Impulse Buying Behaviors in a Digital World

Impulse buying behaviors have received a lot of research attention over the years, starting with investigating customer experiences in brick-and-mortar stores in the 1950s and not ending with gauging customer impulse buying tendencies on the digital shopping platforms of today. Indeed, marketers and scholars are interested in understanding more about the customers’ motivations to engage in impulse buying behaviors, as they are tied to desirable marketing outcomes, including increased sales and profits.This paper presents an overview of impulse buying in a modern, digital world, based on a study of the literature. It, first, defines the concept and highlights its different types. Following this, it contrasts offline impulse buying behaviors with impulse buying in e-commerce and social media platforms and discusses the factors that influence impulse buying in customers.