International Journal of Innovation in Computational

International Journal of Innovation in Computational Science and Engineering Volume-2 Issue-1, pp:40-49

IJICSE@2021 40

ISSN: 2708-3128 May-2021

“Assessing the Effective Factors that Influence Consumer Impulsive buying behaviour in a technologically

driven world with special reference to Muscat Region Oman”.

ABSTRACT

Impulsive Buying is a habit almost everyone develops

without realizing, this is evident when people stop at

the gas station or store to buy beverages or foodstuff

without really thinking or being aware of the process,

this, however, is harmless. This research paper aims

to find out what exactly influences people to make

quick, unplanned purchases. Impulse Buying is

purchasing anything without pre-meditation, or pre-

planning. Almost all people buy out of Impulse,

usually to satiate a need or to survive, but a large

number also Impulse Buys for the prestige of owning

something expensive, or for the rush that results from

“Retail Therapy”. Most surprisingly, E-Commerce

offers the easiest gate into Impulse Buying, as it is both

convenient and simple. Impulse Buying Behavior is a

dynamic process that can be triggered by a list of

different factors such as a flashy ad, or message. But

it is always first initiated from a lack of restraint or

will. Unfortunately, there exists another group of

people who have taken Impulsive Buying to the

extreme. They buy luxurious things they don’t need, to

induce a “rush” or heavily buy “comfort foods” to

escape a difficult emotional period of their lives.

Impulsive Buying can also be initiated by stimuli, both

internal and external. The outcomes of this study

are the various factors such as attractive pricing,

store displays, E-commerce & M-Commerce

purchasing, Retail therapy which influences the

buying behavior of consumers in this technologically

driven world in Muscat city and put an attempt to

analyze the dysfunctional impulsive buying behavior

of consumers in Muscat city in particular and

Sultanate of Oman in general.

Key words: Fast Moving Consumer Goods,

Functional Impulse Buying, Dysfunctional Impulse

Buying, Retail Therapy, Rush, Comfort Food, Internal

Stimuli, External Stimuli E-commerce,M-commerce.

Introduction

Everyone’s affected by it, yet no one realizes why.

There is a myriad of factors that go into impulse

buying, it is a sudden and dynamic process with a

number of variables that clouds logical decision-

making and encourages hasty purchase decisions

without prior planning because of the impact of

promotional messages through WhatsApp, email or

mobile. Impulse Buying is an unplanned decision to

buy a product or service, made just before a purchase.

This act of buying is very indecisive, and therefore,

emotions and feelings play a critical role in it. Impulse

buying is usually triggered by a flashy product or a

well-constructed promotional message.

This study has tested how strongly different factors

trigger an impulse buying decision in people. This has

been achieved by utilizing a quantitative approach.

The data was collected by way of questionnaires.

The primary participant in this research study was

employed young adults and full adults, specifically;

independent individuals that have little commitments,

and generally more freedom to spend their money.

Impulse Buying occurs in all price ranges, but most

prominently in lower priced, daily consumable

products which are also known as FMCG products and

less commonly in high-end luxurious items.

Impulse Buying is also split into two (2) sub-types:

those being Functional & Dysfunctional Impulse

Buying.

International Journal of Innovation in Computational Science and Engineering (IJICSE)

1) Dr. Santhosh Kumar.S

Faculty Member

Business Studies Department

University of Technology and Applied

Sciences

Muscat- Sultanate of Oman.

[email protected]

2) Mohammed Ahmed AlHarthy

Student ID: (11S1587),

3) Omar Yahya AlHudhrami

Student ID: (11J15174),

4) Al Haitham Mohammed AlHusaini


5) Fatma Aqeel Baomar

Student ID: (11J16180),

6) Althuraya Anwar Alkharusi


Business Studies Department,

University of Technology and Applied

Sciences, Muscat- Sultanate of Oman.


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Simply put, Functional Impulse Buying is done with

the intent to satisfy a need, and Dysfunctional Impulse

Buying is done to satisfy a want.

Statement of the Problem

This research has explored the most common factors

that influence people to buy on impulse. In today’s

technological world promotional messages will reach

the consumers within no time and subsequently make

the consumers to be impulsive. Moreover, it studied

and compared the patterns of Functional and

Dysfunctional Impulse Buying respectively. As

opposed to functional impulse buying which has a

recognizable pattern, Dysfunctional Impulse Buying

does not have a discernable pattern and is instead,

completely random. This presents a challenge to find

and identify Dysfunctional Impulse Buyers.

Objectives:

To study the various factors that induce

impulsive buying behavior.

To analyze why Dysfunctional Impulsive

Buying is dangerous.

Hypotheses

There is no relationship between the

promotional offers and consumer impulsive

buying behavior.

There is no relationship between consumer

gender and consumer impulsive buying

behavior.

Consumer age and Consumer gender are

independent in terms of impulsive buying.

Review of Literature:

In this Literature Review, different studies have been

discussed and linked to this one. This will enable a

deeper understanding of which factors triggers IB in

consumers, what kind of IB it will manifest as, and

how it could be a positive or negative aspect of their

daily lives.

Researchers have endeavored to make progress in the

phenomena of impulse buying by creating practical

evidence of it, rather than purely theoretical evidence.

Impulse Buying has been delved into before by

prominent marketing researchers such as Stern, and

Rook, but their studies were mostly theory-based.

Hawkins’ study gained a lot of traction because it

brought a lot of new information about buying

impulsively to light. For instance, Impulse Buyers

were found to be of two categories: Functional

Impulse Buying, which essentially is a routine buying

pattern that an individual express out of need, or habit.

This includes stocking up on house supplies,

purchasing clothes, food, or FMCG-related products

in general. On the other hand, a Dysfunctional

Impulse Buyer possesses little identifiable pattern or

logic to his/her buying pattern. Buying things, they

want, not out of necessity, but out of luxury. (Lin,

2020)

Moreover, another researcher tried to distinguish a

conscious, well-planned purchase decision from an

Impulsive Buy, by interviewing people he found were

impulsive buyers. To no one’s surprise, most were

impulse buyers, and were not aware of it. Even the

impulse buyers themselves were not conscious of their

purchasing habits, and when asked, most of them

replied with phrases along the line of “I always buy

things without thinking first”, “I buy it as soon as I see

it”, and “Should buy now, and regret later”. It has

already been established that Impulse Buying is not

pre-planned or pre-meditated, but is in actuality a

dynamic process. There can be a number of factors

that can trigger an impulse buying decision in an

individual. These factors can be an eye-catching

display, message, or advertisement, among many

other unique things. (Mathur, 2019)

On one end of the spectrum lies Functional Impulse

Buying, this is a behavior that almost everyone

exhibits, provided they have good reason and

capability to do so, Functional Impulse Buying, or

buying impulsively for the purpose of living, is the

regular, unplanned, and unreflective purchase of

consumable items such as water, food, and other

general consumable items. This is a healthy behavior

that everyone always practices oftentimes without

realizing. Consumable goods are also classified as

FMCG, or Fast Moving Consumer Goods. FMCG

market-places are everywhere, and they are

undoubtedly rising. As it is a vast empire made of

rapidly-growing industries selling astronomical

amounts of items every single day. FMCGs will

always have demand due to their essentiality to a

human being’s survival, but even for FMCGs, people

still seem to be selectively buying them based on a few

factors such as the Marketing Mix, and the brand

name. (Husnain and khtar, 2016)

Just as another team of researchers theorized that due

to consumers being bombarded with hundreds of

FMCG brands in their day-to-day lives, quality and

brand recognition of FMCG products has become

essential to their survival. In addition to that, product,

price, place, and promotion, also play an undeniable

role in the movement of these goods. (Vijayakumar

and Nijanthan, 2019) Once a consumer gains his/her

trust in certain brands of FMCGs, they develop a

preference towards those particular brands, and will

always be choosing them over the others. This is why

the 4 Ps are important in Fast Moving Consumer

Goods.


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In short, for Functional (rational) Impulse Buying,

Brand name, quality and the 4 Ps of Marketing are the

main effective factors that influence Impulsive buying

behavior. As for traits, things such as hunger, thirst, or

any of the other human needs are a key factor also.

A plethora of other random social factors also go into

play here. (Chen and Wang, 2016)

Surprisingly, products are categorized into types based

on their essentiality, those being Utilitarian, and

Hedonic. Hedonic products are mainly bought in the

pursuit of pure pleasure, while Utilitarian products are

bought for their generally all-around beneficial nature.

IB has countless factors that go into making it

manifest, but in its core, it is always caused by a weak

will. A weakness of will is always the root cause of an

irresponsible buying behavior, because like a row of

dominos, weak willpower can kick start a dynamic

chain of emotional decisions that almost always go

against the better judgment of the consumer. This

brings about the conclusion that that people with high

IB tendencies are weak willed, and people with lower

IB tendencies have stronger wills. In addition to that,

internal or external stimuli (influence) also adds to the

desire to buy things on impulse. Internal stimuli

usually lead to functional Impulse Buying while

external stimuli usually lead to dysfunctional Impulse

Buying, this however does not mean that the two types

of influence are exclusive only to one type of IB each,

as it is also common that internal stimuli can lead to

Dysfunctional Impulse Buying and vice versa.

(Mcnair and Crozier, 2017)

And on the other end of the spectrum lies

Dysfunctional Impulse Buying, this is a behavior that

is oftentimes seen as a setback. DIB is relevant to all

luxurious, non-essential goods. These are hedonic

products people seek out for pleasure, not practical

use. interestingly, some people, Buying Things

impulsively is not for the purpose of owning a product,

but to stimulate a rush. As buying things on impulse

more and more created a change in their cognition,

which resulted in stronger buying intentions. This

however, is only prevalent in a low number of people.

(Parsad, 2017)

Impulse Buying also does not necessarily only occur

in the physical world, but it does also take place

digitally. A theory suggested that Impulse Buying can

also be triggered via the internet. As technology

becomes more and more prevalent in our modern

world, people find it more convenient to make their

transactions online or digitally, rather than physically.

This is done mainly due to its sheer convenience and

time & effort saving nature. (Wiranata and Hananto,

2019)

It is also much more likely for people to come across

a flashy ad while browsing shopping sites or the net,

meaning they are subconsciously influenced to

purchase things impulsively both in and outside of

their own homes. Another research study also lends

credence to this theory, as it states that people using

the internet as a gateway for their Impulsive Buying

Behavior are much more susceptible to it. This give E-

commerce an unparalleled advantage in influencing

customers to make purchases spontaneously. (Liu et

al, 2013)

An interesting investigation was made by Fenton-

O’Creevy & Furnham, sponsored by worldwide news

network corporation; The BBC, they have found out

that personality and Income power factor as a big role

in encouraging Dysfunctional Impulsive Buying

Behavior in British citizens. In addition to that, they

have, through extensive research, identified that

younger females from high-class households were the

most chronic impulsive buyers. Furthermore, people

who were found to be neurotic (which is a personality

trait, not a mental condition), extraverted, agreeable

and possess low self-esteem were the most likely to

have a Dysfunctional Impulsive Buying Behavior.

Conscientiousness, the trait of being careful,

disciplined, and self-conscious, also plays a role in this

dynamic process, as people who were observed to

have low conscientiousness levels were way more

prone to shop irresponsibly. (O’ Creevy and Furnham,

2018)

All in all, when all of these factors; a) strong income,

b) young age, c) high class or high status, d)

neuroticism, e) extraversion, f) agreeableness, and low

levels of g) self-esteem & h)

conscientiousness come together, they create a recipe

for disaster, and for a person, dysfunctional impulsive

buying behavior becomes akin to a chronic condition,

persisting for a long period of time. This demonstrates

that Impulse Buying can be unhealthy.

Moving on in the topic of Dysfunctional Impulse

Buying, according to Atalay & Meloy and Fenton‐

O'Creevy, there is a concept known as “Retail

Therapy”, in essence, it is the treatment of mental and

emotional deteriorations by shopping irrationally. This

is usually done when an individual is going through a

time of stress or depression. Retail Therapy can

develop shopping addiction if done regularly as its

drawbacks can far outweigh its benefits. Sometimes,

Retail Therapy can cause people to purchase what is

known as “comfort food”; foods that contain high

amounts of sugar, such as cookies or ice cream. In

short, these foods trigger a chemical rush of serotonin

in the human body, which in-turn triggers short-lived

sensations of euphoria (a state of intense happiness).

This may be mood-uplifting in the shorter and

immediate term, but is destructive in the longer term,

because shopping is far from qualified as actual

therapy in the medical field of study. (Atalay & Meloy,

2011) (Fenton O’Creevy et al, 2018)

So far, it has been established that Impulse Buying

Behavior can either be functional or dysfunctional,


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and that the functional kind is much more simple in

nature than the dysfunctional variant. Moving on,

another interesting study was conducted by Furnham,

Wilson, and Telford and they theorized that having a

strong income or being wealthy in general reduces

dependency on other and increases independency.

These people are generally aloof and distrustful of

other in nature, as money has been a substitute for a

lot of things for them, and has acted as a sort of

security, or emotional jacket, because rather than build

and develop relations with people, and mutually

benefit one-another, they could just buy their services,

or loyalties with their acquired wealth.

This is the basis of the popular philosophy: “Money is

power”, as it provides protection from vulnerability,

and danger, and allows wealthy individuals to

practically do almost whatever they wish or desire.

This is Dysfunctional Impulse Buying in the most

extreme form.

Finally, there are countless studies that support this

theory, one of which was a study done by Harnish and

Rooster, in the United States of America with a

whopping test sample of almost 290 people all ranging

from 18 to 25 years old. Through an extensive study,

they have surmised that a lot of the young adults in the

country have money deeply rooted in their minds, and

have already developed a belief in the concept of

“Money is power”, buying things they cannot afford,

with money they do not possess, to impress people

they do not know. (Harnish and Rooster, 2018)

Research Gap:

There hardly exist any studies focused on this topic in

Oman. This research has explored the most common

factors that trigger both Functional & Dysfunctional

Impulsive Buying Behaviour in the sultanate. Then

drew a conclusion why these phenomena are such a

regular occurrence. Marketing specialists and retailers

are the main target beneficiary of this research.

Therefore, this study is intended to act as a guide for

those parties. By finding and identifying which factors

trigger an urge to buy in consumers, this information

can be used to increase sales of low-value and luxury

products, and aid in attracting more customers. In

addition to that, other research students will be able to

link this research study to their own studies further

down the line.

Research Type

For the duration of this study, a quantitative approach

has been used to “Assess The Effective Factors That

Influence Consumer Impulse Buy”. This allowed for a

more detailed look, and more accurate results based on

numbers, and reliable statistics and data. The

researcher team distributed surveys across numerous

relatives, and friends.

For the entirety of the research, a quantitative method

of approach has been selected for use to “Assess the

Effective Factors That Influence Consumer Impulse

Buying”. This method allowed for a more practical

look, and for more detailed results that were supported

by statistics and numerical data. The research team

distributed surveys to known relatives and friends.

Design of Research

Design of research is the detailing of the

circumstances that were used to gather and analyze the

information in such a way so that it allows for a fluid

process of result production. Deductive surveys were

extensively and exclusively used in this research study

as a primary source of data. In addition to that,

secondary sources such as websites, and other

journals, and articles have also been made the most out

of. This is a descriptive research that aims to determine

why the phenomena of Impulse Buying is occurring.

Research Respondents

Impulsive Buyers of both FMCG and luxury goods

were the target respondent (sample) for this research.

The minimum number for surveys was at least 50

respondents. Luckily, almost 70 respondents have

participated.

The Sampling Frame refers to something used to

define a researcher’s demography of interest. The

Sampling Frame defines a group of elements from

which allows a researcher to choose a specimen of the

target population. This study used a Sampling Frame

that includes all young-adults to full-adults ranging

from (19-50) in Oman.

The research team has reached out to the target

respondents through other higher-level education

students, colleagues, friends, and family members.

In this research study, the researchers have employed

the utilization of Non-Probability Convenience

Sampling Technique to gather data, which focuses on

giving out surveys to friends and relatives.

The collected samples were tested with appropriate

statistical tools with a 95% confidence level and 5%

significance level. There is a chance of 5% marginal

error. The respondents’ opinion would have been

biased only at 5%, but the maximum responses are

95% unbiased.


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Data Analysis and Interpretation

Objective #1: To study the various factors that

induce impulse buying behavior.

1. Demographics Sex:

From above chart # 1 above, it can be analyzed that

45.1% of the respondents are male, and 54.9% are

female.

2. Demographics Respondents’ age

From the above chart #2, it can be analyzed that none

of the respondents are 50 years or older, 1.4% of

respondents are between 40 and 49 years, 2.8% are

between 30 and 39 years, 94.4% were between 20 and

29 years, and 1.4% were 19 years or younger.

3. Respondents Location

From above chart #3, it can be analyzed that 97.1% of

the respondents live in Muscat, and 2.9% of the

respondents do not.

4. I always buy things on sale, if I can.

From the above chart #4, it can be analyzed that of all

the respondents; 19.7% opined for Strongly Agree,

31% opined for Agree, 29.6% opined neutral,

followed by 12.7% and 7% who opined for Disagree

and Strongly Disagree with the statement above.

5. When I work with a team, I’m very

agreeable.

It can be analyzed from the above chart #5, that out of

71 respondents; 18.3% opined for Strongly Agree,

45.1% opined for Agree, 31% opined neutral,

followed by 1.4% and 4.2% who opined for Disagree

and Strongly Disagree with the statement above.

6. Rules in society are flexible and can be ignored

sometimes.

From chart #6, it can be analyzed that of the

respondents;8.5% opined for Strongly Agree, 33.8%

opined for Agree, 38%Opined neutral, followed by

18.3% and 1.4% who opined for Disagree and

Strongly Disagree with the statement above.

Objective #2: To know why is Dysfunctional

Impulse Buying dangerous

7. When buying something, I do it based on how much

I like it rather than how much I need it.

Chart #4 Chart 7

7.00%

12.70%

29.60%31.00%

19.70%S. Disagree

Disagree

NAND

Agree

S. Agree

4.20%1.40%

31.00%

45.10%

18.30%S. Disagree

Disagree

NAND

Agree

S. Agree

1.40%18.30%

38.00%33.80%

8.50%S. Disagree

Disagree

NAND

Agree

S. Agree

Chart # 5

8.50%

25.40%

22.50%

28.20%

15.50%S. Disagree

Disagree

NAND

Agree

S. Agree

45.10%

54.90%

Chart 1

Male

Female

1.40%

94.40%

2.80% 1.40%

19 or younger

20 - 29 years

30 - 39 years

40 - 49 years

50 or older

Chart #2

97.10%

2.90%

Chart 3

Yes

No

Chart 6


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From chart #7, it can be analyzed that of all the

respondents;15.5% opined for Strongly Agree, 28.2%

opined for Agree, 22.5% Opined neutral, followed by



8. If something I really like catches my eye, I prefer if

I buy it now, and maybe regret it later.


respondents; 14.1% opined for Strongly Agree, 25.4%

opined for Agree, 36.6% opined neutral, followed by



9. I prefer saving my money, and am very

cautious when I spend any of it.

From chart #9, it can be analyzed that of the

respondents;18.8% opined for Strongly Agree,

27.5% opined for Agree, 33.3%opined neutral,

followed by 15.9% and 4.3% who opined for

Disagree and Strongly Disagree with the

statement above.

10. Shopping is a great way for me to

celebrate.



opined for Agree, 23.9% Opined neutral, followed by



11. I love eating ice cream or deserts.






12. I eat Ice Cream or deserts especially when my

mood is down.






14.10%

9.90%

36.60%25.40%

14.10%S. Disagree

Disagree

NAND

Agree

S. Agree

4.20%

15.50%

18.30%

26.80%

35.20%

S. Disagree

Disagree

NAND

Agree

S. Agree

Chart 8

4.30%

15.90%

33.30%28.50%

18.80%

S. Disagree

Disagree

NAND

Agree

S. Agree

Chart # 9

11.30%

9.90%

23.90%33.80%

21.10%S. Disagree

Disagree

NAND

Agree

S. Agree

Chart # 10

Chart # 11

15.50%

18.30%

23.90%

18.30%

23.90%

S. Disagree

Disagree

NAND

Agree

S. Agree

Chart # 12


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13. I rather hire help than ask my friends and family

for it.


respondents; 7% opined for Strongly Agree, 33.8%




14. I still shop for non-essential things during the

current ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.






Hypotheses Testing:

Sl

No.

Hypothesis

Statement

P Value ( T

test)

Remarks

1 H0: There is no

relationship

between the

promotional

offers and

consumer

impulsive

buying

behavior .

0.001010668

Reject

Interpretation: Since the P value of two tailed T test

that is 0.001010668<0.05 at a 5% significance level

and at a 95% confidence level the null hypothesis gets

rejected and it can be concluded that “There is a

relationship between the promotional offers and

consumer impulsive buying behavior because when

any consumer visits shopping malls if attractive offers

are provided by the shopping malls consumer would

become impulsive.

Sl

No.

Hypothesis

Statement

P Value (

T test)

Remarks

2 H0: There is no

relationship

between

consumer gender

and consumer

impulsive buying

behavior .

1.90625 Accept

Interpretation: Since the P value of two tailed T test

that is 1.90625>0.05 at a 5% significance level and at

a 95% confidence level the null hypothesis gets

accepted and it can be concluded that “There is no

relationship between the consumer gender and

consumer impulsive buying behavior. Irrespective of

consumer gender consumer may become impulsive

due to other attractive elements.

Sl

No.

Hypothesis

Statement

P Value

(Chi-

square)

Remarks

3 H0: Consumer

age and

Consumer

gender are

independent in

terms of

impulsive

buying.

0.00302447

Reject

Interpretation: Since the P value of Chi-square of test

that is 0.00302447<0.05 at a 5% significance level and

at a 95% confidence level the null hypothesis gets

rejected and it can be concluded that Consumer age

and Consumer gender are dependent in terms of

impulsive buying. As it was observed that most of the

time young adults would involve in impulsive buying.

Chart #14

9.90%

14.10%

35.20%

33.80%

7.00%S. Disagree

Disagree

NAND

Agree

S. Agree

Chart 13

35.20%

18.30%

22.50%

14.10%

9.90%S. Disagree

Disagree

NAND

Agree

S. Agree


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Findings and Discussions:

Objective #1: To study the various factors that

induce impulse buying behavior.

It was found from the study that consumers have

opined that “I always buy things on sale”, and half of

the participants (31% & 19.7%) agreed and strongly

agreed. Buying things on sale indicates a habit of

saving money which has already been established as a

functional IB trait. This statement tests the

agreeableness levels of the partakers of the survey.

High agreeableness levels lead to the dysfunctional

kind of Impulse Buying which means that being

agreeable can ultimately be detrimental to the

individual. This study reveals that due to this

pandemic situation online shopping has been

increased. While shopping online mobile apps such

Amazon.com, Aliexpress.com Alibaba.com playing a

vital role in online business in and around Muscat

region. It was also observed that “Rules in society are

flexible and can be ignored sometimes”, this statement

calculates how closely an individual follows societal

rules and customs. This is important because it

determines another trait of DIB, and that is

agreeableness. The majority (33.8%) agreed that

societal rules are flexible, and therefore, making them

less prone to dysfunctional impulsive buying.

Objective #2: To analyze why Dysfunctional

Impulse Buying is dangerous

This research paper reveals that testing the need vs

desire when purchasing a physical item, or service. Of

course participants who preferred to purchase a

product based solely on how much they liked it, were

already showing very obvious signs of Dysfunctional

buying. The highest rated responses were “disagree”,

“Neither Agree or Disagree”, and “Agree” at 25.4%,

22.5%, and 28.2% respectively. It also found that

gauging how participants react when they see

something they were strongly likely to purchase. It

basically asked, provided they were capable, if they

regularly bought things unreflectively knowing fully

that they might regret it later. The highest percentile

(36%) were apathetic, and the second highest (25.4%)

agreed. It has been observed that statement tests the

strength of the participant’s money-saving habit.

Again, the majority (33.3%) were impartial and did

not agree nor disagree. The participants engage

themselves in “Retail Therapy”, the process of buying

things simply to uplift mood. This is also a symptom

of neuroticism, which is very dangerous on its own.

Notably, the highest rated responses were “agreed” or

“strongly agreed” to all three statements. Retail

therapy is of course detrimental and as established -

isn’t a verified method of therapy. (Atalay & Meloy,

2011) (Fenton O’Creevy et al, 2018). Buying help

instead of just asking for it is one of the stronger

symptoms of Dysfunctional Impulse Buying. The

majority of responses to this one were either

indifferent or agree. (35.2%) and (33.8%)

respectively.

It was found that the set reaffirms if the respondents

are Dysfunctional buyers by asking whether or not

they still shop for things they do not need in the current

pandemic quarantine of COVID-19. Thankfully, the

majority (35.2%) strongly disagreed. In today’s

competitive world changes in societal needs would

also influence the consumers to behave impulsive.

Conclusions & Recommendations

Conclusions:

This research has come to support almost all of the

theories other researchers made in relation to Impulse

Buying. By surveying more than 70 people, the

research team received a lot of answers confirming a

lot of the assumptions and theories about how some

factors lead to impulse buying and how other do not.

Some of these discoveries were:

Impulse Buyers are categorized into Functional &

Dysfunctional Impulse Buyers.

Both types of Impulse Buying are caused by

internal and external influence.

The majority of impulse buyers are functional

impulse buyers, who are buyers of primarily

FMCG products.

Impulse Buying is a real phenomenon that almost

no one seems to realize exist or at the very least

give very little thought for.

Advertisements do not always attract customers

and sometimes do repel them instead.

Some of the questions from the survey determined

that promotional offers such as sales don’t always

affect consumer buying behavior.

Retailer pricing strategies play little to no role in

affecting consumer buying behavior.

Young to full adults are the most susceptible to

Dysfunctional Impulsive Buying behavior.

Functional IB is completely normal, and is a

healthy buying behavior.

Dysfunctional IB is detrimental, and very

dangerous.

Factors such as the 4 Ps (Marketing Mix), brand

name, and need recognition play a vital role in

inducing Functional Impulse Buying in people.


IJICSE@2021 48

ISSN: 2708-3128 May-2021

Factors such as low mood level, good income, and

young age play a dangerous role in manifesting

people as Dysfunctional Impulse buyers.

Most Impulse purchases were tech related. Things

such as phones and personal computers were

bought frequently.

Extraversion is a symptom of DIB.

The majority of survey partakers were found to be

agreeable, which may seem like a harmless trait,

but it strongly leads to DIB.

Recommendations

Recommendations have been made based on the

findings of the study to assist marketing specialists and

other students these are some recommendations and

strategies:

Retailers should create an online platform to sell

their stock more effectively.

Retailers should avoid online ads and resort to

other promotion tools instead.

Tech related stores need to give more attention to

their efforts in advertising smartphones,

computers, and TVs.

Finding dysfunctional impulse buyers in the

sultanate is not as difficult as once thought, as

many of the participants if not most were

practicing dysfunctional buying behavior.

It can be suggested to the buyers that impulsive

buying behavior is not a good habit to be

continued. Buyers should always think about their

needs and take a decision whether product or

service should be purchased or not. Needless to

say, not based on promotional offers or some other

attractive elements from the marketers.

Marketers need to focus not only on sales, but they

should also focus on customer needs, wants, and

finally on customer satisfaction. If a consumer

purchases a product even though he doesn’t have a

need for it, later he might regret it and not be

satisfied with his purchase.

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