BLOG: 10 tactics to stimulate impulsive purchases

At the time when people do more and more purchases online, impulsive in-store purchases are becoming increasingly important.

In every retail environment, there is an effort to encourage customers to make impulsive purchases. This is a proven way how to increase an average value of a shopping cart. According to Shopify.com, approximately 77 % customers knowingly admit to this type of shopping, while up to 79 % of these purchases take place in traditional retail stores. As more and more of shopping moves to the Internet, impulsive purchases are one of the opportunities which are primarily beneficial for traditional retail stores. And that is why they should become one of their priorities.

Impulsive purchases are stimulated primarily by choosing the right products, placing them into the right place, or attracting attention of shoppers. Below, you can learn about 10 Shopify tips on how to increase their frequency and value.

1. Create a path for shoppers to follow
Encouraging impulsive purchases requires the right mixture of choosing the right products and their positioning. By creating a route in your store that most customers will follow, you will be better able to predict where they will need visual relief, where they will tend to stop, and which shelves they will pass during the purchase. All this will make it easier to determine the best location for placing impulsive items.

2. Place cheap items for impulsive purchases by cash registers
Customers usually do not buy expensive products spontaneously. The price factor is one of the most important one when deciding on goods intended for impulsive purchases. That is why lower price items are suitable for cash register shelves and for secondary displays selected for impulsive goods because customers do not think so much about buying such items. It also pays off to use a dedicated zone for selling impulsive goods – for example, as some perfumeries do, when they sell discounted test samples of new fragrances on the shelves next to cash registers. Combining discount offers with a sense of urgency, which evokes a time-limited offer, is a good recipe for impulsive purchases.

3. Offer impulsive products around your most wanted goods
In addition to cash registers, the space next to the most sought-after products is also suitable for displaying impulsive goods – for example, ice cream freezers in a frozen goods store can be used to place waffle cones, taking advantage of the attention already gained.

4. Use the correct language to explain urgency of the offer
This sense of urgency needs to be evoked in the minds of customers. For goods that customers do not plan to buy, a sense of demand can be intensified by the call to action “Buy them now!” or “Buy one before stocks run out!”, etc. It is also advantageous to show visuals with the moments of consumption of communicated products.

5. Anticipate your customer´s needs
Impulsive products do not belong to a clearly defined group of goods. To identify products that are suitable for spontaneous purchases in a specific store type or assortment category, it is necessary to build on the knowledge of customers and their needs. Customers in the decoration store will appreciate, for example, an active offer of aromatic candles.

6. Attract attention to goods that are being impulsively purchased
Impulsive goods around the cash register are often spontaneously viewed by customers while waiting to pay for their purchase. However, in the case of placing these products elsewhere in the sales area, it is usually necessary to attract shoppers´ attention. This is possible, for example, by marking around or on the shelf itself, by lighting, or by using bright or vibrant colours (e.g. red colour is often being used for graduation), which can visually separate the goods, give it contrast and dominance and thus attract the attention of customers by evoking a sense of novelty.

7. Choose items you do not have to think much about when buying them
A higher price is not the only factor that forces customers to think more about a purchase. Another factor is too wide choice. Therefore, the most successful exposures with impulsive products limit the breadth of anything that would force shoppers to make a choice among more variants. For example, beach sandals of the well-known brand, which are brightly coloured and cheap, are an ideal item of spontaneous shopping in the summer. However, when offered in 50 colours, decision-making paralysis may discourage the customer from purchasing.

8. Offer samples, testers or the opportunity to test the product
The opportunity to try the product can encourage the customer to buy something that he originally did not plan at all. For example, special tastings at Globus support spontaneous purchases as well as makeovers at Spehora stores, during which customers are shown possible in-depth changes of their personal make-up.

9. Display seasonal goods
Seasonal goods, due to its limited availability, can create the sense of urgency needed. In addition, by regularly changing it, it can stimulate impulsive purchases even for regular customers who have already seen or purchased the previous goods.

10. Train sales staff to inspire impulsive purchases
Last but not least, we should not forget sales staff, which is one of the least used tools to encourage spontaneous purchases. Trained employees can advise customers and provide a comprehensive range of goods that can help them meet their specific needs.
Impulsive purchases are a key factor in increasing turnover, increasing the price of a shopping cart and the total value of an individual customer. In addition, in the times of growing e-commerce, they remain the triumph of traditional retail stores.

Daniel Jesenský, DAGO