South African Consumers’ Views and Responses to Sales Promotions

Abstract

The decrease in the effectiveness of traditional advertising media to create brand differentiation andchanges in consumers' buying behaviour has resulted in greater attention being paid to sales promotion. However, there has been limited prior research on sales promotions - from an emerging consumer perspective. Consequently, the present study seeks to acquire insight into the perceived value and response towards sales promotions - by conducting a survey amongst a sample of 600 South African consumers. The results have revealed that utilitarian benefits are regarded as being relatively less important than thehedonic benefits enjoyed. Within the utilitarian dimension, the value offered is regarded as most important; while value expression is considered to bemore important within the hedonic dimension. Consumers prefer to be offered sales promotions in the following categories: food/groceries, personal care products/toiletries, and alcoholic beverages. Traditional advertising media, outdoor advertising and mall-media advertising are still preferred as communication methods for sales promotions, rather than online-media and social media. A significant proportion of the respondents believe that sales promotions frequently influence their decision-making. Different sales-promotion techniques are associated with specific buying behaviours. Stockpiling is associated with bonus offerings; while brand switching is associated with coupons, free samples and point-of-sale displays. Product trials seem to be most associated with point-of-sale displays and free samples. The empirical results provide insights into the development of sales-promotion strategies to successfully enhance consumers' perceived value, and to induce a positive response.