Does managers' scarcity tactics such as "only three products left", "offer valid till tomorrow 12 am" leads to impulse buying?

Abstract

In today’s fast-paced world, purchasing is mainly done online. The internet penetration rate in India is up from 4% in 2007 to 50% in 2020. Economic times says by 2025, nearly 900 million Indians will have access to the Internet. The reason behind this massive surge is the lower cost of data, smartphones, and ease of accessibility of internet connection. Out of all the purchases done online top five are in categories of clothing, consumer electronics (smartphones), shoes, bags & accessories, cosmetics. These product categories often have a life cycle of, say, 24 months fora smartphone to 5 months for cosmetics. These products are also materialistic or social symbol of for any human being. These trends change frequently, and consumers do align with this trend in order not to be seen as “anti-social”. These gives an opportunity for the marketers to tap in this style. Since the advent of Covid — 19, people have started to purchase the basic amenities online as well. Prior to pandemic there were around ~300k daily orders of online grocery which increased to ~500k on day 28" of lockdown. In the past three decades the topic of impulsive purchase in offline scenario was extensively researched. The impulse purchase behaviour has been extended to online model as well. Xiaomi tapped this opportunity and launched its first smartphone in India. This model was hugely successful as 61.12 million Xiaomi mobile phones were sold in 2014. Total smartphones sold in 2014 were 270 million. The partnership of Flipkart and Xiaomi was a masterstroke, where over 500,000 users logged in on July 224, 2014, to get the smartphone. This study is crucial from a managerial standpoint for marketing executives who want to use scarceness as a persuasive tactic for online purchasers in various methods. The research first discloses the major impact of scarcity on purchasers’ spontaneous purchase intent. The outcomes of this research will help online businesses understand how to use scarcity messaging to entice customers. Because of the increased sense of urgency, customers are more likely to make an unplanned purchase, resulting in increased profit. Inducing impulsive purchases is an important approach utilized by marketers, even if it isn't a strategy. Because it prompts consumers’ ultimate buying behaviour, it is beneficial to marketers. It could be particularly beneficial. for enticing loyal customers to try new goods or increase their buy volume as a result, it has a direct impact on the bottom line