Understanding Impulsive Consumer Behaviour at Miniso

Abstract

Miniso, which is a global lifestyle retail brand known for selling products at a low price point, has an aesthetic store design and offers many products to choose from, is the context in which this research study seeks to explore impulsive consumer behaviour. The main objective of this study is to better understand how impulse buying behaviour in consumers may be influenced by various external environmental factors (such as store layout, visual merchandising and interaction with products) and various internal psychological factors (such as emotions, self control and personal budget) that affect a consumer's decision to purchase something they did not plan on purchasing. This descriptive cross-sectional research design uses both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. Primary data for this study was collected by distributing a structured questionnaire (which included both closed and open-ended questions) via Google Forms to 113 subjects who had previously shopped at Miniso. Statistical tools such as mean, median, mode, t-test and anova will be used to conduct the analysis of the data collected from the structured questionnaire. Results of the conducted research suggest that store-specific characteristics – like visual merchandising, accessibility of product, and design of store – are essential in bringing customers to a store and getting them to interact with the products. However, these characteristics do not always translate into actual impulse purchases. On the contrary, internal psychological factors, such as an individual's budgetary behaviour, perceived affordability, and personal decision-making style, have a greater influence on actual purchases. Furthermore, the study concluded that when it comes to reducing mental barriers to spending, perceived affordability increases an individual's chance to purchase impulsively. However, factors such as overcrowded stores and lack of store space also tend to negatively impact the customers' feelings of comfort within a store and thus adversely impact the likelihood of a store’s design being effective. Demographic variables (age, gender, etc.) also have been found to have a lesser impact on impulse-buying behaviour than store-related factors. Ultimately, the impulse-buying behaviour at Miniso occurs due to the inter-relationship of both environmental stimuli and psychological internally driven factors, with more emphasis placed on the latter. While store design serves to increase customer engagement and exploration, the customer ultimately has control over their decision to buy. As a result of the findings, the implications for retailing strategies and the importance of balancing store environment and consumer psychology to motivate impulse purchases have been illustrated.