Impulse Purchases Online

Can Food Companies Get People to Make Impulse Purchases Online?

Posted: October 15, 2017 by Annie Gasparro and Heather Haddon

As technology expands, consumers are tending to shop online for many products. One of the biggest concerns that major companies have is trying to get consumers to make impulse purchases before they checkout. The idea of last minute online purchases is to "mimic the experience in the checkout lane." At a physical store, the checkout line primarily consists of shelves filled with individually packaged goods that are easy to grab right before checkout. On the online website, it's much harder for companies to get consumers to "throw in a piece of candy or a pack of gum at the last minute." Because consumers are more likely to shop online, companies need to keep up with the consumers and drive more online sales. Companies are racing to find new ways to drive impulse purchases online. One idea could be using virtual reality to provide a virtual shopping experience to consumers. They could virtually look inside boxes and unpack goods. 

This article deals primarily with internet retailing in Chapter 12. Internet retailing is a convenient way for consumers to have an unlimited assortment of goods at their fingertips. But a huge disadvantage that it has over brick-and-mortar stores is last-minute impulse purchases. Companies are finding it hard for consumers to add in last minute products to their cart before they checkout. At a physical store, these customers are forced to enter a "maze" of goods before checking out. Companies are trying to find a way to make an online "maze" where customers would tend to make more impulse purchases.

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-food-companies-get-people-to-make-impulse-purchases-online-1508119561