Modeling Advertising Practices for Product Involvement and Consumer Impulsivity in Branded Apparel: A Case Study of Indian Consumers

Abstract

The exponential growth of advertising in enhancing consumer impulsivity has drawn the interest of many researchers to explore the various dimensions of advertising and its effective modeling. The branded apparel product market has grown significantly, a large number of competitors have entered into the market with variant quality, and there are a number of attractive advertising practices. The main aim of this study was to analyze the advertising practices and their relationship with consumer product involvement and the impulsive buying behavior of consumers in branded apparel in India. In a survey of 445 Indian customers, the study indicated that advertising practices significantly affect consumer involvement in branded apparel products and enhance their impulsivity toward products. The study also indicated that the level of consumer involvement in the branded apparel product significantly mediates the relationship between advertising practices and consumer impulsive buying behavior. Effective advertising practices will help companies to enhance consumer involvement that will enable branded apparel companies in enhancing consumer impulsiveness toward products. Some of the managerial implications, limitations, and scope of future research are also presented in the study.

1. Introduction

Product advertising has become an important element for the success of any business or product in the market. Advancement in technology has not only given us new products and services but has also changed the meaning of the world. Mass media advertising has overpowered traditional advertising media and continuously enhanced its scope. Today, an advertiser is looking for new and presumably less cluttered media. The primary objective of advertising is to increase consumer awareness and influence consumer attitudes and buying behavior. The knowledge about the products, their uses, benefits, source of availability, and brand awareness are achieved through product advertisement. Advertising plays a critical role in manipulating consumer purchase decisions and promoting consumer impulsivity [1,2].

Apparel is an important product category in consumer retail. It is not only one of the basic needs but also a sign of status and lifestyle. With population growth and improvement in India’s macro- and micro-economic indicators, the demand for branded goods and services has also significantly increased [3,4,5]. The clothing and apparel industry has had a structural change in demand from unbranded clothes to branded ones. The Indian apparel market is the second-largest retail market after food and groceries in India, valued at about USD 65 billion. In the period 2012–2017, it has grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5 percent and is expected to grow at about 11 percent CAGR in 2017–2021 to touch a value of USD 85 billion by 2021. This phenomenal growth in the country’s fashion market can be attributed to various factors such as young demographics, increasing urbanization, growing wealth and a growing middle-income segment, higher brand awareness, better accessibility and availability, and increased formalization of the sector. Apart from this, globalization, penetration of information and communication technology (ICT), and the development of e-commerce and extensive advertising have also contributed to a growing demand for branded products. Stiff competition in the market has forced organizations to adapt various marketing and advertising techniques to facilitate consumer decision making in favor of branded apparel. A branded apparel product marketer uses a different form of advertising such as digital advertising, place of purchase advertising, and word of mouth through salesforces, mass media advertising through television, commercial radio advertisement, outdoor advertising, newspaper, magazine mail, or modern media such as blogs, websites, and text messages. On the other hand, such extensive advertising promotes impulsivity among consumers and thus reduces the brand loyalty of the product.

Therefore, the present study attempted to examine the relationship between advertising practices, consumer product involvement, and impulsive buying behavior in the context of branded apparel. In addition, the mediating role of consumer product involvement in the relationship of advertising practices and consumer impulsive buying behavior was also investigated. The results of the present work will be beneficial for marketers in identifying relevant factors that promote impulsive buying decision making and designing suitable strategies related to advertising and consumer involvement in order to encourage impulsive buying behavior for branded apparel.

Advertising Practices and Consumer Impulsive Behavior

The concept of impulsive purchase behavior and factors affecting consumer impulsivity have gained significant importance over the last few decades, and many researchers have tried to explain it from different perspectives. Some researchers have found that culture, heterogeneous economy, personality, timing, and place, etc., are the factors that affect unplanned purchasing behavior. According to Abbasi [6], advertising promotes social messages, and most researchers are of the opinion that this is a sensational pursuit and impulsiveness. Advertising has the ability to evoke emotional responses from consumers and can be effective in appealing to consumers’ emotional propensities that lead toward psychosocial inspirations and impulsiveness [7]. As a promotional strategy, advertising provides a major tool in creating product awareness and conditions the mind of a potential consumer to take a final purchase decision. Chen [8] investigated impulse buying behaviors in both traditional store and online shopping contexts. The results show that impulsive buying tendency and involvement with clothing products are positively associated with impulse buying behavior of clothing in traditional store shopping but not online. Multimedia advertising triggers consumer intent to buy products and services impulsively. In another study, Adelaar et al. [9] explored the effects of media formats on emotions and impulse buying intentions and found that displaying the text of the lyrics had a greater effect on the impulse buying intent than showing still images of the music video. In addition, different media formats caused emotional responses that can explain the participant’s impulse buying intent to buy the product. Zhang et al. [10], in their study, examined the consumer online purchasing behavior using an augmented technology acceptance model and found a positive relationship between consumer impulsiveness and online purchasing behavior. A similar result was confirmed by Saraswat et al. [11], suggesting that print media advertising in-store is more effective in increasing consumer impulse behavior than online advertising. Aragoncillo [12], in their research work, explored the impact of online and offline advertising media on impulse buying in the fashion industry. Results show that the offline channel is slightly more encouraging of impulse buying than the online channel. Lianxi and Wong [13] analyzed retail store environment variables (in-store POP and atmospheric effect) on consumer impulse buying behavior in a supermarket setting in China, and their finding provides important insights into the formulation of strategic retail marketing stimuli. In another study, Chih et al. [14] tried to integrate individual internal factors influencing consumer online buying impulsiveness, and it was found that hedonic consumption needs, impulsive buying tendency, and normative evaluations significantly influence buying impulsiveness. Dodoo and Wu [15] examined the impact of personalized social media advertising on online impulsive buying tendency of consumers and concluded that personalized social media advertising triggers online impulsive buying behavior. The review of literature and arguments leads to the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1 (H1). 

There is a significant difference in advertising practices (online and offline) in creating consumer impulsive behavior of branded apparel products.

2. Advertising Practices and Consumer Product Involvement

Interactive online media are an increasingly preferred format for users and advertisers on social media networks and become an important consideration for the marketer in promoting products. Researchers like Belanchea [16] explored the influence of high-arousal and low-arousal stimuli on advertisement effectiveness with potential moderation of product involvement. The finding confirms that high-arousal advertisement is watched for a longer time and is more effective in congruent contexts. Users’ product involvement determines the intrusiveness of high- and low-arousal advertisements. Kong and Zhang [17], in their study “Consumer response to green advertising: the influence of product involvement,” examined the differential effects of green appeals on low-involvement and high-involvement products in China. The study confirmed that for low-involvement products, an advertisement with a green appeal, compared to a similar one without a green appeal, demonstrates a more favorable consumer attitude toward the advertisement and the brand. This study also showed that for high-involvement products, there is no interaction effect between green appeals and product involvement. Tashchian and Slama [18] explored the impact of advertising type (comparative and non-comparative), purchasing involvement, and product involvement on advertising effectiveness. The findings indicate that the relative effectiveness of comparative versus non-comparative advertising did not depend on the level of either purchasing or product involvement. Non-comparative advertising was more effective than comparative advertising in terms of recall, but it was neither more nor less effective in terms of evaluation or behavioral intention measures. Purchasing involvement was positively associated with both recall and behavioral intention measures of the effectiveness of advertising. Zhou and Xue [19] examined the effects of advertising format and product involvement on perceived advertising credibility, attitude toward the advertisement, and purchase intention. The study found that endemic in-feed advertisements showed a stronger impact for the high-involvement product and linked in-feed advertisements appeared to work better for the low-involvement product.

These arguments lead to the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 2 (H2). 

Various advertising practices have a significant effect on consumer product involvement in the branded category of apparel.

3. Consumer Product Involvement and Impulsive Buying Behavior

Product involvement originates from social psychology and the notion of “ego involvement,” which refers to the relationship between an individual, an issue, or an object [20]. This conceptualization has been the basis for applying involvement in consumer behavior. Specifically, through a period of increasing consumer research activity in the 1980s, attention has been focused on the conceptualization and measurement of involvement in relation to “objects” such as a product, message, purchase task, advertising, or activity. Involvement has also been examined in relation to other concepts such as perceived risk, information search, attribute comparison, brand loyalty, retail context, diffusion, and opinion leadership.

Product involvement also plays a significant role in the consumers’ purchase decision [21,22,23]. Bian and Moutinho [24] define product involvement as a “consumer’s continuing perceptions of the importance of the product category based on the consumer’s inherent needs, values, and interests.” Product involvement is usually higher for more expensive products (e.g., computers and cars), on which consumers spend a considerable amount of time in research and evaluation. Involvement is an important determinant of consumer motivation to purchase [25]. Consumers with a high level of product involvement are more likely to experience strong emotions in a specific product type, and in turn, generate the emotions needed for impulse buying [26]. Liang [27] analyzed the relationship between consumer product involvement, product knowledge, and consumer impulsive behavior, keeping consumer product involvement as the independent variable, product knowledge as an intervening variable, and impulse buying behavior as the dependent variable. In a survey of 400 respondents in Taiwan, the regression analysis confirmed that the higher the consumer product involvement is, the higher product knowledge and impulse buying behavior are. These arguments lead to the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 3 (H3). 

Consumer product involvement has a significant influence on the impulsive buying behavior of branded apparel.

4. Mediating Role of Consumer Product Involvement

Product involvement refers to the perceived relevance of an object based on the inherent needs, values, and interests of a consumer [21]. Therefore, product involvement contributes to the explanation of purchase intention and consumer impulsivity [28]. The product involvement construct is widely used in marketing literature to explain consumer behavior [29]. Bian and Moutinho [24] argue that product involvement affects the depth, complexity, and extensiveness of the process of making purchase decisions. As product involvement refers to a customer having interests or concerns about certain products, it results in customers spending more time to become familiar with the product and analyze the purchase decision. Consumers with high product involvement generally search product information enthusiastically while those with low product involvement do not. Therefore, the level of product involvement affects the extent of information gathering and interaction in the purchase of a product [30] and has a greater impact on the consumers’ purchase decision process [21]. Therefore, the concept of product involvement has been used to investigate customer impulsive behavior because of adapting different advertising practices of the product.

Mediation effects occur when an independent variable influences the dependent through its effects on or as a result of a mediator variable [31]. In this current study, the previous sections established that product advertising practices affect consumer brand involvement and further consumer brand involvement influences consumer impulsive buying while many researchers have shown that product advertising practices have a direct effect on consumer impulse purchase decisions; hence this study proposed that the relationship between product advertisement and consumer impulsive behavior is mediated by consumer product involvement. We propose the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 4 (H4). 

Consumer product involvement mediates the relationship between product advertising practices and consumer impulsive behavior in brand apparel category products.

5. Objective and Methodology

The present study was taken up with the following objectives:

• To analyze the different product advertising practices (both online and offline) to influence customer purchase decision in the branded apparel category of products;
• To assess the impact of product advertising on consumer product involvement in branded apparel products;
• To assess the impact of product involvement on consumer impulsive buying behavior in apparel products;
• To investigate the mediating role of consumer product involvement in the relationship of advertising practices and consumer impulsive purchase behavior in branded apparel products.

A descriptive research design was used in this study. A non-probability sampling method was employed. Primary data were gathered via online surveys. A well-structured questionnaire was designed to cover different dimensions of online as well as offline advertising practices, consumer product involvement, and impulsive behavior. The questionnaire was posted to a consumer’s online survey developed on Google Forms over a period of four months from November 2019 to February 2020. Consumers were invited to participate in the study through email and by posting invitations to well-known sites asking potential respondents to open the link and complete the questionnaire. The survey questionnaire consisted of three sections. The first part consisted of the demographic profile of respondents.

The second part of the questionnaire consisted of exploring the consumer level of involvement in the advertisement of branded apparel, and the third part of the questions related to various advertising practices, consumer product involvement, and impulsive purchase behavior. Respondents were advised to indicate their opinion according to their degree of agreement with the given 38 attributes on a five-point Likert scale (where 1 indicates strongly disagree and 5 indicates strongly disagree). After preparing the questionnaire, a pilot test was carried out with 35 respondents, representing around 8 percent of the total sample size. Cronbach’s alpha (α) value was found to be 0.917, which indicated that the measurement variable used in the study had an appropriate level of reliability. Some information was collected from the respondents visiting departmental stores personally. The remaining questionnaire was sent to 1000 respondents online through Google Docs. Researchers received 480 responses. After rejecting 35 inaccurate and incomplete responses, 445 responses were considered suitable and used in this study. The data thus obtained were organized, tabulated, and analyzed systematically using SPSS 22 software.

6. Results

The sample profile as presented in

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of respondents.

	Categories	Count	Percentage
		445	100
Age	Up to 20 Years	43	9.7
	21–30 Years	186	41.8
	31–40 Years	100	22.5
	41 to 50 Years	36	8.1
	51–60 Years	21	4.7
	Above 60 Years	59	13.3
Gender	Male	291	65.4
	Female	154	34.6
Marital Status	Married	324	72.8
	Unmarried	121	27.2
Education	No Formal Education	17	3.8
Level	Up to Matric	80	18.0
	Up to Graduation	153	34.4
	Post-Graduation	41	9.2
	Technical Degree/Diploma Certificates	142	31.9
	Professional Qualifications and Others	12	2.7
Income Level	Up to INR 15,000 PM	99	22.2
	INR 15,001–INR 3,000,000 PM	156	35.1
	INR 30,001–INR 45,000 PM	96	21.6
	INR 45,001–INR 60,000 PM	52	11.7
	INR 60,001–INR 75,000 PM	26	5.8
	More than INR 75,000 PM	16	3.6
Profession	Student	46	10.3
	Business	119	26.7
	Service	217	48.8
	Housewives	31	7.0
	Professionals	32	7.2

depicts the demographic characteristics of respondents. It is observed that the sample is a combination of younger generation respondents as more than half (9.7% + 41.8%) of the respondents fall in the age below 30 years. Meanwhile, 22.5% are from the age group of 31–40 years, 8.1% respondents are in the age group of 41–50 years, 4.7% respondents are in the age group of 51–60-years, and the remaining 13.3% respondents are above 60 years of age. The survey revealed that 65.4% of respondents are male respondents and the remaining 34.6% of respondents are female. Moreover, 72.8% of respondents are married, and the remaining 27.2% are unmarried. Information regarding education level indicated that the sample is of good education level as 34.4% are graduate, 9.2% are postgraduate, 31.9% respondents have technical degree/diploma certificates, and 2.7% respondents have a professional degree to their credit; 3.8% of respondents indicated that they have no formal education, and 18.0% of respondents indicated that they are educated up to the matric level. The survey revealed that 22.2% of respondents indicated that they are earning up to INR 15,000, 35.1% of respondents indicated that they are earning between INR 15,001 and 30,000, 31.6% of respondents have a monthly income between INR 30,001 and 45,000, 11.7% of respondents indicated that they are earning between INR 45,001 and 60,000, and 5.8% of respondents indicated that they have a monthly income of INR 60,001–75,000. The remaining 3.6% of respondents indicated that they have a monthly income of INR 75,000 and above. The survey revealed that the sample is dominated by service-class respondents as 48.8% of respondents fall into this category. Students account for 10.3%, business-class respondents account for 26.7%, homemakers’ class of respondents account for 7.0%, and 7.2% of respondents are professional-class respondents.

In the developing economies where online information seeking is growing continuously and giving tough competition to an offline advertisement of apparel products, it has become necessary to know how the consumer receives the information and reacts to the branding through advertising practices. Descriptive statistics (mean and SD) of online and offline information seeing patterns, as presented in

Table 2. Online and offline information seeing pattern.

	N	Reliability (α)	Mean	Std.
Online Advertising	445	0.677	3.5146	0.58134
Websites	445		3.6517	0.85820
Social media	445		3.3393	0.85393
Mobile ads	445		3.7753	1.01290
Search engine marketing	445		3.4652	1.00529
Pop-ups/pop-unders	445		3.6539	0.97573
Display ads	445		3.3506	1.04764
Email	445		3.3663	1.18293
Offline Advertising	445	0.798	3.6558	0.74254
Television	445		3.7326	1.07508
Print (magazines or newspapers)	445		3.8742	0.94554
Radio	445		3.4000	1.11985
Billboards	445		3.7685	1.18660
Marketing collateral (brochures and flyers)	445		3.5348	1.13969
Direct mail	445		3.6270	1.21559

, indicate that the consumer looks more toward the offline advertisement of apparel products as it scored a mean of 3.65 with SD = 0.74254 against online advertisement with a mean of 3.51 and SD = 0.58134. Looking at individual components, it is observed that print media (magazine or newspaper advertising) scored the highest mean of 3.8742 with SD = 0.9455. Among the various components of online advertising, it is observed that mobile ads scored the highest mean of 3.7753 with SD = 1.0129, followed by pop-ups/pop-unders with a mean of 3.6539 and SD = 0.97573.

Information presented in

Table 3. Factors of online and offline advertising affecting consumer product involvement and impulsive purchase behavior: descriptive statistics.

	N	Reliability (α)	Mean	Std.
Online Advertising Practices	445	0.766	3.7446	0.67611
The product presented online is more attractive, informative, and understandable	445		3.9236	0.77895
An online advertisement having easy access and convenience	445		3.7528	1.03629
I feel product presented online is more creative, reliable and relevant	445		3.8809	0.98718
Product promoted online make me more evaluative	445		3.6090	1.04404
The benefits described in the advertisement are believable to me.	445		3.5236	1.19779
product Advertising displayed online makes more impulsive	445		3.7775	0.87633
Window Display	445	0.751	3.8172	0.58685
Eye-catching window displays inspire me to choose product easily from the store	445		3.8247	0.70123
I get an idea of what I want to by looking through mannequin displays	445		3.8787	0.77901
When I see a new form of clothing or design at the exhibition, I want to buy it.	445		3.7483	0.67084
Store Display	445	0.878	3.7579	0.68584
Since looking through the mannequin displays the shape of the shop, I get an idea of what I want to buy.	445		3.8719	0.60348
When I see a new form of clothing or design at the exhibition, I want to buy it.	445		3.6854	0.62952
When I see the clothes I want on the in-store model/mannequin collection, I choose to buy them.	445		3.8742	0.76369
I like to concentrate on displays in the shop when I want to buy clothing.	445		3.6764	0.63919
Floor Merchandising	445	0.888	3.7026	0.69727
When I see the clothes that catch my eye, I prefer to try it without looking through the whole section.	445		3.8449	0.69474
When I walk around the island, I prefer to look at the clothes that are close to me.	445		3.6157	0.86900
I tend to wear clothes that catch my attention as I pass by.	445		3.6472	0.74072
Promotional Signage	445	0.722	3.9096	0.64230
When I see an enticing promotional deal (reduced price, sales promotion, etc.) on in-store signs, I prefer to buy.	445		3.8067	0.84813
Sale / clearance messages make me look through the clothing.	445		3.8697	0.81157
When I see a special sign of promotion, I am going to look at the shoes.	445		4.1640	0.80402
I am more likely to make an accidental purchase if the product has a sign of sale or clearance.	445		3.7978	1.00202

indicates descriptive statistics for various variables of advertising practice (online and offline). Five important factors of advertising practices like online advertising practices, window display, store display, floor merchandising, and promotional signage were considered for evaluating the factors of advertising influencing consumer product involvement and impulsive purchase behavior. The reliability of all the factors of advertising, as presented in Table 3, is between 0.722 and 0.888, indicating the variable in every construct is reliable enough for the further statistical test. Descriptive statistics presented in Table 3 indicate that promotional signage scored the highest mean of 3.9096 and SD = 0.6423. It is followed by factors like window display with mean = 3.8172 and SD = 0.58685. Floor merchandising scored the lowest mean = 3.7026 and SD = 0.69727. Overall attributes like “When I see a special sign of promotion, I’m going to look at the shoes” have scored the highest mean of 4.1640 with SD = 0.80402.

Information presented in

Table 4. Consumers’ product involvement: descriptive statistics.

	N	Reliability (α)	Mean	Std.
Consumers’ Product Involvement	445	0.663	3.8306	0.62642
Overall advertisement of the product makes me happy and I tend to be more interested in the product	445		3.7955	1.13938
I carefully compare different product quality for its quality before purchasing	445		3.6180	0.87644
Product presentation touch my feeling towards the brand and make me involved	445		4.0472	0.79129
I extensively explore the information from different media for making the decision	445		3.8067	0.96022
I am very much involved in the advertisement and do not want to lose the opportunity in making the decision for the purchase of clothing products	445		3.8854	0.99679

indicates descriptive statistics for various items of consumers’ product involvement. It is observed that attributes like “Product presentation touch my feeling towards the brand and make me involved” scored the highest mean = 4.0472 and SD = 0.79129. It was followed by an SD = 0.81651. It was followed by the attribute “I am very much involved in the advertisement and do not want to lose the opportunity in making the decision” with mean = 3.8854 and SD = 0.99679. Attribute “Overall advertisement of the product makes me happy and I tend to be more interested in the product” scored the lowest mean of 3.7968 and SD = 1.1393. The combined mean of all items of consumer’s product involvement was found to be 3.803 and SD 0.62642. The reliability (α) of this factor was 0.663.

Information presented in

Table 5. Consumers’ impulsive purchase behavior: descriptive statistics.

	N	Reliability (α)	Mean	Std.
Consumer Impulsiveness	445	0.756	3.8562	0.75528
I use to go shopping to change my mood.	445		3.7618	0.95005
I get a sense of excitement while doing impulse buying.	445		3.8067	0.84013
After watching the advertisement for the product online/offline, I would like to buy the product	445		3.9056	0.83832
When I see a good deal, I have a problem controlling my desire to buy.	445		3.63596	0.873824
When I see a good price offer, I want to buy more than I expected to buy.	445		4.0719	0.78226
Valid N (listwise)	445

indicates descriptive statistics for various items of consumers’ impulsive purchase behavior. It is observed that the attribute “When I see a good price offer, I want to buy more than I expected to buy” scored the highest mean of 4.0716 and SD = 0.78226. It was followed by the attribute “After watching the advertisement of product online/offline, I would like to buy the product” with a mean of 3.9056 and SD = 0.8383. The attribute “I use to go shopping to change my mood” scored the lowest mean of 3.7818 and SD = 0.96005. The combined mean of all items of consumer’s impulsive purchase behavior was found to be 3.8662 and SD 0.7562. The reliability (α) of this factor was 0.756.

7. Regression Analysis

Regression analysis was carried out to model the relationship between advertising practices (online and offline) and impulsive buying behavior. Combined factors (online advertising practices, window display, store display, floor merchandising, and promotional signage) were used in analyzing the construct Advertising Practices. The similarly combined mean of measurement variables was calculated for assessing the “customer product involvement” factor, a combined mean of five measurement variables related to impulsive buying behavior was calculated for assessing “impulsive buying behavior,” and a multicollinearity test of each construct was carried out to analyze model fitness and assess whether multicollinearity is present in the model that may affect our model with more than one predictor. Variance inflation factor (VIF) for multicollinearity was calculated and found to be as follows: online advertising practices (2.779), window display (1.224), store display (1.121), floor merchandising (1.697), and promotional signage (1.772), which are considered to be within the limit (1 < VIF < 5). After assuring multicollinearity, regression analysis was carried out in three steps. In the first step, regression analysis was carried out to assess the direct impact of advertising practices on impulsive buying behavior. In the next step, the impact of advertising practices on consumer brand involvement and the further impact of consumer brand involvement on impulsive buying behavior was calculated using SPSS software. Results are presented in

Table 6. Maximum likelihood estimates for the model (N = 445).

Independent Variable	Dependent Variable	Standardized Estimate (β)	Standard Error	t-Statistic	R	R2	F-Value	p-Value
AP	IBB	0.738	0.041	23.033	0.738	0.545	530.525	0.000
AP	CPI	0.862	0.026	35.828	0862	0.743	1283.632	0.000
CPI	IBB	0.679	0.042	19.4673	0.679	0.461	378.981	0.000

AP = advertising practice (online-offline); IBB = impulsive buying behavior; CPI = consumer product involvement.

and Figure 1.

The information presented in Table 6 indicates the regression outcome related to the direct effect of advertising practices on the impulsive buying behavior and indirect effect of advertising practices on consumer product involvement and further impact of consumer product involvement on impulsive buying behavior. The impact of advertising practices on impulsive buying behavior was found significant (F = 530.525, p = 0.0; t = 23.033, p = 0.0) and contributed 54.5% (R² = 0.545) to impulsive purchase behavior. The results indicate that beta values (β) for advertising practices are 0.738 and it has a significant effect on impulsive purchase behavior. Hence, the finding does not support the null hypothesis, and it is concluded that advertising practices have a significant effect on consumer’s impulsive buying behavior.

Further, test statistics indicate the impact of advertising practices on consumer product involvement. The impact of advertising practices on consumer product involvement was found significant (F = 1283.632, p= 0.000; t = 35.828, p = 0.0) and contributed 74.38% (R² = 0.743) to consumer product involvement. The results reveal that the beta value for social media marketing is 0.862 and it has a significant effect on consumer product involvement. Hence, the finding does not support the null hypothesis, and it is concluded that advertising practices have a significant effect on consumers’ product involvement. A further impact of consumer product involvement on impulsive buying behavior was found significant (F = 378.981, p = 0.0; t = 19.4673, p = 0.0) and contributed 46.1% (R² = 0.461) to consumer impulsive purchase behavior. The results reveal that the beta values of consumer trust are 0.679, and it has a significant effect on consumer impulse purchase behavior. Hence, an alternate hypothesis is accepted, indicating the consumer product involvement has a significant effect on consumer impulse buying behavior.

8. Mediation Effect of Consumer Product Involvement between Advertising Practices and Consumer Impulsive Buying

The information presented in

Table 7. Influence of the mediating variable (consumer trust) using the Sobel test (A).

	Input		Test Statistics	Standard Error	p-Value
A	0.919	Sobel test	17.07403581	0.0440822	0.000
B	0.819	Aroian test	17.0687995	0.04409572	0.000
Sa	0.026	Goodman test	17.07927694	0.04406867	0.000
Sb	0.042

and

Table 8. Influence of the mediating variable (consumer trust) using the Sobel test (B).

	Input
ta	35.828	Sobel test	17.10533603	0.000
tb	19.4673	Aroian test	17.10019426	0.000
		Goodman test	17.11048244	0.000

indicates the test outcome of the Sobel test, Aroian test, and Goodman test that were conducted to evaluate the effect of the mediating variable (consumer product involvement) of a given independent variable (advertising practices) on a given dependent variable (impulsive purchase behavior). In general, mediation can take place if (1) the independent variable significantly affects the mediator, (2) the independent variable significantly affects the dependent variable in the absence of the mediator, (3) the mediator has a major unique effect on the dependent variable, and (4) the independent variable’s influence on the dependent variable shrinks when the mediator is applied to the model. Such principles can be used to informally determine whether mediation is taking place or not. The Sobel test indicated that p-values are less than 0.05, assuming a two-tailed z-test is greater than 1.96, and hence research hypothesis is accepted. It is concluded that customer product involvement trust mediates the relationship between advertising practices and consumer’s impulsive buying behavior.

9. Discussion

The present study was taken up with the objective of investigating the impact of various advertising practices (both online and offline) on consumers’ product involvement and impulsive purchase behavior in branded apparel products and assess the mediating role of consumer product involvement in the relationship between advertising practices and consumer impulsive purchase behavior in branded apparels. The descriptive statistics related to advertising practices indicated that promotional signage and window display are the most effective in enhancing consumer impulsivity. Our finding is in conformance with some of the previous studies which have been carried out in the same area of study [32,33,34,35]. The results of this study indicate that advertising practices have a significant effect on consumer product involvement and impulsive purchase behavior. The study also found that offline advertising practices like a window display, store display, and promotional signage have a greater influence in enhancing consumer product involvement and consumer impulsive purchase of branded apparel. Moreover, it indicates that consumers’ product involvement has a significant influence on their impulsive buying behavior. However, our finding opposes the previous research finding of Banjo and Germano [32] who advocated that rigorous planning will end impulse buying. When comparing both channels, it should be noted that the impulse purchase is dictated by the capacity of the senses to produce a sudden response and has a strong hedonic component, which leads to a decision without further deliberation [33]. Thus, the physical store is still superior in terms of sensory stimulation, which can trigger an emotional and unconscious response that leads to more purchase impulses than the online channel [34,35].

10. Managerial Implications

The results of the study show a close relationship between advertising practices, customer product involvement, and impulsive buying behavior in the apparel category of products. Research has shown that advertising and product presentation, window display, and store display have a significant effect on the impulsive buying of apparel. Marketing managers should also continue to focus on certain strategies that are capable of enhancing positivity in interpersonal relationships by focusing on consumer interest and entertainment. Marketers should try to increase consumer involvement by emphasizing the shopping environment and designing pricing policies to facilitate impulsive buying among individuals. Retailers can contribute to this method by implementing less risky promotional and advertisement strategies. This study paves the way for more studies and offers practical suggestions for organizations to examine different factors and their influence on purchase behavior. This study also leads to the examination of different factors that decide the uniqueness of impulsive buying behavior. The findings of the study can be useful to local marketers and producers by making them aware of the psychological needs and product features demanded by customers. This study provides a broader perspective and detailed knowledge on the identification of those products that are strongly demanded and enhance the impulsive purchasing behavior of the customer with a view to make higher profits.

11. Conclusions

The growing need for promoting stronger interaction with customers and implementing sustainable brand management has prompted commercial organizations to use digital technology in different advertising practices. However, product advertising at the point of purchase cannot be undermined, and organizations must concentrate on such advertisements in order to elicit consumer interest and stimulate their impulsiveness toward the purchase of apparel products. An emerging technological development is the permutation and combination of online and offline ads, making it an efficient platform for greater product interaction and improved customer impulsiveness. With the greater number of effect sizes available for each model, supported by empirical data, our comparative evaluation of the different perspectives on impulsive buying brings the relative impacts of the multiple prevailing explanatory factors into the proper perspective of each dimension.

In summary, our study explored the direct effects of advertising practices (such as online advertising practices, window display, store display, floor merchandising, and promotional signage) on impulse buying, along with the mediating impacts of consumer product involvement. Our examination of these mediators reveals the inner affective and cognitive psychological processes of impulse buying and their relations. Our research analysis provides a comprehensive summary of research, underlying various implications. We hope it also sheds some new light on directions for research that can continue to enhance our understanding of impulse buying. The study indicates that advertising practices have a prominent effect on consumer product involvement and impulsive purchase behavior. The study also found that offline advertising practices like a window display, store display, and promotional signage have a high impact on increasing consumer product involvement and impulsive purchase of branded apparel.

Although this research paper contributed a lot to new knowledge, still there are some limitations that can help in giving direction for future research. The finding of the study is based on limited data collected from online as well as offline known resources that limit the generalization of the study. Lack of time is also an important limitation of the study. There are many other variables that also affect impulsive buying behavior but are not discussed in this study like time availability and other social considerations. Although proper care was taken during the process of data collection, there is a probability that people may not respond accurately when they are interrupted while shopping. It is suggested that future research studies on larger sample sizes must be conducted on the basis of an international context. A broader population should be analyzed in order to examine the effects of advertising practices on consumer product involvement and impulsive behavior. It is suggested that future research must include more variables of advertising practices, making the study more effective and meaningful.