By definition, unplanned purchase decisions are made on location, in the store; if the customer enters the store with the intention to buy, then the purchase isn’t unplanned. The store is the locus of decision, and those mark eters interested in stimulating unplanned purchases understandably focus on in-store factors that influence shoppers’ purchase decisions and on creating an environment that encourages those purchases. What happens prior to the customer’s entering the store has traditionally been deemed inconsequential.
[This research paper has been reproduced with permission of the authors, professors of IE Business School, Spain http://www.ie.edu/]