The study topic chosen was very relevant in todays time. The theory proposed was also
interesting. However as mentioned above the research design carried out had a very narrow
outlook. The research design is not mentioned in the paper. To verify the propositions of the
researcher following steps should have been taken. Summarizing the process mentioned in above
paragraphs.
1) A proper exploratory research to define the experience factor, use qualitative data analysis to
come up with factors.
2) Do quantitative analysis and come up with correlation analysis as how demographic factors
like age, gender etc. are related with the experience factors identified

3) Next define identification of what percentage of total buying is impulse buying. A quantitative
analysis would be required there also. Then relate experience factor with the impulse purchases
4) The study should not be confined only to Delhi NCR region it should be a representative
population of India. A longitudinal panel would have been ideal in this case.
REFRENCES

1) The Dimensional Structure of Consumer Buying Impulsivity: Measurement and Validation.

Youn, Seounmi; Faber, Ronald J. Advances in Consumer Research;2002, Vol. 29 Issue 1, p280
2) EFFECT OF EMERGING TRENDS IN RETAIL SECTOR ON IMPULSE BUYING
BEHAVIOR-WITH REFERENCE TO CHHATTISGARH REGION, Minal, Shah; Sanjay, Guha;
Urvashi, Shrivastava, International Journal of Engineering & Management Sciences;2012, Vol. 3
Issue 2, p142