The Impact of Visual Merchandising on Gen Z's Impulsive Buying Behaviour on E-commerce Platforms in The Western Province of Sri Lanka

Abstract

This research primarily attempts to try concerning the difference that visual merchandising creates on an impulsive buying behaviour as well as established such behaviour by consumers but particularly Generation Z (Gen Z) who are into online buying going across an e-commerce platform in the Western Province of Sri Lanka. The emergence of online shopping demanded that one understands the various consumer behaviour phenomena on impulsive buying. Particularly investigated were how such display strategies were applied in triggering impulsive buying by product displays, websites, colour schemes, and promotional visuals. The study is to fill the gap in the existing literature regarding how visual elements help to shape Gen Z's purchasing decisions while offering a window into the Sri Lankan e-commerce market. The fundamental argument proposition is that well-structured, visually stimulating websites can convince impulsive purchases very well, all channelling personal to time-limited promotional elements. This study employs a quantitative method through a structured questionnaire survey of 384 respondents. Convenience sampling is used to select respondents who frequently interact with e-commerce from the western province of Sri Lanka. This research survey was organized to find the effects of some visual merchandising techniques on impulsive buying behaviour. The setting of this research is in a country that is currently advancing into an online market: becoming popular within the young, tech-savvy audience in Sri Lanka. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were utilized in analysing the data to come up with meaningful insights with respect to the relationships posited between visual merchandising factors and consumer behaviour. This research indicates that an appealing web-design, flashy display of products, and colourful promotional graphics trigger impulsive buyer behaviour among consumers of Generation Z. Another effect was that personalizing visuals by formulating them according to individuals' preferences drew remarkably high impulse buying. Time-limited sales such as flash sales and countdown timers have also been confirmed to be the most prominent key contributors to impulse purchases. These results agree with prior studies that underline the stimulation of such consumer behaviour by visuals. However, in the modern mobile world, a well-optimized visual merchandising strategy becomes necessary because the majority of respondents use smartphones to access e-commerce. The integration of social media with e-commerce platforms also represents an effective way to entice spontaneous purchases through instant interactive content delivery. A few limitations attached to the present study exist, even though the study contributes immensely. The restrictions on generalizability might be processed because of convenient sampling, making the participants in the sample not very representative of the whole population of e-commerce consumers in Sri Lanka. Secondly, the inclusion of online surveys restricts the depiction of consumer decision-making in context because it appears that the data is not collected, mostly acquired from the participants via survey questions. Generally speaking, data collection is cross-sectional; thus, these cannot be expressions of cause-outcomes between visual merchandising strategies and impulsive buying behaviour. The consideration for future research might be seen factoring these two variables by longitudinal designs or engaging qualitative methods of research like interviews or focus groups for deeper insights into consumer motivations. Theoretical implications of this study with respect to consumer behaviour in the era of e-commerce mainly centre on how Generation Z responds to visual merchandising. Extending the studies of impulsive buying, the study identifies and analyses the key role of visual components in defining online shopping experiences. Based on results obtained, this study has some practical implications for e-commerce businesses in Sri Lanka. To better optimize visual merchandising strategies and to convincingly prompt consumption, the design of websites should focus on having visually attractive and mobile-optimized websites, use personalized product displays, and launch time-sensitive promotions that aim to grab consumers' attention. These can also be supplemented by getting social media involved with the experience of shopping online along with putting in interactivity aspects for better engagement and bigger impulses to purchase. Future studies can even explore the effectiveness of new technology such as augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) toward the improvement of efforts in visual merchandising and the effects of ethical consumerism and sustainability on Gen Z's decision-making processes.