An Exploratory Investigation into Impulse Buying Behavior in a Transitional Economy: A Study of Urban Consumers in Vietnam

Abstract

As a transitional economy, Vietnam is open to many new marketing experiences. Along with slowly increasing wealth, changes are occurring in the retail environment as stores begin to replace individual vendors. The changing retail environment suggests the usefulness of understanding shopping behaviors relevant to retail settings. The authors examine impulse buying behaviors of urban consumers in Vietnam. The authors conducted an exploratory study that included both qualitative and quantitative methods to provide a general understanding of urban Vietnamese consumers’ impulse buying behaviors. Results show that individualism, age, and income are significantly related to impulse buying behaviors of Vietnamese consumers. In addition, personal-use products are the most common impulse purchase items, despite the collectivist nature of consumers in Vietnam. The authors’ findings suggest that, at least with respect to impulse buying and despite cultural differences, consumers from transitional economies such as Vietnam may share some common tendencies and behaviors with consumers in advanced economies. The authors discuss other observations and conclude with suggestions for further research.

The Causes of Impulse Buying Behavior among Iranian Shoppers

“…The disadvantage of their research is a sample size. Mai et al (2003) collected qualitative data from a focus group with nine participants and conducted personal interviews with 20 participants. They asked participants to list 5 to 10 items purchased on impulse.…”

“…Higher income is as one of several factors that can account for the high level of impulse buying in the United States compared with other countries (Mai et al, 2003).…”

A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Impulsive and Compulsive Buying Behaviors among Israeli and U.S. Consumers: The Influence of Personal Traits and Cultural Values

“…For the most part, these studies focused almost exclusively on U.S. samples (except for Kacen and Lee 2002;Mai et al 2003;Zhang, Winterich, and Mittal 2010 for impulsive buying behavior; Baker et al 2013;and Shoham and Brencic 2003 for compulsive buying behavior); centered on examining the associations between consumer personality traits and impulsive or compulsive behaviors (e.g., Faber and O'Guinn 1992;O'Guinn and Faber 1989;Scherhorn et al, 1990;Youn and Faber 2000). Additionally, with the increasing globalization of the marketplace, scholars have long recognized the importance of cultural characteristics in the context of consumer behavior (Maheswaran and Shavitt 2000).…”

Cultural influences on consumer satisfaction with impulse and planned purchase decisions

“…Previous research has shown that numerous factors influence impulsive purchasing behavior, including the presence of others (Luo, 2005), the consumer's mood (e.g., Beatty and Ferrell, 1998;Rook and Gardner, 1993), trait impulsiveness (e.g., Jones et al, 2003;Rook and Fisher, 1995;Weun et al, 1998), product category impulsiveness (Jones et al, 2003), evaluation of the Vietnam (Mai et al, 2003). To date, no studies have been found to examine influences on customer satisfaction with impulse purchasing across cultures.…”