The study of the marketing determinants of impulse buying: Case of Moroccan consumer

Abstract

Impulse buying is a key issue for companies, especially in the retail sector. Indeed, it represents an important part of the purchases in this type of channel and seems to be particularly sensitive to all the marketing processes that companies apply. This is why marketing researchers have been studying this area for over 50 years. The first studies in this phenomenon were aimed at determining the importance of this type of purchase (Applebaum, 1951; West, 1951). Then, very early on, researchers tried to find ways to influence this behavior (Prasad, 1975).

Although a lot of research has been conducted in this field for many years, this purchasing behavior is still a very interesting and topical research subject in different contexts, especially the Moroccan context. It is in this perspective that this research aims to analyze the impact of sales promotion, price and scarcity on the impulse buying behavior of Moroccan consumers online based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm and the Consumption Impulse Formation and Enhancement (CIFE) model as theoretical framework. Seven stakeholders were interviewed through an interview guide. We opted for a content analysis for the qualitative data collected from our interviewees. Based on the results of the analyses, the marketing factors studied (sales promotion, price and scarcity) have, according to the experts interviewed, an impact on the impulse buying behavior of Moroccan consumers online. These results may be useful for e-marketers who need to pay more attention to these factors in their analyses of Moroccan consumers’ online impulse buying behavior. However, our research has some limitations, including the size of the sample we interviewed.

Keywords: Online impulse buying, sales promotion, price, scarcity, consumer

Classification JEL: M3, M31

Paper type: Empirical research