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Impulses

Spring 2005

Just Buy It! Ty Bennett capitalizes on your impulse

A shopper in the ice cream aisle pulls out a tub of mint chocolate chip and hesitates as she notices ice cream scoops hanging from a display on the freezer door. Ah ha, she thinks, it would be nice to have a real scoop instead of always using a spoon. Into the cart goes a scoop, along with the ice cream.

Shoppers don’t mind spending a few extra dollars on items that aren’t on the list, and that’s what Ty Bennett, 1995 Washington State University alumnus and pioneer in the impulse buying business, counts on.

“We didn’t invent [impulse buying]. We just reinvented it,” says … » More …