A comparative analysis of impulse buying strategies : case study of an online women apparel store

Abstract

This paper presents a statistical analysis of different strategies that are used commonly by ecommerce companies to trigger impulse purchasing. The goal of the study is to offer insights to marketers and entrepreneurs as to which strategies perform successfully with internet users. The study attempts to measure the effectiveness of these strategies on four metrics, namely number of sales, average order value, number of repeat customers and average session duration. By deploying different strategies on an online women fashion store, data was collected from users from a defined set of demographics. This data was analyzed with the help of various analytics tools in order to put together actionable information for marketers and entrepreneurs.

The study relied mainly on quantitative research methods; key data collection and analysis methods included trend analysis, conjoint analysis and max-diff analysis. These methods were applied to five impulse buying strategies, namely cross selling, point of purchase, flash sale, price presentation and instant discount. Each user group in the study consisted of 5,000 members, and it was ensured that all users who participated in the study belong to the same demographics.

The study found that all impulse buying strategies had a positive impact on profits and marketing costs; instant discount strategy offered the biggest amount of monetary benefits. The study discusses how each impulse buying strategy can be implemented in various online businesses in order to maximize return on investment.