Technology-based trade is advancing rapidly, and Indonesia is the country with the highest e-commerce growth in the world. Latest data from McKinsey&Company reveals online trades in Indonesia is enormous and growing. Around 30 million Indonesians make transactions online, and create a market of at least US$8 billion. McKinsey & Company also estimates that these online transactions could grow to around US$40 billion in five years.
Opening e-commerce platforms allows consumers to engage in impulsive buying. Impulsive buying is sudden, immediate and unintended. If you find yourself making these impulse purchases frequently, rest assured that you are not alone. How can you resist it, the discount vouchers and cut shipping cost are given easily to customers. Moreover, flash sale sessions offering various interesting items at a huge discount.
What causes this impulse buying?
The results of our research in 2019, “How Does Hedonic Shopping Value Affect Impulsive Buying? An Empirical Study on E-Commerce in Indonesia”, showed that it is caused by a factor called hedonic shopping value. If you often hear the word “hedon“, then from this hedonic shopping value that word originated from. Hedonic value is is a reflection of the value received by consumers for the multisensory, fantasy, and social aspects of a shopping experience. Such reflection indicates a form of entertainment and escapes from reality. Keep in mind, this hedonic value does not always mean negative!
Our research found that hedonic shopping value has a significant effect on us to keep browsing on our favorite e-commerce. Although the main purpose of browsing is to evaluate or find information on products sold by sellers in e-commerce before buying them, we often don’t feel that browsing is a strenuous activity. On the contrary, we even feel browsingthis becomes a fun activity as if we were on vacation for a while from the routine. Our enthusiasm in browsing is what then provokes our decision to buy goods without planning and then check out!
Have you ever felt happier or in a better mood after buying things impulsively on an e-commerce platform?
This happy feeling is also caused by hedonic shopping value. Our research showed that this hedonic shopping value also makes us feel better by increasing positive feelings. Positive feelings that arise can be feelings of enthusiasm, active, and more attentiveness. It is not surprising that consumers with high hedonic shopping values tend to be in a shopping environment and enjoy their happiness or pleasure during the product searching process. In these positive conditions, the urge to buy goods suddenly appears. Without us knowing, we check our purchases out again.
The influence of hedonic values on impulsive shopping behavior can be explained by the paradigm of Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1980) and Technology Acceptance Model (Davis et al. 1989). Consumers with high hedonic shopping value tend to shop for pleasure and escape from a reality that exhausts them. It is very logical that online shopping on e-commerce platforms will increase positive feelings, which are indicated by the emergence of feelings of pleasure and happiness. The higher the positive feeling consumers feel when shopping on an e-commerce platform, the greater the urge to make purchases they did not plan in advance.
This impulsive buying is also driven by the facilities offered by e-commerce which make it easier for consumers to enjoy their shopping experience. So based on the results of this study, e-commerce parties can pay more attention to elements that can trigger positive consumer feelings and also trigger consumers to continue browsing on their platform. Furthermore, the results of this study also remind us that the hedonic shopping value is not negative as long as you can control it. Happy shopping!
Author: Raras Kirana Wandira, S.E., MBA., M.M.
Journal link: https://www.ijicc.net/images/vol9iss8/9811_Wandira_2019_E_R.pdf
