Influence of web-based hedonic stimuli to emerge impulse purchasing decisions in fashion retail sector – an S-O-R model-based customer biometric analysis

Abstract

Customer biometrics such as blood pressure, pulse rate, and eye movement can be recognized as significant indicators engaged with impulse purchasing decision-making in fashion retail websites due to numerous web-based hedonic stimuli. There is an empirical gap that was recognized as relevant to existing studies performed under the respective areas of the research. This resulted in understanding the research problem as “there is a lack of the existing empirical studies relevant to the fashion retail sector on impulse purchasing decisions based on web-based hedonic stimuli addressing customer biometrics” and the conceptual framework has been developed under the S-O-R model to resolve the research problem identified under stimuli – response principle. The research was conducted as a pilot exploratory study to obtain a basic understanding of how customer biometrics indicate impulse purchasing decisions based on different appearances of web-based hedonic stimuli under five (05) participants representing both Generation Y and Z based on judgmental sampling. Participants were tested for 10 minutes each by displaying three (03) websites categorized under three levels of richness and tracked eye movements by using an online eye tracking software. The pulse and blood pressure were measured too before and after the sessions of each participant. The results of eye tracking were thematically analyzed and concluded as different web-based hedonic stimuli lead to impulse purchasing decisions in the fashion retail sector reflecting factors such as image and graphic use, color use representing “perceived enjoyment (PE)” and navigational flexibility of websites representing “perceived ease of use (PEU)” according to the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The study opened the gates to conduct future research to identify reasons why the blood pressure and pulse rate of web visitors decrease in short web surfing periods when into impulse purchasing decision-making.