Effects of Persuasive Claims on Desirability and Impulse Purchase Behavior

Group buying websites are getting increasingly popular in the recent years. These websites typically work with merchants to offer group deals at attractive prices. They need a pre-determined minimum number of buyers for a deal before that deal is on. It is therefore important for marketers to understand how they can encourage consumers to buy these online group deals early. Using the right persuasive claims that reflect a deal’s scarcity or popularity can help in heuristics information processing and shape a consumer’s desirability in that deal. This desirability can in turn tempt him or her to purchase immediately. As consumers are usually not informed of the deals prior to visiting the group buying websites, such buys can be termed as “impulse purchases”, i.e. unplanned or unintended buys. In particular, we investigate how one’s need-foruniqueness can influence the effectiveness of these persuasive claims. In view of the snob and bandwagon effects, marketers learn to appreciate which persuasive claims work better for what type of consumers.