Motivation for online impulse buying: A two-factor theory perspective

Abstract

Impulse buying accounts for a large proportion of consumer shopping behavior in the bricks-and-mortar retail market. Online retailers also expect to profit from impulse buying. It is therefore interesting and beneficial to investigate the design elements of online stores and the sales promotion stimuli that e-retailers can use to either arouse consumers’ desire or decrease their self-control to evoke their purchase impulses. This study seeks to explicitly identify the factors associated with online store design and sales promotion stimuli that most affect online impulse buying behavior throughout the consumer decision-making process. Drawing on the two-factor theory, it successfully identifies the hygiene and motivation factors that trigger online impulse buying. The questionnaire responses of 239 valid respondents revealed that most of the hygiene factors are associated with the design of online stores, and all of the motivation factors are forms of sales promotion stimuli that effectively facilitate online impulse buying and present utilitarian or hedonic benefits to consumers. This study also identifies the most effective sales promotion stimuli and offers a comprehensive checklist for Web designers. Moreover, the distribution of motivation and hygiene factors for each stage of the EKB model is uneven, and some stages include only hygiene factors. The findings of this study demonstrate that the triggers of consumers’ online shopping behavior do not always apply to online impulse buying, and have important implications for impulse buying research and practice.