Published Paper Details:

Impulse buying has emerged as a critical area of interest within consumer behavior research, particularly with the rapid expansion of organized retail in developing economies such as India. Organized retail formats--supermarkets, hypermarkets, departmental stores, and large-format specialty outlets--have transformed the shopping environment and significantly influenced unplanned purchases. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review on impulse buying behavior in organized retail settings, synthesizing key insights from studies published over the past decade. The review examines psychological factors such as emotions, mood states, hedonic motives, and personality traits; external retail stimuli including store layout, lighting, music, and promotional cues; and situational influences such as time pressure, shopping companions, and payment methods. The findings reveal that impulse buying is a multidimensional construct shaped by both internal consumer characteristics and external environmental triggers. Despite extensive global research, significant gaps remain in the Indian organized retail context, particularly regarding district-level consumer patterns, socio-cultural influences, and the role of emerging behavioral variables. This review lays the foundation for future empirical studies and offers meaningful implications for retailers aiming to design effective in-store strategies that ethically influence consumer purchase decisions.