Impulse buying behaviour in omnichannel retail: an approach through the stimulus-organism-response theory

Abstract

PurposeThis study investigates impulse buying as a consumer behaviour outcome in omnichannel retail through the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory. For such, the authors addressed convenience and channel integration as the stimuli, the relationship among consumer empowerment, trust, satisfaction, and perceived value as the organism, and impulse buying as the response.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was conducted with 229 customers of a Brazilian retailer that adopts the omnichannel strategy. Data were analysed by partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).FindingsChannel integration and convenience had a positive influence on consumer empowerment which, in turn, influenced customer satisfaction and trust, producing direct and indirect effects on their perception of value relative to the retailer. In addition, impulsive buying was significantly influenced by perceived value.Practical implicationsThe results indicate that retailers that use the omnichannel strategy need to be alert to the factors mentioned above. The study empirically demonstrates that investing in channel integration increases customer empowerment, which will significantly improve customer trust and satisfaction and, eventually, customer impulse buying from the retailer.Originality/valueThis work contributes to the literature on marketing and consumer behaviour by identifying factors that influence consumers' impulse buying behaviour in the context of omnichannel retail. It suggests that impulse buying may be a relevant variable to understand the reaction of consumers empowered by the integration of the marketing channels and the convenience offered to them in an omnichannel retail environment.

Does integrated store service quality turn omnichannel shoppers into price-insensitive, cross-category purchasers, and loyal webroomers? Moderating role of perceived relationship investment and alternative retailer attractiveness

“…However, no research has determined these behaviors driven by the dimensions of ISSQ developed by Zhang et al (2022), emphasizing the quality attributes of the channel-integrated physical store (which differs from a conventional brick-and-mortar store), which is addressed in our current study. Focusing our discussion on recent omnichannel literature, researchers have demonstrated that dimensions of online and offline channel integration have a positive impact on omnichannel shoppers’ impulse purchase behavior (Pereira et al , 2021), value co-creation like citizenship behavior (Natarajan and Veera Raghavan, 2023a), their stickiness intentions with store (Lin et al , 2022b) and subsequent patronage intentions (Lim et al , 2022). Researchers have also gone a step ahead to demonstrate how omnichannel capability impacts customer satisfaction through their sense of empowerment (Ürgüplü and Yumurtacı Hüseyinoğlu, 2021), subsequently, how patronage intentions are formed out of customer empowerment and satisfaction (Mishra et al , 2022).…”

Does pickup service quality explain buy online pickup in-store service user's citizenship behavior? Moderating role of product categories and gender

“…Focusing our discussion concerning omnichannel retail literature, researchers in the past have relied upon this framework to model the stimuluses like channel integration quality (Gao and Huang, 2021;Hamouda, 2019;Lee et al, 2019;Pereira et al, 2022), omnichannel capability ( € Urg€ upl€ u and Yumurtacı H€ useyino glu, 2021), perceived channel integration (Cheah et al, 2022;Lim et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2018) and perceived channel agility (Son et al, 2021). The impact of these stimulus(S) variables on internal customer states (O) like consumer empowerment (Zhang et al, 2018), trust (Lim et al, 2022;Lin et al, 2022), satisfaction (Hamouda, 2019;Lim et al, 2022), perceived value (Hamouda, 2019), customer engagement (Gao and Huang, 2021;Lee et al, 2019) and relationship program effectiveness (Gao and Huang, 2021) were studied in detail.…”

“…The impact of these stimulus(S) variables on internal customer states (O) like consumer empowerment (Zhang et al, 2018), trust (Lim et al, 2022;Lin et al, 2022), satisfaction (Hamouda, 2019;Lim et al, 2022), perceived value (Hamouda, 2019), customer engagement (Gao and Huang, 2021;Lee et al, 2019) and relationship program effectiveness (Gao and Huang, 2021) were studied in detail. With regard to the response (R) variables, customer loyalty (Gao and Huang, 2021;Hamouda, 2019), satisfaction ( € Urg€ upl€ u and Yumurtacı H€ useyino glu, 2021), patronage intentions (Lim et al, 2022), purchase intentions (Zhang et al, 2018), repurchase intentions (Lee et al, 2019), impulse buying behavior (Pereira et al, 2022) and intention to spread positive word-of-mouth (Lee et al, 2019) have been studied extensively using this framework.…”

Factors affecting omnichannel buying online and return in store: evidence from fast-fashion retail

“…(2023) work, where they used a qualitative exploratory design with in-depth interviews of Generation Z customers and retail firms were used to provide insights into the dynamic capabilities necessary for obtaining omnichannel retailing. Pereira et al . (2023) explored impulse buying as a consumer behaviour outcome in omnichannel retail through the stimulus-organism-response theory.…”

“…Recent literature includes Solem et al (2023) work, where they used a qualitative exploratory design with in-depth interviews of Generation Z customers and retail firms were used to provide insights into the dynamic capabilities necessary for obtaining omnichannel retailing. Pereira et al (2023) explored impulse buying as a consumer behaviour outcome in omnichannel retail through the stimulus-organism-response theory. In addition, Li et al (2023) developed a stylised model to explore omnichannel coupon promotion strategies considering consumers' time sensitivity in redeeming coupons.…”