Research Article
Open access
Published on 3 January 2025
Download pdf
Du,L. (2025). Marketing Strategies and Social Influence on Impulse Buying. Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences,142,172-181.
Export citation

Marketing Strategies and Social Influence on Impulse Buying

Lilan Du *,1,
  • 1 School of Economics, Guangdong University of Finance & Economics, Guangzhou, 510320, China

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

https://doi.org/10.54254/2754-1169/2024.LD19008

Abstract

This study employs a literature review methodology to examine the influence of marketing strategies and social factors on impulse buying behavior. The research focuses on the effects of various marketing strategies, including promotional discounts, controlled marketing, and live-streaming marketing, as well as social factors such as social media and online reviews. Through the analysis of multiple empirical studies, it is found that these factors influence impulse buying through various mechanisms, including time-limited discounts, scarcity marketing, emotional experiences, and herd behavior. However, the research also indicates that frequent promotions may reduce effectiveness, and negative reviews have a more significant impact than positive ones. Additionally, this paper analyzes the measurement methods used in the studies, compares various research conclusions and methodologies, and summarizes the limitations and shortcomings of existing research while proposing suggestions for future studies. This research provides a theoretical foundation for understanding the complex influencing factors of impulse buying behavior and has significant practical implications.

Keywords

Impulse buying, marketing strategies, social influence

[1]. Redine, A., Deshpande, S., Jebarajakirthy, C., & Surachartkumtonkun, J. (2022). Impulse buying: A systematic literature review and future research directions. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 47(1), 3–41.

[2]. Stern, H. (1962). The significance of impulse buying today. Journal of Marketing, 26(2), 59-62.

[3]. Rook, D. W., & Hoch, S. J. (1985). Consuming impulses. Advances in Consumer Research, 12(1), 23-27.

[4]. Beatty, S. E., & Ferrell, M. E. (1998). Impulse buying: Modeling its precursors. Journal of Retailing, 74(2), 169-191.

[5]. Chang, Yaping, Zhu, Donghong & Li, Ronghua. (2012). Research on the mechanism of perceived product innovation on impulse buying. Research Management (03), 18-26+35.

[6]. Chen, J., & Yao, S. (2018). The impact of online price promotions on impulsive buying behavior: An empirical study in China. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 45, 106-114.

[7]. Liu, Y., Li, H., & Hu, F. (2020). The impact of bundle promotions on consumers' impulsive buying behavior: Evidence from an online experiment. Journal of Business Research, 112, 144-153.

[8]. Kim, J., & Lee, H. (2021). The effect of personalized promotions on impulsive buying: An eye-tracking study. Journal of Business Research, 132, 573-582.

[9]. Zhang, L., Shao, W., & Li, X. (2022). Differential effects of promotion types on impulsive buying across product categories: A mixed-method study. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 50(1), 16-35.

[10]. Wang, X., & Xu, Y. (2019). The effect of promotion frequency on consumer impulsive buying behavior: A longitudinal study in the Chinese e-commerce context. Journal of Marketing Communications, 25(7), 740-758.

[11]. Wang, D. H., Cheng, X. Y. & Yao, W. T. (2022). Controlled marketing and online consumers' impulse spending tendency: mediating effects based on perceived value. Research in Business Economics (16), 64-67.

[12]. Aggarwal, P., & Vaidyanathan, R. (2003). Use it or lose it: Purchase acceleration effects of time-limited promotions. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 2(4), 393-403.

[13]. Jang, W. E., Ko, Y. J., Morris, J. D., & Chang, Y. (2015). Scarcity message effects on consumption behavior: Limited edition product considerations. Psychology & Marketing, 32(10), 989-1001.

[14]. Gao Jun. (2022). Influence mechanism of e-commerce live experience on consumer impulse consumption in the context of the Internet. Research on Business Economics (13), 76-79.

[15]. Wang, Yuting, & Liu, Lu. (2021). A study on the influence of social presence on consumer impulse buying in live streaming. Marketing Forum, 7, 56-60.

[16]. Chen, Yen-Jun. (2023). The influence of “live bandwagon” on irrational consumption behavior. Cooperative Economics and Technology (16), 78-80.

[17]. Meng, F., Guo, X., Peng, Z., Zhang, X., & Vogel, D. (2019). The routine use of social media and its relationship with individual performance: Evidence from the Chinese workplace. Information & Management, 56(7), 103162.

[18]. Liu, Y., Li, Q., Edu, T., Jozsa, L., & Negricea, I. C. (2020). Exploring the relationship between social media engagement and impulse buying tendency on social commerce platforms. Transformations in Business & Economics, 19(2), 413-430.

[19]. Chen, J. V., Su, B. C., & Widjaja, A. E. (2016). Facebook C2C social commerce: A study of online impulse buying. Decision Support Systems, 83, 57-69.

[20]. Zhu, Y. L. (2023). Influential factors and empirical analysis of consumers' impulse spending on online shopping. Commercial Exhibition Economy (24),109-112.

[21]. Zafar, A. U., Qiu, J., Li, Y., Wang, J., & Shahzad, M. (2021). The impact of social media celebrities' posts and contextual interactions on impulse buying in social commerce. Computers in Human Behavior, 115, 106178.

[22]. Chung, S., & Cho, H. (2017). Fostering parasocial relationships with celebrities on social media: Implications for celebrity endorsement. Psychology & Marketing, 34(4), 481-495.

[23]. Lou, C., & Yuan, S. (2019). Influencer marketing: How message value and credibility affect consumer trust of branded content on social media. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 19(1), 58-73.

[24]. Aragoncillo, L., & Orus, C. (2018). Impulse buying behavior: An online-offline comparative and the impact of social media. Spanish Journal of Marketing-ESIC, 22(1), 42-62.

[25]. Chang, Yaping, Zhu, Donghong & Li, Ronghua. (2012). Research on the mechanism of perceived product innovation on impulse buying. Research Management (03), 18-26+35.

[26]. Yang, Shuai. (2022). A study on the influence of online review emotional tendency on consumers' impulse consumption intention. China Business Journal (15), 28-30.

[27]. Lei, Quanwu. (2023). A study on the relationship between unfamiliar word-of-mouth, perceived value, and impulse consumption (Master's thesis, Beijing Foreign Studies University). Master's Degree.

[28]. Chen, Y.K. & Yang, X.H. (2023). The role of opinion leaders on impulse consumption: an interaction analysis of user characteristics and social media platform characteristics. Research in Business Economics (02), 74-77.

Cite this article

Du,L. (2025). Marketing Strategies and Social Influence on Impulse Buying. Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences,142,172-181.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

Disclaimer/Publisher's Note

The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.

About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of ICFTBA 2024 Workshop: Human Capital Management in a Post-Covid World: Emerging Trends and Workplace Strategies

Conference website: https://2024.icftba.org/
ISBN:978-1-83558-833-8(Print) / 978-1-83558-834-5(Online)
Conference date: 4 December 2024
Editor:Ursula Faura-Martínez, An Nguyen
Series: Advances in Economics, Management and Political Sciences
Volume number: Vol.142
ISSN:2754-1169(Print) / 2754-1177(Online)

© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See Open access policy for details).