Unplanned buying and in‐store stimuli in supermarkets

Abstract Manufacturers and retailers in industrialized countries spend large sums on advertising and/or in‐store promotion in the hope of increasing sales of their merchandise through ‘impulse’ buying. Results are reported in this paper of the unplanned buying behaviour of 450 consumers in 15 major supermarkets in South Africa compared with similar studies in the United States and the United Kingdom. The findings indicate that unplanned buying is higher in the United States than in South Africa, but that the importance of in‐store stimuli holds true across cultures. Analysis of other variables such as brand loyalty, specific outlet, and presence of a shopping list is also reported on a cross‐cultural basis.