Why did I just buy that?
A Look at Impulse Buying in the Atmosphere
of Daily Deals
By:
Andrea Kruszka
April 26, 2012
Professor Pallavi Kumar
American University
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Abstract
Little to no academic framework has explored a new social commerce concept
known as daily deals. Much research has been produced for over 50 years about impulse
buying; however there is very little study about impulse buying in the context of daily deals.
This capstone adds an additional element to the conversation of impulse buying and
answers intriguing questions about consumers’ motivations for purchasing daily deals and
purchasing them on impulse. Through the methodology of a self-administered survey, this
capstone answered research questions about impulse buying daily deals, both cognitive and
affective motivations for purchasing, as well as a comparison of traditional purchasing
behaviors and those of daily deals. This capstone found that for the majority of consumers,
daily deals are not bought on impulse. Consumers are more motivated by saving money
and receiving a discount than by the enjoyment of purchasing the deal. Lastly, there are
positive correlations between consumers' traditional purchasing behaviors and those of
daily deals—specifically impulse buying.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to most importantly thank Professor Pallavi Kumar for her
unconditional support and guidance throughout this capstone project. I would also like to
thank Professor Maria Ivancin for her help and direction with the research portion of this
study. Thank you to all my colleagues in American University’s Public Communication
Seminar class, especially, Toby Phillips, Kim Short, and Laila Yette, for their motivation and
constant feedback in our discussion group. I would like to thank everyone who participated
in my survey, and those who shared it with others. Lastly, I would like to thank my family,
especially my dad, because he constantly provided me critiques and was a tremendous help
with proofreading.
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Table of Contents
List of Figures..……………………………………………………………………………………………… Pg. 6
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………Pg. 7
Review of Literature…………………………………………………………………………………… Pg. 13
Impulse Buying………………………………………………………………………………………………Pg. 13
Hedonic and Utilitarian Motivations……………………………………………………………….Pg. 17
Online Impulse Buying…………………………………………………………………………………...Pg. 20
Amount of Time Spent Online…………………………………………………………………………Pg. 22
Mobile Impulse Buying………………………………………………………………………………….Pg. 23
Daily Deals……………………………………………………………………………………………………Pg. 25
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………Pg. 27
Methodology………………………………………………………………………………………………Pg. 29
Survey………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Pg. 29
Sample…………………………………………………………………………………………………………Pg. 31
Findings…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Pg. 32
Why Consumers Purchase Daily Deals………………………………………………………… Pg. 32
Hedonic and Utilitarian Motivations…………………………………………………………… Pg. 34
Impulse Buying Daily Deals………………………………………………………………………… Pg. 34
Cross Tabulation—Why buy daily deals and hedonic/utilitarian elements…… Pg. 35
Buying Tendency……………………………………………………………………………………….. Pg. 38
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Cross Tabulation—How long before purchasing a daily deal and buying tendency.. Pg. 42
Cross Tabulation—Hours a day spend on new media and how long consumers thinking
about a daily deal before purchasing………………………………………………………………Pg. 43
Discussion…………………………………………………………………………………………………….Pg. 47
Daily Deals Bought on Impulse………………………………………………………………………..Pg. 47
Motivations for Purchasing Daily Deals…………………………………………………………...Pg. 49
Hedonic and Utilitarian Motivations for Purchasing Daily Deals……………………….Pg. 50
Hedonic Motivations and Relationship to Impulse Buying Daily Deals………………Pg. 51
Utilitarian Motivations and Relationship to Impulse Buying Daily Deals…………. Pg. 52
Traditional Impulse Buying and Daily Deal Impulse Buying……………………………. Pg. 53
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Pg. 55
Limitations………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Pg. 56
Future Research………………………………………………………………………………………….. Pg. 56
References…………………………………………………………………………………………………. Pg. 58
Appendices………………………………………………………………………………………………… Pg. 60
Survey…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Pg. 60
Survey Coding Sheet…………………………………………………………………………………….. Pg. 64
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List of Figures
Figure 1: Why do you buy daily deals……………………….……………………………………..Pg. 33
Figure 2: Importance of promotion/discount and buying deal on impulse………. Pg. 36
Figure 3: Importance of product and buying deal on impulse…….…………………… Pg. 36
Figure 4: Importance of purchasing convenience and buying deal on impulse… Pg. 37
Figure 5: Importance of enjoy buying daily deals and buying deal on impulse… Pg. 38
Figure 6: Importance of it will make me happy and buying deal on impulse….... Pg. 38
Figure 7: Buying tendency—I see it I buy it…………………………………………………….. Pg. 39
Figure 8: Buying tendency—I often buy without thinking……………………………… Pg. 39
Figure 9: Buying tendency—I buy on the spur of the moment…………………………. Pg. 40
Figure 10: Buying tendency—I buy according to how I feel at the moment……… Pg. 41
Figure 11: Buying tendency—I buy things to make me happy…………………………. Pg. 41
Figure 12: Buying tendency—I buy things because it’s fun/enjoyment…………….Pg. 41
Figure 13: How long before purchasing a deal and I plan all purchases…………… Pg. 43
Figure 14: Hours spent on email and how long before purchasing a deal…………..Pg. 45
Figure 15: Hours spent on social media and how long before purchasing a deal…Pg. 45
Figure 16: Hours spent on mobile and how long before purchasing a deal………….Pg. 46
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Introduction
It’s a Saturday afternoon and shoppers are strolling around the neighborhood of
Georgetown in Washington, D.C. A group of friends are out shopping, enjoying the
company of each other and the excitement of shopping. Shops everywhere—signs that read
“buy one get one half off”, “end of the year sale”, “an extra 40 percent off sale items”,
“everything must go.” Approaching the first store, designer shoes, and they are half off. You
are convinced, they have to be yours. Then it strikes your eye, the perfect purse to
accompany it, not on sale, but since the shoes are, why not include the purse. The cycle
continues, it is spring and new clothes are on display, why not spend the money. One thing
leads to another, and before the shopping extravaganza is over there are more bags than
one can carry and more money spent than intended. However, there are so many exquisite
items purchased—and some even bought at discount prices. What just happened? How did
this fun and joyful day, turn out this way?
Impulse buying as a marketing tool is a concept that has been explored dating back
to the 1950’s. Overtime, scholars have looked at what qualifies as impulse buying and
observed it in different contexts. As the definition has been looked at critically and scholars
have enumerated additional elements, Rook (1987) explores the earliest research of
impulse buying. He quotes The DuPont study, which provided the paradigm for the earliest
research, defining impulse buying as an “unplanned purchase”. This definition typically
operationalized the difference between a consumer’s total purchases at the completion of a
shopping trip, and those that were listed as intended purchases prior to entering the store
(190).
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In the early stages of studying behaviors related to impulse buying, this purchasing
phenomenon was observed in the context of a brick and mortar store. According to Rook
(1987) “between 27 and 62 percent of consumers’ department store purchases fell into the
impulse category and that few product lines were unaffected” (189). This proposes that
when a consumer enters a store, impulse buying can happen at any time. It does not even
take into consideration what the product is.
As new types of media evolved for consumers to purchase products, scholars
started to look at impulse buying in these contexts. New media can be classified differently
to multitudinous people, and also depending on the era. This paper will classify new media
as the Internet, mobile—smartphones/iPods and iPads, social media/Social Commerce—
Facebook, Twitter, and daily deals. Looking at how technology and new media has
influenced consumers, eMarketer Digital Intelligence did a study in September 2011,
discovering that the fourth most purchased product via smartphone by U.S. smartphone
users were daily deals. Daily deals came in fourth only behind digital purchases, clothing or
accessories directly from retailer, and tickets—either for concerts, movies, sporting events,
etc. For consumers, 34 percent of products purchased via smartphones were daily deals.
This is interesting, because daily deals have only been around since 2007 and smartphones
have been around about the same time as well.
The very beginning of this new type of consumer purchasing behavior was
spearheaded by television shopping. In a study done by Park and Lennon (2005), the origin
and reason for television shopping was examined. This new purchasing behavior
originated around 1987, with the most popular networks being Quality Value Convenience
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(QVC) and Home Shopping Network (HSN) (135). From their study these researchers
found both hedonic and utilitarian motivations were evident in television shopping (142).
Television shoppers were motivated both by the convenience of shopping at home and that
they were able to save time and money, which is the utilitarian motivation element. On the
other side, they found that people are more likely to impulse buy if they like the host, the
product demonstration, and it is entertaining for them, in other words the hedonic
motivation element is present. People would buy products that they had no intention of
buying, had not planned, or even needed but because there was a favorable parasocial
interaction with the television host they may buy the product (142).
Looking at other factors that led to impulse buying these researchers also found that
the number of hours viewers spent watching these programs was significantly related to
impulse buying. People that watch more television shopping networks are more positively
influenced and more likely to impulse buy. Since over the past 20 years, technology has
expanded and continues to expand, how does this “new technology” affect impulse buying
and is it similar to the traditional buying trends?
With the emergence of smartphones and the proliferation social media as we hurtle
through the 21st century, consumers have even more options to purchase. Reed (2011)
discusses how the Internet and Smartphones have “bred a new generation of budgetminded consumers and discount shoppers”. One of the newest trends in social media is
daily deals. The idea is that every day a new deal or even several deals are offered to people
and it comes through various channels. Consumers receive these alerts via email, phone,
or social media such as Twitter and Facebook, and are urged to buy the deal before it is
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gone (Bond, 2011). Often it is the first message or communication of the day that people
see because of the numerous media through which they receive them. However, with all of
these new technologies just now emerging, academics haven’t studied closely how daily
deals relate to impulse buying. The first research question this study looks to answer is:
R1: Are daily deals bought on impulse?
As Rook (1987) states the beginning studies of impulse buying focus on it being
“unplanned” so does that mean that all daily deal purchases are bought impulsively?
Consumers can’t plan to buy a daily deal because they don’t know what the deal is until that
day. If scholars claim that consumers buy impulsively for hedonic and utilitarian reasons,
the second, third, and fourth research questions are:
R2: What motivates consumers to purchase daily deals, specifically the hedonic and utilitarian
motivations?
R3: Do these motivations lead the consumer to buy on impulse?
R3: Are there similarities and are there differences between the traditional impulse buying
and daily deal impulse buying?
With little to no academic publishing in this new area, this paper looks to unlock
some of the intrigue surrounding questions about impulse buying with relation to daily
deals. As technology keeps evolving and social media become an ever more present part of
every day life, it changes behaviors of purchasing patterns. This paper is important to the
current and previous discussions about impulse buying, but it adds additional elements and
contexts that haven’t been looked at before. In the realm of market research, specifically
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daily deal companies, this paper will attempt to answer some of the many questions
regarding the evolution of impulse buying and specifically what motivates consumers to
buy daily deals. These findings can be used for market research and daily deal companies.
It is important for companies when trying to sell products to not only satisfy consumers'
utilitarian (convenience or price/promotion) needs but also their hedonic (enjoyment,
satisfaction, excitement) needs. Therefore this paper will encompass all elements, and
provide recommendations specifically for daily deal companies.
The topic of impulse buying and the multiple elements of the definition will be
explored first. This will provide a concrete description of what it is as well as what scholars
have already explored. This paper will then look at the evolution through new media types.
It will first explore impulse buying on the Internet, because even though television is the
root of this new media technology, much technology of the 21st century is derived from the
concept of the Internet. Next, mobile impulse buying will be explored, looking at
purchasing behaviors through smartphones and iPods/iPads. Finally, this paper will touch
base on what has been reported on social commerce, specifically daily deals. The
methodology will be a quantitative study in the form of an online self-administered survey.
It will look to answer questions associated with consumers who purchase daily deals. The
survey will ask questions on both hedonic and utilitarian reasoning. Focusing on attitudes,
motivations, reasoning, the product, and what people look for when purchasing a daily deal
will be the main objectives. It will also explore the means by which people receive daily
deals as well as purchase them. All of the questions will be explored either through openended, multiple choice response, or on a level basis using a Likert scale.
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This study will have limitations throughout. In order to have a more focused study
only certain aspects of impulse buying will be examined. Many scholars discuss how
impulse buying relates to personality traits, class status, environment, psychological
factors, and many more factors. However since this paper is more concentrated on factors
important to consumers purchasing behaviors in relation to market research and daily deal
companies, this paper will primarily focus on the utilitarian and hedonic circumstances.
Finally, the supposition of daily deals has emerged for only a short period time. There are
very few research studies published academically, and a lot of room for new information to
be explored. This paper will focus on generating a new discussion about impulse buying
and daily deals. At first it will look to investigate why consumers purchase daily deals as
well as their utilitarian and hedonic motivations. Additionally, it seeks to discover if
consumers purchase daily deals impulsively, and if so, what is the motivation and reasoning
for this behavior.
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Review of Literature
Impulse buying
The concept of impulse buying has been explored for over 50 years, and throughout
the years scholars have added additional elements to the definition. It is hard to
distinguish what purchases constitute impulse buying. Rook (1987) quotes Kollat and
Willett 1969, “impulse buying is difficult to measure accurately because consumers may be
unable or unwilling to fully articulate their pre-purchase intentions” (191). Therefore, the
many conceptualizations and enhancements of the definition will be examined, in order to
get a more precise definition for the purpose of this paper.
Unplanned purchase
Throughout previously cited scholarly literature, Dennis Rook is often quoted, and
scholars have enhanced his definition. Rook (1987) previously stated that the earliest
studies of impulse buying claim it is an “unplanned purchase” (190). Piron (1991) uses a
conceptualized meaning of unplanned purchasing from Engel, Kollat, and Blackwell (1968)
saying that, “an unplanned purchase is a buying action undertaken without a problem
having been previously recognized or buying intention formed prior to entering the store”
(512). Agreeing with this, Liao, Shen, and Chu (2009) add to the conversation, “before
consumers make an impulsive purchasing decision, they often do not have a list of products
or brands to buy” (274). Rook (1987) says that “impulse buying is still widely
characterized as unplanned purchase behavior” (191). Adding on to what these scholars
say, Jeffrey and Hodge (2007) in their article quote Stern saying that, “impulse buying is
synonymous with unplanned buying and defined as any purchase which a shopper makes
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but has not planned in advance” (368). Lastly, Piron (1991) starts their multi-dimensional
conceptualization of impulse buying saying that the early studies viewed impulse
purchasing to be strictly similar to unplanned purchasing (509). As it shows there are
many scholars who do believe that even though the earliest studies looked at impulse
buying as unplanned, it is still an important element in what constitutes impulse buying.
Rook (1987) claims that even though scholars Stern (1962), Kollat and Willett
(1969) agree with the idea of unplanned purchasing, they criticize the definition because it
is too vague and encompasses too many different types of behavior (191). Behaviors Rook
discusses such as, noticing on the shelf of the store a product the consumer is out of,
therefore the product is purchased—was the purchase then made impulsively? There is
much criticism of impulse buying, looking specifically at what conceptualizes it and what
behaviors constitute it. Therefore, throughout the exploration of impulse buying many
scholars have looked to reexamine the concept (191).
Rook gives his definition of impulse buying and provides characteristics of the
behavior.
Impulse buying occurs when a consumer experiences a sudden often powerful and
persistent urge to buy something immediately. The impulse to buy is hedonically
complex and may stimulate emotional conflict. Also, impulse buying is prone to
occur with diminished regard for its consequences (191).
Examining the definition more closely, Rook (1987) says: buying impulses are often forceful
and urgent, that there isn’t much time to think about them. It is a fast experience. It is
more spontaneous than cautious…it tends to disrupt the consumer’s behavior stream. It is
more emotional than rational (191).
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Many scholars use the Rook definition as to what conceptualizes impulse buying,
while other scholars found gaps and enhanced it. Piron (1991) looks at a multiple
dimensional definition of impulse buying which encompasses many elements of what other
scholars have explored in their studies. Throughout this portion of the literature review
the many conceptualizations of impulse buying will be explored, as well as delving into a
more precise meaning of impulse buying.
Exposure to stimulus
Piron (1991) utilizes the original concept of unplanned purchasing and adds the
element of exposure to stimulus. Meaning that, impulse buying is the result of two factors
occurring, which are unplanned purchasing and the exposure to a stimulus (509).
As the concept of unplanned purchasing has already been explored in this paper, the
phenomenon of exposure to stimulus has not. Piron (1991) states that Applebaum (1951)
“was the first to suggest that impulse purchasing may stem from the consumer’s exposure
to a stimulus while in the store” (509)…and in other words shoppers “do not plan their
purchases, but search for and take advantage of in-store promotions, thus maximizing their
buying power” (509). What is gathered from this element of impulse buying is that in order
for someone to buy a product on impulse it first has to be unplanned and the person has
exposure to the stimulus. The consumer has to have gone into a store, not planning on
buying this product, but once they see it and are exposed to it, they then feel they have to
purchase it. In addition, the element of an in-store promotion adds to the impulsivity.
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On-the-spot
The third element that Piron (1991) added to other scholars’ conceptualizations is
the idea of “on-the-spot.” This principle of impulse buying coincides with the other two
previous elements because, “impulse purchasing occurs when the decision to purchase is
made immediately upon seeing the product or the stimulus representing the product”
(513). Piron (1991) uses the Settle and Alreck (1986) meaning of on-the-spot saying that,
“the whole purchase decision process for impulse goods takes place at the point of sale and
may take only a few seconds time” (513). This element coincides with the
conceptualization of Rook (1987) because even though it is not specifically called on-thespot, he uses the idea of the persistent urge to buy something immediately…it is a fast
experience (191).
Emotional and/or Cognitive Reactions
The last element that Piron (1991) discusses of impulse buying is Emotional and/or
Cognitive Reactions (513). This element is more in relation to the actual consumer and
their decision making. The idea of an emotional and/or cognitive reaction coincides with
Rook (1987) claiming that the impulse to buy is hedonically complex and may stimulate
emotional conflict (191). Piron (1991) agrees with Rook (1987) that, there is a consumer
phenomenon of thoughts and emotions experienced during impulse purchasing situations
(509). In other words, when the consumer purchases a product there is some kind of
emotional feeling behind it. It leaves the consumer feeling an array of emotions, ranging
from good, to bad, guilty, excitement, stimulation, etc. (191).
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Piecing together all the elements of Piron’s conceptualization of impulse buying,
Jeffrey and Hodge (2007) agree and state it best that, impulse buying includes four
components: “the purchase is unplanned, it is the result of an exposure to stimulus, it is
decided “on-the-spot”, and it involves an emotional and/or cognitive reaction” (368). This
paper will use the enhanced, multi-dimensional conceptualization from Piron as to what
constitutes impulse buying. Putting this definition into perspective when walking into a
store there is a product that immediately catches the eye, it is something that is not on the
shopping list and there was no pre-purchase thought about it. Some type of emotional or
cognitive feeling about this product is evoked, and very quickly and spontaneously this
product is bought.
Having established a more precise definition of impulse buying, this study will
attempt to determine what motivates people to buy daily deals. The next portion of this
paper will look at specific motivational factors in impulse buying as well as a hallmark of
impulse buying in different contexts leading up to the medium of daily deals.
Hedonic and Utilitarian Motivations
After scholars explored impulse buying and the conceptualized and operationalized
concepts, they started to explore it from the perspective of a consumer’s decision making
process. Scholars looked at emotional aspects, motivations, personality traits, promotion
and deals, class affiliation, and many more aspects as to why people buy impulsively. Park
and Lennon (2005) state in a study by Dawson, Bloch, and Ridgway (1990) that consumers
are motivated by three categories of needs; utilitarian, hedonic, or a combination of both
(136). According to Kim and Eastin (2011) the difference between hedonic and utilitarian
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motivation is that hedonic is more affective whereas utilitarian is more cognitive. The
utilitarian motivation is more practical and straightforward—a consumer makes a purchase
and acquires a product where the hedonic motivation is based more off affect—fun,
enjoyment and an arousing stimulation and experience (71).
According to Park and Lennon (2005) people that are motivated by utilitarian
purposes buy products in order to satisfy a practical need or objectively evaluate the
product (136). Bridges and Florsheim (2008) build upon this concept; consumers may
obtain utilitarian value if they are goal-focused and receive convenience, accessibility,
selection, availability of information…and are associated with perceived ease of use,
freedom, and control (310). Liao, Shen and Chu,(2009) follow the viewpoint of Hirschman
and Holbrook saying that utilitarian benefits from products are such things as reliability,
lower prices and convenience—and are primarily instrumental, functional, and cognitive
(279). For example, a consumer who is motivated by utilitarian needs may buy a product
they see because when they are exposed to the stimuli they see it is a product they are
interested in. In addition, the product is convenient for them to purchase, and on top of it
there could be a promotion for this product. This consumer may purchase this product if
they are motivated by utilitarian benefits because of the benefits related to purchasing the
product.
On the other side of utilitarian motivations are hedonic motives. Park and Lennon
(2005) state that people who are motivated by hedonic reasons shop for enjoyment, as a
leisure activity, and they often make unplanned purchases. Hedonic needs include affect—
such as pleasure, excitement, and enjoyment (136). In addition, Liao, Shen, and Chu (2009)
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state that hedonic needs from products are those such as entertainment, fantasy, and fun—
without further practical purposes and they are purchases based off emotion (279). For
example, a consumer who is motivated by hedonic reasons goes shopping for fun and
leisure. They enjoy looking around and browsing—this is enjoyment and entertainment for
them. To them, shopping is a hobby or pastime—something to do rather than something
that needs to be done. When purchasing a product they purchase based on positive affect,
emotional needs. They decide whether the product satisfies them, provides intrinsic
stimulation, and assess whether it was it entertaining and fun (279).
These motives (utilitarian and hedonic) will be explored throughout this paper as
well as how these motives play a role in the advancement of new media in relation to
impulse buying. Kim and Eastin (2011) state that researchers, Babin (1994), Hausman
(2000), Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2001), Arnold and Reynolds (2003), have operationalized
that “hedonic consumers are more likely to engage in impulse buying” (73). Impulse
buying consumption refers to unplanned or spontaneous purchases…and engages
consumers’ hedonic or affective values (73). Going along with this Kervenoael, Aykac, and
Palmer (2009) state that a number of works have now shown that impulse buying satisfies
a number of hedonic desires…impulse buyers are now seen to exhibit greater feelings of
amusement, delight, enthusiasm, and joy (321). This raises the question, if this is true; can
this be related to the emergence of new media? Are consumers who are motivated by
hedonic needs more likely to impulse buy than those motivated by utilitarian needs?
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Online impulse buying
Previous studies looked at buying from the traditional brick and mortar
establishments. As new media, specifically the Internet, evolved and became very popular,
so did consumers’ purchasing behaviors. Looking at the growth of e-commerce, Kim and
Eastin (2011) quote the U.S. Census Bureau from 2009 and state that “the estimate of U.S.
retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2009 was $31.7 billion, which is roughly a
six-fold increase from the same period for 2000”(68-69). E-commerce accounted for 3.5
percent of total U.S. sales for this time period, and ultimately is a fairly large increase over
the 0.8 percent of total sales for the same period of 2000 (68-69). This shows that just over
the past nine years there has been a significant increase in e-commerce, and much of it has
to do with the new media technology available to consumers. However, with this
information, according to Kim and Eastin, (2011) “online shopping research is still lagging
behind necessary research compared to consumer research in an offline shopping setting”
(69). Furthermore, little is known about the effects of hedonic motivation on online
shopping behavior (72). This section of the capstone looks to examine the beginning roots
and research of online purchasing behavior, specifically hedonic and utilitarian motivations,
in order to lay the groundwork for the motivation behind daily deal purchasing.
Looking at utilitarian and hedonic motivations in the online shopping context, Kim
and Eastin (2011) state that the enjoyment of Web shopping is a hedonic motivation and
the usefulness of online shopping is a utilitarian motivation (72). Consumers shopping
online who are motivated by hedonic needs will buy groceries because of the enjoyment
they receive from shopping on the Internet. Consumers motivated by utilitarian
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motivations online will buy groceries because of how convenient and useful it is without
stepping foot in a store (72). Furthermore in online product purchasing, consumers
motivated by utilitarian needs are those who “directly seek the most relevant information
about a brand, a product, or a product category” (73). Consumers who are motivated by
hedonic needs are those who enjoy shopping and tend to explore Web sites just as if they
were browsing all the shops in a mall. “They are more likely to make more frequent, longer,
and experiential visits to Web sites” (73). Outside of what has been demonstrated of the
motivational behaviors behind consumers online purchasing in the realm of social media
what can be deduced about impulse buying online?
According to Kim and Eastin (2011) researchers have found that hedonic consumers
are more likely to engage in impulse buying. Consumer's impulse buying was positively
correlated with hedonic motivations. With regards to the hedonic Web consumer, they
easily surrender to unplanned purchases while shopping online, because the Web is not
constrained, there are no opening and closing times, and to a large extent no constraints on
product availability. The availability of such opportunities may lead to uncontrolled or
impulsive purchases (73). Consumers can purchase products any time of the day and can
purchase from any store they want to with the options the Web provides. If a consumer
wants to shop in the middle of the night at a store located only in a city across the country,
that option is available. Sun and Wu (2011) looked at online impulse buying and found it to
be positively related to a need for arousal. This confirms what previous scholars have said
about impulse buying and hedonic motivations, in that some kind of arousal and emotional
feeling is involved (344). Consumers receive excitement about purchasing products, and
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therefore without even thinking will just buy impulsively because it is something that
arouses and makes them happy.
Previously stated were consumers’ utilitarian needs—which were benefits from
products, lower price, and convenience. Kervenoael, Aykac, and Palmer (2009) quote
Madhavaram and Laverie (2004) claiming that there are many stimuli that are responsible
for impulse buying in the online environment. Specifically one that is looked at is the
product, price, and special offers (322). If there is a promotion or a special deal, this can
enhance an emotional response that influences the amount of online buying. An example
of this is the strategic planning of Web sites and deals. According to Sun and Wu (2011)
there are specific Web sites and retailers that feature weekly specials that are a strategic
advertising display for consumers, which aim to stimulate impulsive buying from the
consumer. Another option Web sites offer and it appeals to utilitarian needs, is the 1-click
function. When a consumer is at the point of purchase in the online environment, instead
of spending time entering credit card information the 1-click function saves time and effort.
Their information is already on the site from previous orders and allows them with the
click of a button to buy whatever is in their “online shopping cart.” This strategy also
effectively deprives online consumers the opportunity to review their order and charge
amount, and in turn trip a consumer’s impulsive buying tendency (345).
Amount of time spent online
The utilitarian and hedonic elements are one aspect that has been explored in the
online atmosphere and buying impulsively online. Interestingly researchers have also
discovered that the amount of time spent online and impulse buying has a direct
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correlation. As discussed earlier, consumers were more likely to buy products and buy
them on impulse the more hours they spent watching television shopping networks. Sun
and Wu (2011) also found in their study that online impulse buying can be affected through
the mediation of Internet addiction (344). In other words, the number of hours a consumer
spent on the Internet is positively correlated with how much they buy impulsively. Jeffrey
and Hodge (2007) touch base on this concept, and build upon the phenomenon.
Consumers aggregate all purchases in a single online purchasing event, very similar to
visiting a brick and mortar store. The more someone is spending on a Web site, the less
painful additional spending will be…higher spending in advance of seeing the impulse item
will lead to a higher likelihood of purchasing the item on impulse (370-371). For instance,
a consumer is purchasing very expensive formal attire. In addition to the formal attire the
consumer notices a very expensive accessory to accompany it. Normally the consumer
would not purchase the accessory, but since they are already spending a large amount of
money on the formal attire what is a few more dollars for the accessory. This information
adds an additional non-correspondent differential to this discussion and this paper will
look to discover, does the amount of time a consumer spends on new media influence
impulse buying tendency?
Mobile Impulse Buying
As technology in the 21st century continues advancing it allows consumers more
advances in their purchasing options. One of the newest emergences of technology is
mobile, specifically smartphones. Smartphones offer many options, from Internet on the
phone to applications that can be downloaded to perform an array of tasks. Regarding
23
impulse buying and motivations to buy specifically from a smartphone is an area that not
many scholars have looked into and not much academic work has been published. Davis
and Sajtos (2011) discuss mobile commerce and, the close proximity and ubiquitous nature
of m-commerce service and devices. With such advances and how readily available mobile
technology is to consumers, this makes the individual more vulnerable to the feeling of
having to buy something instantly, thus, more easily able to spontaneously relieve the urge
to buy (16). Purchasing behaviors in the atmosphere of mobile commerce are similar to
what has been explored in relation to television shopping and Internet purchasing. In
television and Internet purchasing it was found that the more hours consumers watched
home shopping networks and the more they were on the Internet, this was positively
correlated to the higher likelihood that they would buy on impulse. The same idea applies
with mobile devices, since many consumers are immersed in mobile phones constantly,
whether it is SMS, applications, etc, it easily leads to impulse buying.
Davis and Sajitos (2011) propose that in terms of mobile phone usage, an impulse
purchase is an unplanned purchase and involves a hedonic component. Most m-commerce
“short message service (SMS) purchases are involved in the interpersonal hedonic ‘play’
between people and marketing campaigns” (16). This is a strategy that the marketer can
employ to reach the consumer easily, and with a personalized message, which the marketer
hopes will make the consumer more likely to be impulsive in their purchase decision (16).
Another element of the hedonic component is that consumers are so active in using the
technology device, that they find it enjoyable. Buying in this context may relate to the same
emotions…the process is exciting, thrilling, and fun (17). Therefore consumers may buy
products via m-commerce mainly because it is something fun to do. From the consumer's
24
viewpoint, since they are constantly on their device, so why not buy something from it and
get enjoyment out of it.
Another element that Davis and Sajtos (2011) discuss in relation to mobile and
impulse buying is that during the consumption of m-commerce services like SMS, the desire
to act may be brought on by a stimulus, which is sudden and spontaneous. They state that
the stimulus (a message sent by someone or an advertiser) along with other channels of
communication, can cause consumers to act irrationally, and therefore buy impulsively
(17). This is interesting because as previously stated regarding impulse buying in the
context of brick and mortar, the stimulus was the actual product. However in the mcommerce setting the stimulus is a message or an advertisement sent to the consumer that
causes them to buy impulsively.
After exploring what scant information has been published about mobile commerce
and impulse buying in the m-commerce environment, it helps to build the ground work for
social commerce specifically daily deals, which is an even less studied area in this fast
growing field. The next section will discuss daily deals, which constitute a marketing
concept, and a concept that hasn’t been explored in relation to impulse buying.
Daily Deals
The concept of daily deals appeals to consumers who are avid online purchasers. In
a study in QSR Magazine, Oches (2012) found that 65 percent of online shoppers subscribe
to at least one daily deal email: 46 percent of them subscribe to more than one. Meanwhile,
almost two-thirds of deal subscribers had purchased a deal in the past 90 days, and 89
25
percent of them redeemed it. This new media concept, social commerce, offers to
consumers who already shop online another option for them to make purchases online.
This is a new supposition in the realm of marketing and communications, that hasn’t
been scrutinized in-depth by researchers. LivingSocial was the first daily deal website to be
launched in 2007, and today is one of the most popular daily deal websites and still
growing. LivingSocial promotes different deals every day with discounts up to 90 percent
on local restaurants, bars, salons, and other businesses (Reed, 2011). Bond (2011)
discusses the decision making behind this and states that consumers get a thrill of snagging
exclusive discounts and it keeps them coming back. Consumers feel that they must look at
daily deals because they are afraid they may miss a special deal, meaning that many
consumers purchase daily deals because they enjoy receiving what they view as a great
deal.
Instead of spending hours clipping through coupons, daily deals allow consumers to
receive their deal with the click of a button—and can be redeemed with a paperless
voucher on mobile phones. In an article by the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Anthony
Youn (2012) says the appeal for consumers is simply the lower prices. More and more
people are buying these products simply because of the deal they are receiving.
Besides the ease with which the consumer redeems the voucher, there is much ease
with how the consumer receives the deal. Due to this new technology and the daily deal
concept, Reed (2011) states that this type of marketing, payment, and redemption options
allows consumers speed and convenience. It is a one-click function and the deal is bought.
Consumers have these deals coming to them from a variety of media outlets. They come via
26
email, through mobile device or laptop/desktop, social media—Facebook and Twitter,
along with applications via iPhone and iPad. Bond (2011) claims that for some consumers
who receive deals via email it is often the first thing they see in the morning, and they
continue to check out the deals during the day every day. This information is pertinent
because it raises the question of the daily deal relationship to impulse buying. As
previously stated about consumer purchasing motivations in impulse buying, some of the
major factors were found to be sale price and convenience—which are utilitarian factors.
Do consumers buy these deals because of the discount or because of convenience, or both?
Also, researchers discussed the hedonic components of purchasing as well, so do
consumers purchase daily deals for hedonic reasons as well?
Looking at daily deals from the impulse buying standpoint, Bond (2011) states that
daily deals do encourage impulse buying because the offer is only available for that
particular day, or a few days at most…urging people to buy buy buy before the deal is gone
forever. It is nearly impossible to use these sites for planned-out purchases—meaning that
buying a daily deal is an unplanned purchase, and as stated earlier that is an element of
impulse buying tendency. The Canadian Medical Association (2012) found in their article
that the bargain is a new way to put pressure on consumers and that it indulges the
temptation side of consumerism, to encourage impulse purchasing.
Conclusion
This review of literature exemplifies the hallmark of consumers’ motivations to
purchase as well as the relationship of impulse buying in the realm of new media. When
looking at consumers’ purchasing motivations, they are motivated by both hedonic and
27
utilitarian elements. When exploring the new media realm of daily deals, researchers
indicate many utilitarian and hedonic factors that motivate consumers to purchase—such
as a good deal/price, convenience, fun, or enjoyment. From what scant information is
published about consumer’s motivation to purchase daily deals, we may ask are consumers
motivated by utilitarian, hedonic, or a combination of both components in the daily deal
atmosphere? Supplementary, utilitarian and hedonic elements can also encourage
consumers to purchase on impulse. Are daily deals bought on impulse? The next section
will look to unfold these mysteries and research questions previously stated, specifically
addressing consumers’ motivations to purchase daily deals and the relationship to impulse
buying.
28
Methodology
Survey
In this study the method used to gather data was in the form of an online selfadministered survey. The survey was intended to capture consumers’ motivations for
purchasing daily deals, distinguish their buying behaviors, and determine whether
consumers purchase on impulse, both in traditional and daily deal atmospheres. The
survey questions were generated by the researcher and one of the questions had
components adapted from a survey by Davis and Sajtos (2009). Qualtrics software program
was used to design and distribute the survey to participants.
The survey had three preliminary questions to qualify the participants. Before
proceeding to the survey all participants needed to agree to give consent, agree they were
at least 18 years of age, and agree that within the last year they had purchased a daily deal.
There were then 10 questions intended to adequately collect the motivation by consumers
regarding daily deals behaviors. The initial survey questions dealt with how often
participants purchase daily deals, what do they purchase/enjoy purchasing most, and what
are the avenues in which they receive daily deals.
The next sequence of questions was intended to distinguish participants’
motivations for purchasing daily deals, as well as whether they purchased them on impulse.
An open-ended question was used to determine why the participant purchases daily deals.
A follow-up question asked the participants to rank in importance to them from not at all
important to extremely important the following:
29

promotion or discount

the product

it will make me happy

something new to me

something I need

convenience of purchasing

being part of the daily deal conversation

I enjoy buying daily deals
These questions were all intended to gauge motivations and the relative importance of
hedonic and utilitarian needs.
The next series of questions asked about their impulsive behavior, determining how
long the consumer thinks about purchasing a daily deal before the actual purchase of the
deal. A follow-up question was asked about the consumer’s purchasing behavior in
general. The participants were to answer from a scale between strongly disagree to
strongly agree. The questions that were asked are as follows:

“I see it I buy it”

“I often buy without thinking”

“I buy on the spur of the moment”

“I buy products and services according to how I feel at the moment”

“I carefully plan all my purchases”

“I buy things to make me happy”

“I buy things because it is fun/enjoyment”

“I buy things when there is a special deal”
30
In this particular question, some of the specifics used to determine buying tendency were
adapted from a survey used in a previous study by Davis and Sajtos ( 2009).
The last question in relation to this study was asked to determine how many hours a
day the participant is online viewing email, social media, and using mobile devices—in
order to determine if there is a positive correlation between the amount of hours spent on a
new media device and impulse buying. Finally, there were two demographic questions
asked, to determine the participant’s gender and age category.
Sample
A snowball sample was used to accumulate as much participation as possible. The
survey was passed through my own network and my network’s network, beginning on
March 21, 2012 and terminating on April 2, 2012. The survey created through Qualtrics
was distributed to participants via email, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and once the
survey was completed participants were encouraged to pass the survey to their network. A
total of 103 participants completed the survey, the majority female (68 participants) and
minority male (31participants), and 4 participants did not disclose their gender. A full
display of the questionnaire used in this study can be found in appendix A.
31
Findings
After the survey was completed by all participants, the responses were coded and
entered into SPSS statistical software. The frequencies and cross tabulations as shown in
the next section were analyzed through SPSS. The coding sheet used for this study can be
found in appendix B.
Why consumers purchase daily deals
An open-ended response was used in order to more accurately comprehend why the
participants bought daily deals. For the open-ended question, the top responses
consumers gave for why they bought daily deals were: for a good deal/discount or money
saving. Statistically, 28.3% of respondents wrote that they buy daily deals for a good deal
or discount and 19.5% responded that they buy a daily deal to save money. A similar
response by 10.7% of participants was that they buy daily deals because it is something
that they already wanted/something they already wanted that was at discount. To round
out the top five responses, 15.7% said they purchased daily deals to try something new and
7.5% said to pay less for something that they normally wouldn’t purchase at the regular
price. Figure 1 below displays all responses that participants mentioned in the open-ended
question.
32
Figure 1: Why do you buy daily deals?
Why do you buy
# of Respondents
Percentage
Daily Deals
Good deal/discount
45
28.3%
Money Saving
31
19.5%
Try something new
25
15.7%
Convenient
4
2.5%
Something I wanted/
17
10.7%
4
2.5%
Easy
2
1.3%
Learn about new businesses
3
1.9%
Social experience/date night
8
5.0%
Learn about your city/new city 5
3.1%
Unique Experience
2
1.3%
Pay less for something I
12
7.5%
1
.6%
something I wanted at a deal
Somewhere I already go/can
go for cheaper
normally wouldn't pay for
joke
33
Hedonic and Utilitarian Motivations
Question10 of the survey asked how important specific elements of hedonic and
utilitarian needs are to the participant when purchasing a daily deal. This is important in
order to determine if hedonic and/or utilitarian motivations are prominent and necessary
motivations for consumers to purchase daily deals and to what level of importance. Of the
questions relating specifically to utilitarian needs, when asked how important promotion or
a good deal is, 52.4% of participants said extremely important and 35% said it was very
important. The product itself was viewed by participants to be extremely important by
45.6% and very important by 46.6%. Convenience of purchasing by participants was
judged to be extremely important by19.4%, very important by 40.8%, and 25.2% said
neither important nor unimportant.
In specific relation to hedonic elements when gauging the importance of “it will
make me happy”, 25.2% said extremely important, 48.5% said very important, and 17.5%
neither important nor unimportant. Of the question, “I enjoy purchasing daily deals”,
54.4% of participants responded neither important nor unimportant, 19.4% not important
at all, 9.7% very unimportant, and 9.7% very important.
Impulse buying daily deals
When determining consumers’ purchasing behaviors for buying daily deals and
whether they buy them on impulse, question 11 asked the participant how long they
thought about a deal before purchasing. This question was intended to conceptualize
whether consumers purchase daily deals impulsively based on whether they buy it on-thespot and without thinking. Participants answered the question: 52.4% think about the deal
34
for a few hours, 19.4% think about it for the day, 18.4% say I buy it as soon as I see, 8.7%
say I wait until the deal is up just before I buy.
Cross tabulation—hedonic and utilitarian motivations in relation to impulse buying
of daily deals
Cross tabulations were done between question 10 and 11 of the survey, in order to
determine if consumers who were highly motivated by hedonic and/or utilitarian elements
also purchased daily deals on impulse. This will help discover if buying daily deals
impulsively is more likely because of hedonic or utilitarian motivations. The following
cross tabulations look at those who answered, “I buy it as soon as I see it” regarding their
daily deal purchasing behavior, and the level of importance when purchasing a daily deal.
The first set of findings look at the utilitarian elements of purchasing daily deals.
The cross tabulation completed was in regard to respondents who said “I buy it as soon as I
see it” and the following motivations regarding purchasing of a daily deal: the promotion or
discount, the product, and convenience of purchasing. Refer to figures 2-4 for the
breakdown of these cross tabulations.
35
Figure 2: Cross Tabulation—importance of promotion or discount and I buy the deal
as soon as I see it
How important is: promotion or discount
I buy the deal as soon as I see it
Extremely important
42.1%
Very important
47.4%
Neither important nor unimportant
5.3%
Very unimportant
5.3%
Not at all important
0%
Figure 3: Cross Tabulation—importance of the product and I buy the deal as soon as I
see it
How important is: the product
I buy the deal as soon as I see it
Extremely important
47.4%
Very important
47.4%
Neither important nor unimportant
5.3%
Very unimportant
0%
Not at all important
0%
36
Figure 4: Cross Tabulation—importance of convenience of purchasing and I buy the
deal as soon as I see it
How important is: convenience of purchasing
I buy the deal as soon as I see it
Extremely important
21.1%
Very important
42.1%
Neither important nor unimportant
31.6%
Very unimportant
5.3%
Not at all important
0%
The next set of findings looked at hedonic motivations. In this circumstance the
cross tabulation was between participants who responded, “I buy the deal as soon as I
see it,” with the level of importance on hedonic motivations. The hedonic elements
looked at the importance of: I enjoy buying daily deals and it will make me happy. Refer
to figure 5 and 6 for the breakdown of this tabulation.
37
Figure 5: Cross Tabulation—importance of I enjoy buying daily deals and I buy the
deal as soon as I see it
How important is: I enjoy buying daily deals
I buy the deal as soon as I see it
Extremely important
5.3%
Very important
31.6%
Neither important nor unimportant
52.6%
Very unimportant
5.3%
Not at all important
5.3%
Figure 6: Cross Tabulation—importance of it will make me happy and I buy the deal
as soon as I see it
How important is: it will make me happy
I buy the deal as soon as I see it
Extremely important
31.6%
Very important
57.9%
Neither important nor unimportant
5.3%
Very unimportant
0%
Not at all important
5.3%
Buying tendency
Question 13 mentioned many different buying tendencies that participants were to
answer on a 4-point likert scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree. This question
38
was focused on their general buying tendency, not specifically daily deals, in order to
determine what kind of purchasing behaviors they engage in. The following numbers
display the percentages of how the respondents answered each of the questions. The first
set of responses is about buying tendencies in relation to purchasing on impulse, “I see it I
buy it,” “I often buy without thinking,” and “I buy on the spur of the moment.” Figures 7-9
display the frequency charts of the participants’ responses for the above questions.
Figure 7: Buying tendency frequency—“I see it I buy it”
Strongly Agree
5.8%
Agree
22.3%
Disagree
36.9%
Strongly Disagree
30.1%
No answer
4.9%
Figure 8: Buying tendency frequency—“I often buy without thinking”
Strongly Agree
1.0%
Agree
7.8%
Disagree
44.7%
Strongly Disagree
42.7%
No answer
3.9%
39
Figure 9: Buying tendency frequency—“I buy on the spur of the moment”
Strongly Agree
1.0%
Agree
23.3%
Disagree
42.7%
Strongly Disagree
29.1%
No answer
3.9%
The next question asked more about not purchasing on impulse. The
respondents were to answer the level to which they agreed or disagreed with the phrase; I
carefully plan all my purchases. Of all the respondents, 12.6% strongly agree, 51.5% agree,
28.2% disagree, and 3.9% strongly disagree.
The next sets of responses were focused in relation to hedonic elements. These
questions were asked in order to determine which element(s) were more likely to influence
consumers to make a purchase . For investigating hedonic elements the phrases read: “I
buy according to how I feel at the moment,” “I buy things to make me happy,” and “I buy
things because it is fun/enjoyment.” Figures 10-12 display the frequency charts of the
responses to the above listed phrases.
40
Figure 10: Buying tendency frequency—“I buy according to how I feel at the moment”
Strongly Agree
2.9%
Agree
41.7%
Disagree
33.0%
Strongly Disagree
18.4%
No answer
3.9%
Figure 11: Buying tendency frequency—“I buy things to make me happy”
Strongly Agree
9.7%
Agree
67.0%
Disagree
13.6%
Strongly Disagree
5.8%
No answer
3.9%
Figure 12: Buying tendency frequency—“I buy things because it is fun/enjoyment”
Strongly Agree
14.6%
Agree
55.3%
Disagree
14.6%
Strongly Disagree
11.7%
No answer
3.9%
41
The last question was intended to ask about utilitarian elements, using the phrase I
buy things when there is a special deal: 29.1% strongly agree, 62.1% agree, 2.9% disagree,
and 1.9% strongly disagree.
Cross tabulation—how long before purchasing a daily deal and buying tendency
After the frequencies were analyzed regarding consumers’ general buying tendency
a cross tabulation was performed to compare the relationship between consumer’s
decision making while purchasing daily deals and their general buying tendency. This
tabulation looks specifically at purchasing daily deals on impulse, therefore the response
used to cross tabulate the buying tendencies was, “I buy the deal as soon as I see it.” There
was a 100% correlation between “I buy the deal as soon as I see it” and strongly agreeing to
“I see it I buy it” when describing their buying tendency. There was also a 100% correlation
between “I buy the deal as soon as I see it” and strongly agree to “I often buy without
thinking.” Lastly, there was 100% correlation between “I buy daily deals as soon as I see it”
and “I often buy on the spur of the moment.”
A cross tabulation was done to determine decision making when purchasing a daily
deal and the buying tendency of, “I carefully plan all my purchases.” This tabulation looks
at those respondents who don’t buy daily deals on impulse, meaning they wait before
purchasing, and seeks to determine if this is the same for their general buying tendency. Of
the respondents that strongly agree to carefully planning all their purchases, 30.8% wait
until the deal is just about up before purchasing, 7.7% think about the deal for the day,
46.2% think about it for a few hours, and 15.4% buy the deal as soon as they see it. Figure
13 below shows the full range of responses for this cross tabulation.
42
Figure 13: Cross Tabulation—how long before you buy a daily deal and “I carefully
plan all my purchases”
How long before you buy a daily deal
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
I buy it as soon as I see it
0%
31.0%
15.1%
15.4%
I think about it for a few hours
50%
51.7%
54.7%
46.2%
I think about it for the day
0%
10.3%
28.3%
7.7%
I wait until the deal is just about up
50%
6.9%
1.9%
30.8%
Cross tabulation—hours a day spent on new media and how long consumers think
about a daily deal before purchasing
Question14 of the survey asked the participant how many hours a day they spent on
email, social media, and mobile devices. A cross tabulation was performed to determine
whether the amount of time a consumer spends on new media correlates with the urge to
impulse buy, specifically daily deals. This cross tabulation looked at the hours consumers
spent on email, social media, and mobile devices, with the response they gave for how long
they thought about a deal before purchasing.
The first cross tabulation looked at the amount of hours spent on email with how
long a consumer thinks about a deal before purchasing. This looked specifically for those
who bought the deal as soon as they saw it. The results showed that: 36.8% spent less than
2 hours a day on email, 31.6% spent 2-5 hours, 21.1% spent 5-10 hours, and 10.5% spent
10+ hours a day on email. Refer to figure 14 for the full disclosure of cross tabulation with
email.
43
The next tabulation was the same as the previous, except it looked at the amount of
hours the participant spent on social media a day. For those who bought the deal as soon as
they saw it: 26.3% spent less than 2 hours a day on social media, 73.7% spent 2-5 hours a
day, 0% spent 5-10 hours a day, and 0% spent 10+ hours a day on social media. Refer to
figure 15 for the full disclosure of cross tabulation with social media.
The last tabulation looked at the same elements as the previous two, except this
tabulation determined how many hours the consumer spent on mobile. For consumers who
bought the deal as soon as they saw it, the results showed: 47.4% spent less than 2 hours a
day on mobile, 26.3% spent 2-5 hours a day, 10.5% spent 5-10 hours a day, and 15.8%
spent 10+ hours a day on mobile. Refer to figure 16 for the full disclosure of cross
tabulation with mobile.
44
Figure 14: Cross tabulation—hours spent on email and how much consumers think
about a deal before purchase
Hours a day
spent on Email
I buy it as soon
as I see it
I think about it
for a few hours
I think about it
for the day
Less than 2
hours
36.8%
31.5%
55.0%
I wait until the
deal is just
about up
44.4%
2-5 hours
31.6%
27.8%
35.0%
22.2%%
5-10 hours
21.1%
29.6%
5.0%
33.3%
10+ hours
10.5%
11.1%
0%
0%
*Columns do not all add up to 100% because some were coded as “no response”
Figure 15: Cross tabulation—hours spent on social media and how much consumers
think about a deal before purchase
Hours a day
spent on social
media
Less than 2
hours
I buy it as soon
as I see it
I think about it
for a few hours
I think about it
for the day
26.3%
42.6%
45.0%
I wait until the
deal is just
about up
55.6%
2-5 hours
73.7%
40.7%
40.0%
33.3%
5-10 hours
0%
7.4%
5.0%
11.1%
10+ hours
0%
5.6%
5.0%
0%
*Columns do not all add up to 100% because some were coded as “no response”
45
Figure 16: Cross tabulation—hours spent on mobile and how much consumers think
about a deal before purchase
Hours a day
I buy it as soon
spent on mobile as I see it
I think about it
for a few hours
I think about it
for the day
Less than 2
hours
47.4%
33.3%
40.0%
I wait until the
deal is just
about up
22.2%
2-5 hours
26.3%
33.3%
45.0%
44.4%
5-10 hours
10.5%
20.4%
5.0%
22.2%
10+ hours
15.8%
9.3%
5.0%
11.1%
*Columns do not all add up to 100% because some were coded as “no response”
46
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to explore impulse buying and purchasing behaviors
with the relationship they play in consumers’ motivations to purchase daily deals.
Previously stated in the introduction and review of literature were the four main research
questions this study looked to answer. After data collection and reporting of the findings,
this section will seek to answer the research questions, provide an interpretation of the
results, and display the significance of the data specifically for daily deal companies and
market researchers.
Daily deals bought on impulse
For this study the definition of impulse buying included the elements: an unplanned
purchase, result of an exposure to stimulus, decided on-the-spot, and involves an emotional
and/or cognitive reaction (Jeffrey and Hodge, 2007). In the survey, participants were asked
how much time expired from the moment they were exposed to the stimulus to the actual
purchasing of the deal. From the findings the majority, 52.4%, said “I think about the deal
for a few hours” before purchasing. For those who do purchase daily deals on impulse,
18.4% of consumers responded, “I buy the deal as soon as I see it.” With these findings, it
can be concluded that most consumers do not purchase daily deals on impulse. Even
though consumers can not plan to buy a daily deal, they still spend some level of time
thinking or processing the deal before purchasing.
As previously stated in the review of literature, scholars found that the amount of
time a consumer spends on technology was significantly related to impulse buying (Park
and Lennon, 2005) and that online impulse buying can be affected through the mediation of
47
Internet addiction (Sun and Wu, 2011). Looking at this non-correspondent differential to
the study it was found that the amount of time spent on email, social media, and mobile, did
not correlate positively with impulse buying daily deals. Of the respondents who answered
they spent more than 10+ hours a day on email, 10.5% said “I buy the deal as soon as I see
it.” For respondents who spent 10+ hours a day on social media, 0% said “I buy the deal as
soon as I see it,” and for mobile, 15.8% said “I buy the deal as soon as I see it.” With this
information, it can be seen that those who spend more time on new media are not more
likely to purchase the daily deal on impulse—if anything they are less likely to purchase the
deal on impulse.
It appears that the respondents who do purchase the deal on impulse were the ones
who spent the least amount of time on new media. The respondents who had the highest
percentages responding “I buy the deal as soon as I see it,” spent either less than 2 hours a
day or 2-5 hours a day on all new media types—email, social media, and mobile. The
correlation that is displayed here may be because consumers who do spend a lot of time on
these new media devices are spending time either reading reviews or doing research on the
deal before making a decision. This ultimately in the end may allow the consumer to think
more cognitively about the purchase rather than just buying it as soon as they are exposed
to it.
With this information it is pertinent for market researchers and daily deal
companies to know that most consumers of daily deals do not purchase on impulse. As
many companies try to stimulate impulse buying for consumers through advertising,
48
strategic planning, and convenience of purchasing (Sun and Wu, 2011), the next section will
look to explore this avenue as well as other motivations for purchasing daily deals.
Motivations for purchasing daily deals
While scholars have looked at consumers’ motivations in general to purchase, there
are specific motivations discussed in each of the new media types. One consistent
motivation specifically in the online atmosphere is the convenience of purchasing. It is the
1-click function saving the consumer time and effort (Sun and Wu, 2011). In the mobile
atmosphere it is the hedonic motivation of m-commerce. Consumers are immersed in this
technology on a daily basis so why not purchase something from it and for them it is
something fun to do (Davis and Sajitos, 2011). Lastly, in the daily deal atmosphere it is the
utilitarian motivation, snagging of an exclusive discount (Bond, 2011), and receiving and
redeeming a deal with the click of a button. This study looked at many of these motivations,
and this section will look to answer the second and third research questions of: what are
consumers’ motivations for purchasing daily deals, and what are the hedonic and utilitarian
elements present.
When asking directly, using an open-ended response, participants were to answer
why they bought daily deals. As scholars claimed that the convenience of purchasing was a
factor that motivated purchasing, in this study 2.5% of respondents said they purchased a
daily deal for the convenience and 1.3% said they purchased because it was easy. These
percentages clearly show that consumers do not purchase daily deals because they are
convenient and easy.
49
Out of all the respondents the highest displayed percentages were 28.3% bought
them for a good deal/discount and 19.5% for money saving. These responses are both
utilitarian motivations, and obviously indicate that the discount and promotion are far
more important than other utilitarian motivations, like convenience and ease of purchasing.
This information is important to daily deal companies because while trying to gauge why
consumers purchase daily deals, the main reason appears to be that they are getting a good
deal and saving money. Consumers are more motivated to purchase a daily deal because of
a utilitarian element, specifically a promotion or discount, than anything else. This could
possibly be because consumers are always looking for a good deal, and especially with
current economic conditions, saving money is something very important at this time.
Hedonic and utilitarian motivations for purchasing daily deals
Through more in-depth analysis than just asking participants why they purchased
daily deals, the hedonic and utilitarian motivations were looked at more closely. When
asking participants specifically, it was found that utilitarian elements were more important
when purchasing. Of all the respondents, 52.4% said the promotion or discount was
extremely important, and 45.6% said the product itself was extremely important. These
are all utilitarian elements, and it is demonstrated again that a promotion or discount is still
one of the most important elements when purchasing.
When looking at the hedonic motivations, 25.2% said it is extremely important that
“it will make them happy” and 6.8% said it is extremely important that “I enjoy buying daily
deals.” This information shows that it is not nearly as important to consumers to enjoy the
act of purchasing daily deals as it is to fulfill some kind of need to be happy about the
50
purchase. This could be attributed to the supposition that a daily deal is just a deal that
comes through some kind of medium, but it doesn’t allow enjoyment of purchasing for the
consumer. However as it is shown, the level of importance for hedonic elements is not as
high as the level of importance for utilitarian, therefore still demonstrating that consumers
are motivated by utilitarian elements more than hedonic in the realm of daily deal
purchasing.
Hedonic elements and the relationship to impulse buying of daily deals
Previously explored was the conceptualization that consumers motivated by
hedonic needs are more likely to engage in impulse buying (Kim and Eastin, 2011).
However in this study when looking at hedonic elements and buying a daily deal on
impulse, it was found that the majority of people who buy on impulse are not motivated by
hedonic elements. 52.6% of respondents who said “I buy the deal as soon as I see it”
claimed it is neither important nor unimportant that they enjoy buying daily deals.
In looking at the hedonic element of the purchase regarding making the consumer
happy and whether the deal was purchased on impulse, this was something that
respondents said was important to them. Of the respondents who claimed “I buy the deal
as soon as I see it” 31.6% said it was extremely important that it would make them happy
and 57.9% said it was very important. This demonstrates that the only hedonic element
present when buying daily deals impulsively is the fact that it will make them happy. This is
important because as was previously stated when looking at motivation, it wasn’t
important to the majority of consumers that it made them happy. However, when looking
at the deal bought on impulse, to those who do purchase daily deals on impulse it is
51
important that it makes them happy. What can be taken away from this finding is, if the
consumer sees that the purchase will make them happy and satisfy a hedonic need, they
will be more likely to purchase it on impulse. This is pertinent to daily deal companies
because if they want a higher percentage of customers to purchase deals on impulse, it is
important to present deals that will make a consumer happy. In other words it isn’t the act
of purchasing that motivates the consumer to buy on impulse, it is the affect or enjoyment
of the deal that will.
Utilitarian elements and the relationship to impulse buying daily deals
For consumers who bought daily deals on impulse, a higher percentage of
participants were motivated by utilitarian elements than hedonic. 42.1% of participants
that said “I buy the deal as soon as I see it” said the promotion or discount was extremely
important, and 47.4% said very important, demonstrating once again, the promotion or
discount has a high level of importance to the consumer and the consumer will be more
likely to purchase the deal on impulse if it is such a great deal that they just don't feel they
can pass it by. Similar results were observed concerning the utilitarian element of the
product itself. Of respondents who claimed “I buy the deal as soon as I see it”, 47.4% of
respondents said the product was extremely important and 47.4% said very important.
Again, this information shows that consumers are more likely to purchase on impulse for a
utilitarian reason, that being the product itself.
Although the majority of consumers do not purchase daily deals on impulse there
are however certain motivational elements that will more likely lead the consumer to
purchase on impulse. In general, consumers are more likely to buy daily deals for
52
utilitarian reasons than hedonic reasons. When the consumer is more likely to purchase
the daily deal on impulse is when they are motivated by a utilitarian element, either the
product itself or a really good deal/promotion. In this study, the only hedonic element that
appears to influence the consumer to purchase on impulse is if it will make them happy. In
the atmosphere of daily deals, consumers are less concerned with whether it is fun or
enjoyable for them, rather whether or not it satisfies them.
Traditional impulse buying and daily deal impulse buying
The last research question of this study looked to determine if traditional behaviors
of impulse buying and motivations were similar to those of daily deals purchasing. The
review of literature alluded to consumers’ motivations in three categories of needs;
utilitarian, hedonic, or a combination of both (Park and Lennon, 2005). When first looking
at general buying tendencies, consumers claimed to not purchase on impulse. The highest
percentage of respondents disagreed with the statements presented about purchasing on
impulse but did agree to statements about carefully planning all purchases. When
exploring hedonic motivations the highest percentage of respondents agreed they
purchased for hedonic reasons. Lastly, when asking about utilitarian motivations, once
again the highest percentage of respondents agreed to purchasing for these reasons. This
information supports what has been alluded to earlier, consumers are motivated to
purchase in general because of three main elements: hedonic, utilitarian, or a combination
of both.
However, what is more important to compare with this information is whether
participants that did agree to buy on impulse as a general buying tendency responded the
53
same for purchasing daily deals. Interestingly, of the respondents that claimed “I buy the
deal as soon as I see it” in relation to daily deals, 100% of those respondents strongly
agreed to the impulse buying statements as a general buying tendency. Of the consumers
who answered that their general buying tendency was to carefully plan all purchases, the
same results were shown in their daily deal purchasing. The majority of these respondents
either thought about it for a few hours or waited until the deal was just about up before
purchasing. Conceptualizing this, consumers who purchase on impulse in general will also
purchase daily deals on impulse. There appears to be a direct correlation between
consumers’ general buying and impulse buying behaviors. This is important information
for daily deals marketing, as it seems to indicate that impulse buying must involve some
type of cognitive stimulation in the brain, or personality trait that characterizes impulse
buying both in general and daily deals purchasing. For market researchers in general, when
trying to engage a consumer in impulse buying there will be more success if this person is a
natural impulsive buyer than someone who is not. For daily deal companies, consumers
who will buy daily deals on impulse will most likely be the same consumers who buy
impulsively in general.
54
Conclusion
Since 2007 the concept of daily deals has become a purchase for many consumers.
With the option of daily deals, it has offered consumers a reason to go out on a date, explore
a city, save money, try something new, and much more. Previous studies have explored
impulse buying in numerous contexts, and motivations that researchers believe influence
impulse buying. Using this information this study was constructed in order to explore a
new type of social commerce and a new context. This study looked to answer some
intriguing questions about daily deals and the relationship of impulse buying in this
context. The first research question was to determine if consumers purchase daily deals on
impulse. Then, a series of research questions looked to discover consumers’ motivations
for purchasing, specifically hedonic and utilitarian motivations. The final research question
was to distinguish if impulse buying behaviors are the same in the traditional atmosphere
as they are in the daily deal atmosphere.
The goal of this study was to discover unique information about daily deals, and to
add an additional element to the conversation of impulse buying. The findings are not only
applicable for daily deal companies, but they will also help market researchers when trying
to determine what motivates consumers to purchase in general, and what motivates them
to purchase on impulse.
As this study found, in general, consumers do not purchase daily deals on impulse.
The majority of consumers at least think about the purchase for a few hours before they
decide to buy. It was also discovered that the amount of time a consumer spends on a
media device, email, social media, or mobile, does not indicate the likelihood they will buy
55
on impulse. Previous research explored hedonic and utilitarian motivations, being the two
main motivations of why consumers purchase. This study found that consumers are
motivated by both elements when purchasing in general and daily deals in particular.
However, in the daily deal atmosphere consumers are more motivated by utilitarian
elements, saving money and a promotion/discount, than hedonic elements, enjoyment of
purchasing a daily deal and being happy with the purchase. Lastly, it was found that there
is a positive correlation between consumers who purchase on impulse in a traditional
context and the daily deal context. All in all, these findings display some unique
conclusions for a new realm of consumer purchasing.
Limitations
In this study one of the limitations is the size of the sample. Only 103 consumers of
daily deals participated in the survey, and with the information and results that are
provided, it is only conceptualized from a relatively small sample of consumers. Other
limitations lie in the design itself. Some of the questions in the survey did not ask
specifically about all the elements of buying daily deals impulsively. The only question that
was in regard to deciding about purchasing daily deals on impulse was, “I buy the deal as
soon as I see it.” Lastly, the study only focused on a small number of utilitarian and hedonic
elements, meaning that there could be other elements that motivate consumers to purchase
daily deals, and even more so to purchase on impulse.
Future research
As noted there is more to impulse purchasing than just a direct correlation between
general buying tendency and daily deals. Future research should look into personality
56
traits and stimulations in the brain that specifically cause consumers to buy daily deals on
impulse. Another area to delve into in this study would be to incorporate in-depth
interviews or focus groups with consumers in the methodology. This option would allow
researchers to gauge more insight into consumers’ behaviors than a survey provides, in
order to help conceptualize this phenomenon. Lastly, as daily deal companies expand their
options and clientele, besides the motivations for purchasing, another aspect that could be
explored in further research is the specific purchases. Researchers can explore the trips,
restaurants, bars, activities, etc. in more detail in order to determine which activities
specifically influence impulse buying behaviors.
57
References
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GoBankingrates.com.
Bridges, E., and Florsheim, R. (2008). Hedonic and utilitarian shopping goals: the online
experience. Journal of Business Research, 61, 309-314.
Davis, R., and Sajtos, L. (2009). Anytime, anywhere: measuring the ubiquitous consumer’s
impulse purchase behavior. International Journal of Mobile Marketing, 4, 15-22.
Jeffrey, S. and Hodge, R. (2007). Factors influencing impulse buying during an online
purchase. Electron Commerce Res, 7, 367-379.
Kervenoael, R., Aykac, S., and Palmer, M. (2009). Online social capital: understanding eimpulse buying in practice. Journal of retailing and consumer services, 16, 320-328.
Kim, S. and Eastin, M. (2011). Hedonic tendencies and the online consumer: an
investigation of the online shopping process. Journal of Internet Commerce, 10, 6890.
Liao, S., Shen, Y., and Chu, C. (2009). The effects of sales promotion strategy, product appeal
and consumer traits on reminder impulse buying behavior. International Journal of
Consumer Studies, 33, 274-284.
Park, J. and Lennon, S. (2004). Television apparel shopping: impulse buying and parasocial
interaction. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 22, 135-144.
Piron, F. (1991). Defining impuluse buying. Advances in Consumer Research, 18, 509-514.
Reed, N. (2011, June). Mock paper, virtual coupons and daily deal websites have introduced
bargain hunting to a new generation. Response, 34-37.
Rook, D. and Fisher, R. (1995). Normative influences on impulsive buying behavior. Journal
of Consumer Research, 22, 305-313.
Rook, D. (1987). The Buying Impulse. Journal of Consumer Research, 14, 189-199.
Sun, T. and Wu, G. (2011). Trait predictors of online impulsive buying tendency: a
hierarchical approach. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 19, 337-346.
58
(2012, January 24.) Discount deals becoming a medical rage. Canadian Medical Association
of its Licensors.
Chart 3. Products purchased via Smartphone by U.S. Smartphone users, Sep 2011. Adapted
from: http://totalaccess.emarketer.com.proxyau.wrlc.org/Chart.aspx?R=115977&ds
Nav=Ntk:basic%7cproducts+purchased+via+smartphone%7c1%7c,Ro:1. 2011,
eMarketer. Copyright year 2011.
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Appendices
Appendix A: Survey
Q1. You have been invited to participate in a study for an American University capstone
class about consumers' motivations to purchase daily deals. All information will be kept
anonymous. By agreeing to take the survey you are giving consent to participate.
o Disagree
o Agree
Q2. I am at least 18 years old
o Yes
o No
Q3. This is a survey intended for consumers who have purchased a daily deal. A daily deal
is a deal bought online in order to redeem some kind of service or product within an
allotted amount of time. Within the past year have you bought a daily deal?
o Yes
o No
Q4. How often do you buy daily deals?
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Never
Once a year
Once every 6 months
Once a month
2-3 times a month
Once a week
2-3 Times a week
Daily
Q5. Where do you buy daily deals from most often? (check all that apply)
o Groupon
o LivingSocial
o BuyWithMe
o EverSave
o ScoutMob
o Other
60
Q6. What do you buy most often? (check all that apply)
o Product
o Activity/event
o Food/drink
o Spa/hair/nails
o Trip/Vacation
o Other
Q7. What do you enjoy using most? (check all that apply)
o Product
o Activity/event
o Food/drink
o Spa/hair/nails
o Trip/vacation
o Other
Q8. In what form(s) do you receive daily deals? (check all that apply)
o Email
o Mobile Device (SMS, mobile application)
o Social Media (Facebook/Twitter)
o Other people
o Other
Q9. Why do you buy daily deals?
Q10. How important to you are each of the following when purchasing a daily deal?
Neither
Not at all
Very
Important
Very
Extremely
Important Unimportant
nor
Important Important
Unimportant
Promotion or discount
The product
It will make me happy
Something new to me
Something I need
Convenience of
purchasing
Being part of the daily
deal conversation
61
I enjoy buying daily
deals
Neither
Not at all
Very
Important
Very
Important Unimportant
nor
Important
Unimportant
Extremely
Important
Q11. How long do you think about a deal before you purchase?
o I buy it as soon as I see it
o
I think about it for a few hours
o
I think about it for the day
o
I wait until the deal is just about up before I buy
Q12. How often do you use your deal?
o I always use them
o I use them most of the time
o I sometimes use them
o I hardly ever use them
o I never use them
Q13. How strongly do you agree or disagree about your buying tendency?
Strongly
Disagree
Agree
Disagree
I see it I buy it
I often buy without
thinking
I buy on the spur of
the moment
I buy products and
services according to
how I feel at the
moment
I carefully plan all my
purchases
I buy things to make
me happy
I buy things because it
is fun/enjoyment
I buy things when
there is a special deal
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Strongly Agree
Q14.
How many hours a day do you spend on each of the following?
Less than 2
hours
2-5 hours
Email
Social Media
Mobile
Q15.
Gender
o Male
o Female
o I do not feel comfortable answering
Q16.
Age
o
o
o
o
o
18-24
25-35
36-45
46-55
55 and over
63
5-10 hours
10+ hours a day
Appendix B: Survey response coding
4. How often do you buy daily deals?
1 never
2 once a year
3 once every 6 months
4 once a month
5 2-3 times a month
6 once a week
7 2-3 times a week
8 daily
5. Where do you buy daily deals from most often?
1 Groupon
2 LivingSocial
3 BuyWithMe
4 EverSave
5 Scoutmob
6 Other
6. What do you buy most often?
1 Product
2 Activity/event
3 Food/drink
4 Spa/hair/nails
5 Trip/vacation
6 Other
7. What do you enjoy using most?
1 Product
2 Activity/event
3 Food/drink
4 Spa/hair/nails
5 Trip/vacation
6 Other
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8. In what form(s) do you receive daily deals?
1 Email
2 Mobile Device
3 Social Media
4 Other people
5 Other
9. Why do you buy daily deals?
1 Good Deal/ Discount
2 Money saving
3 Try something new
4 Convenient
5 Something I already want/ something I wanted at a deal
6 Somewhere I already go
7 Easy
8 Learn about new businesses
9 Social experience/date night
10 Learn about your city/new city
11 Try a new product/activity not totally sold on
12 Unique experience
13 Pay less for something I normally wouldn’t pay for
99 Joke
10. How important to you are each of the following?
1 Not at all important
2 Very important
3 Neither important nor unimportant
4 Very important
5 Extremely important
11. How long do you think about a deal before you purchase?
1 I buy it as soon as I see it
2 I think about it for a few hours
3 I think about it for the day
4 I wait until the deal is just about up before I buy
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12. How often do you use your deal?
1 I always use them
2 I use them most of the time
3 I sometimes use them
4 I hardly ever use them
5 I never use them
13. How strongly do you agree or disagree about your buying tendency?
1 Strongly disagree
2 Disagree
3 Agree
4 Strongly Agree
14. How many hours a day do you spend on each of the following?
1 Less than 2 hours
2 2-5 hours
3 5-10 hours
4 10+ hours a day
15. Gender
1 Male
2 Female
3 I do not feel comfortable answering
16. Age
1 18-24
2 25-35
3 36-45
4 46-55
5 55 and over
6 I do not feel comfortable answering
66