A Study Of The Impact Of Purchase Situation On Impulse Buying Intention

Impulse buying is a high probability event in consumer buying behavior, and it is also a hot topic in the field of consumer behavioral research, which has concerned researchers since the 1950’s. Existing research places emphasis on the driving factors of impulse buying behavior, mechanism and behavior results, resulting in improved outcomes. However, there is minimal comparative research on the cross-cultural perspectives of consumer impulse buying.On June 1,2015, the China-South Korea Free Trade Agreement was signed. This is by far the highest-level free trade agreement between China and a foreign country. Moreover, it will encourage an unprecedented level of open trade, incorporating a wide market with a higher trade volume than any prior free trade agreement. The signage of the agreement provides an opportunity for the enterprises of China and South Korea to expand a developing market. However, effectively capturing the gains from trade from the agreement is dependent on scientific studies of consumer behavior in the target market. The subject of this research is on the driving factors for impulse buying and its mechanisms on consumer impulse buying behavior. Consumers from China and South Korea are used as samples to carry out this research. The research is a comparative study on the purchasing behavior of the two countries’ consumers in different regions and of different cultural backgrounds. The research is a reference for developing a better marketing strategy between the enterprises of the two countries.In reference to the existing academic impulse-buying-behavior-analysis model, this study proposes that a model of situational purchasing factors influences a consumers’impulse buying intentions. Furthermore, the situational purchase factors (i.e., promotional products, interactive services, store environment) positively affect consumers’emotions, and then those emotions promote increased consumer impulse buying intentions. Through a questionnaire survey design, the researcher collected data from Chinese and Korean consumers, used SPSS 17.0 to analyze descriptive statistics, validity analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, regression analysis, intermediary effect verification using survey data. Also, the research makes a comparison analysis of two countries’s survey data and finds the similarities and differences in the two group’s impulse buying behaviors.This empirical research on impulse buying behavior in China and South Korea reveals that the purchasing situational factors in sales promotions, the interactions between seller and consumer, and the store environment have a positive impact on the consumer’s positive emotions. The positive emotions of the consumers also have an affirmative impact on impulse purchase intentions and an intermediary role between situational purchasing factors and impulse buying intentions. Although the main variables have a positive effect in both countries, data analysis shows that there are differences on the affected degree between the variables in both countries, and some of these differences are significant. This research shows that even if the mechanisms of Chinese and Korean consumers’ impulse buying intentions are the same, nevertheless, situational purchasing factors have a far greater impact on a Korean consumers impulse buying behavior. The theoretical model of this research therefore has more explanatory power on Korean consumer purchasing behavior.This study tests the same theoretical model and mechanism by comparing survey data of impulse buying behavior of Chinese and foreign customers’from different economic, social and cultural backgrounds, and it achieved an ideal conclusion of the study. On the perspective of a research, this research will aid a variety of inquiries into impulse buying behavior, and the results from this research provide insight into the spectrum of impulse buying behavior. At the same time, the results of the data analysis from this research refine and enrich the study of consumer impulse buying, this study help to understand the differences in the influences of purchasing situations on impulse buying intention in the two countries. And this research will assist relevant enterprises by market activities to create ideal purchasing situations, therefore effectively improving market performance.