Monetary Promotions Research Articles

Choose a mobile application or mobile website? Different effects of mobile channels on direct and indirect sales

Many firms use mobile applications and mobile websites to increase their product sales. However, little is known about how to optimize these channels for maximum sales. We obtained secondary data from an e-commerce company in China and compared the effectiveness of mobile applications and mobile websites in driving direct and indirect sales. Using the seemingly unrelated regression method, we found that mobile applications are more effective at increasing indirect sales compared to mobile websites but do not have the same positive impact on direct sales. The negative impact of mobile applications on direct sales is mitigated when non-monetary promotions, such as free gifts, are associated with the product. In contrast, the positive impact of mobile applications on indirect sales is enhanced when the product includes monetary promotions, such as discounts. Our study enriches the research into multi-channel promotion and provides practical guidance for firms.

Theme park visitors’ responses to monetary promotions: The moderating roles of promotion frequency and original price

Previous research has shed light on how monetary promotions affect visitors’ purchase intentions, leading many theme parks to adopt these strategies. Yet, with different promotion frequencies and original prices, the effectiveness of these promotions may diverge. Utilizing three experimental studies, this research demonstrates that perceived value fully mediates the significant impact of monetary promotions on purchase intentions. Original price moderates this effect, whereas the moderating role of promotion frequency was not significant. Specifically, for high-priced theme parks offering minimal discounts, “amount off” was preferred over “percentage off,” irrespective of promotion frequency. When original prices are low, the effectiveness of two promotional messages becomes indistinguishable. Both theoretical and managerial implications are further elaborated.

Inaction inertia in online shopping: impact of promotional formats and sequence

PurposeInaction inertia occurs when people are less likely to act on a similar but inferior option after missing a superior opportunity, compared to if they had not missed out. This study aims to explore how promotional formats and their sequence affect the inaction inertia effect in online shopping, under the assumption of economic equivalence.Design/methodology/approachThe authors performed two online experiments and analyzed the data by analysis of variance.FindingsThe findings indicate that, under the premise of economic equivalence: Monetary promotions exhibit a higher inaction inertia effect on consumers than nonmonetary promotions. When consumers miss a more favorable promotion and subsequently encounter a relatively less attractive one presented in a different promotional format, the inaction inertia effect is lower than when reencountering the same promotion format. When consumers miss a better monetary promotion and presently encounter a relatively less attractive nonmonetary promotion, the inaction inertia effect is lower than when they miss a superior nonmonetary promotion and currently encounter a relatively less attractive monetary promotion.Originality/valueThis study reveals the sequence effects of promotional formats, indicating that nonmonetary promotions following monetary ones effectively reduce inaction inertia. A strategically sequenced set of formats enhances consumer recommendations, mitigating inaction inertia. These findings open new research paths, providing insights into the impact of promotional format sequences on the inaction inertia effect. Consequently, this knowledge helps e-retailers in implementing effective promotional strategies and driving online purchases.

Robots or humans: Who is more effective in promoting hospitality services?

Although consumers’ evaluation and adoption of robotic services have been widely investigated, the effectiveness of robotic sales promotion in the hospitality industry remains unclear. Utilizing the benefit congruency framework, this study proposes that robotic (human) promotion is more suitable for utilitarian (hedonic) benefits. Based on an experiment with and field data provided by a Chinese restaurant chain, this study demonstrates that robots perform better than humans in monetary promotion (e.g., price discounts) that offers utilitarian benefits but not in nonmonetary promotion (e.g., extra dish) associated with hedonic benefits. Moreover, an anthropomorphic language style can reduce the performance difference between robots and humans in nonmonetary promotion. Accordingly, this study’s findings inform hospitality marketers that humans and robots should be in a cooperative rather than substitutive relationship in sales promotion.

Buy solar, get cashback: do consumer subsidies described as promotions influence electricity choices?

Most countries want to make the transition to increased or even exclusive use of renewable energy. To achieve this goal, how can individuals be persuaded to use more renewable electricity? For example, does the way energy companies communicate so-called consumer subsidies matter in this regard, and if so, which communication strategy is best? For example, is a monetary promotion (e.g., cashback) better than a non-monetary one (e.g., gift)? In a total of four studies (with a total of more than 1700 participants), we investigated what type of promotion most influenced the choice of a renewable energy product, varying, for example, the environmental friendliness of the renewable energy product. The monetary promotion (e.g., get $35 back through subsidies) appeared to be the most successful; it significantly increased the choice of the renewable electricity product (i.e., between 12-22%). However, this result was only evident when the subsidized renewable product was not the product already preferred by most individuals. Other measures, such as the willingness to pay (WTP), showed no differential effects. Overall, the observed pattern suggests that promoting renewable energy choices, is similar to promoting donations to a charity. Accordingly, the description of the consumer subsidy as a monetary promotion (i.e., cashback or negative labeling) is most effective in terms of promotion. However, the effect of monetary promotions seems to diminish if the subsidized product is already the product preferred by most consumers. Nevertheless, the use of monetary promotions can encourage the transition to renewable energy.

Safe Destination Choice Among Tourism-Product Consumers in the New Era of Tourism

The current study assessed and demonstrated the impact of perceived knowledge and perceived susceptibility about COVID-19 on travelers’ intentions for safe destination choice in case when the COVID-19 pandemic is being controlled by crowdedness (i.e., human crowdedness and spatial crowdedness) and monetary promotions. The reliability and validity of the proposed research model were tested by using regression analysis and covariance structural equation modeling. The results revealed a significant effect of perceived knowledge and perceived susceptibility on behavioral intention. It was evidenced that increasing knowledge and susceptibility of COVID-19 is necessary. The moderating effects of human crowdedness, spatial crowdedness, and monetary promotions were also examined through SPSS Process Macro v3.5 and invariance test. In addition, differences in demographic variables (gender, age, annual income, marital status, and ethnic background) on the research model were unveiled. Lastly, both theoretical values and practical implications of this study were discussed.

Post-Pandemic Tourist Behavior in the Context of the Industrial Revolution 4.0: An Empirical Study in Vietnam

Recovery and growth of tourism are one of the greatest concerns of the Government as well as enterprises specializing in the travel sector. This paper aims to explore the impact mechanisms of factors on the travel intention and satisfaction of tourists in Vietnam, focusing on perceived service quality, monetary promotion, and social media. A survey was conducted with 421 tourists; the collected data was processed by Smart-PLS software. The research results have shown that perceived service quality and travel intention positively impact tourist satisfaction. Besides, both monetary promotion and social media show a favorable influence on travel intention. However, monetary promotion negatively impacts tourist satisfaction. Based on these findings, some practical implications are suggested to enhance the intention and satisfaction of tourists traveling to Vietnam in the future.

Understanding Tourists’ Behavioral Intention and Destination Support in Post-pandemic Recovery: The Case of the Vietnamese Domestic Market

Many countries have recently strived to accelerate the tourism recovery process by restarting their tourism industry despite the unprecedented risks of the COVID-19 crisis. Noticeably, several tourism destinations have experienced an impressive revitalization of both domestic and international tourist arrivals right after lifting all social distance restrictions. However, little is known about how a tourist destination may revive from the pandemic and to what extent tourists are willing to support a destination recovery. This study, therefore, aims to examine factors influencing the travel demand of domestic tourism and tourists’ willingness to support a destination recovery in new normal conditions. The Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling was employed to predict the structural model derived from a sample size of 695 valid questionnaires. The results indicate that there is a significant improvement in domestic tourists’ travel intention and their willingness to support the post-pandemic destination revival. It is interesting to learn that the destination health risk image is no longer a critical determinant to tourists’ travel plans, while other factors including attitude, monetary promotion, and social media significantly influence their travel intention and support of tourism destination re-opening in new normal conditions. Theoretically, this study generates important contributions to post-disaster crisis management and predicting tourists’ behavioral intentions that may influence tourism destination recovery prospects. Practically, the study also provides several important implications to rebuild the domestic tourism industry in a more resilient way against future pandemic challenges.

Shopping Value Resonance of Household Appliance and Purchase Intentions in E-Commerce

This study investigates shopping value resonance as a novelty concept that can bridge monetary promotion to purchase intentions on e-commerce platforms. Previous research has revealed that monetary promotion does not affect purchase intentions. The data was collected through a survey of 426 respondents who had shopped online in the form of home appliances and domiciled in Central Java, Indonesia. The data is analyzed using the Structural Equation Model PLS. The results show that monetary promotion has a significant and positive effect on purchase intention and shopping value resonance. Furthermore, shopping value resonance positively affects purchase intention. All the hypotheses are confirmed. The role of shopping value resonance as a mediation of monetary promotion and purchase intention is proven. Companies engaged in e-commerce can increase monetary promotion (e.g., discounts) through shopping value resonance, so that customer shopping on e-commerce is more comfortable and fun. This will have an impact on increasing purchase intentions. The findings suggest the need for companies to create monetary added value in theirpromotional activities considered useful by their customers.

Impact of different platform promotions on online sales and conversion rate: The role of business model and product line length

Facing fierce competition, e-commerce platforms are implementing various promotional strategies to attract consumers. Based on real-world transaction data from the largest online retailer in China, JD.com, this study builds a three-level hierarchical promotion structure and evaluates the impact of different platform promotions on sales and conversion rate. We find that monetary promotions have a stronger impact on sales than gift promotions. Among monetary promotions, standard promotions are more influential than coupon promotions. And among standard promotions, direct and quantity promotions are more effective than bundle promotions. Moreover, we find that the platforms' business model (i.e., reseller or marketplace) and product line length have significant moderating effects on the impact of quantity promotions on both sales and the conversion rate, while the moderating effects on direct promotions are only observed on its impact on sales. Our findings offer guidelines for e-commerce platforms to implement efficient promotion strategies to improve their performance by generating online consumer purchase intention and behavior based on the business model and product line length.

Push–pull analysis: the mediating role of promotion types relative to visit intention to a sports museum

PurposeAlthough sport museums are considered an important sector in nostalgia sport tourism, annual visitations of the major sport Hall of Fames (HoF) have been decreasing, often resulting in operational and financial difficulties for the HoF. The current study examined the relationship between sport museum image, motivation, constraints, monetary and non-monetary promotions (as a mediator), and visit intention among those who have attended or never attended.Design/methodology/approachData was collected from the residents in the Northeast Ohio area via an online survey questionnaire using Qualtrics (N = 1,607). Two sets of data parameters were generated based on consumers previous visitation to Pro Football HoF (visited group n = 754; never-visited group n = 853) and each group's monetary and non-monetary promotion models (total of four models) were analyzed. Descriptive statistics and reliability tests were processed via IBM SPSS Statistics 26 and the structural relationships among the constructs were examined using SmartPLS 3.FindingsAmong all the antecedents, positive perceived image of HoF has been identified as the most significant predictor for both promotions and visit (revisit) intention. Social motivation was found to be a strong driver for visiting a sports museum regardless of the types of promotions. Promotions' mediation effects were found. The monetary promotion between cost constraints and visit intention implied, cost constraints can be mitigated through monetary promotion.Originality/valueThis is the first study examining the role of relationship between image, motivation, constraints and visit intention relative to sport museums. Results provide practical insights for the sport museum marketers and researchers relative to visit intension.

A set-theoretic approach to identifying effective configurations ofpromotional attributes

PurposeMost previous studies have indicated promotional attributes separately (e.g. time pressure, giveaways, price discounts, exclusivity) and found controversial effects. This paper aims to explore how different attributes can be aligned with each other and integrated with different levels of brand strength to influence sales or purchase intention according to the fit logic.Design/methodology/approachBoth field data and controlled experiments are used to understand the effectiveness of promotion configurations. This paper first conducts an exploratory study using qualitative comparative analysis, based on 625 online promotion campaigns. This paper identifies several effective configurations of promotion attributes, leading to the development of two hypotheses. Three experiments are then designed to test the validity of these two hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that strong brands should adopt nonmonetary promotion, whereas weak brands should adopt monetary promotion; exclusivity and time limitation should be used separately.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper provides empirical insights on how promotion elicits sales in terms of the configuration of promotional attributes and brand strength. This paper examines the integrative effect of types of giveaways, promotion duration and promotion target as well as brand strength on promotion effectiveness. Future research can explore other promotional attributes. This study is a first attempt to introduce and apply the set-theoretic approach to address strategic research issues and inform strategic decisions and managerial actions.Practical implicationsThe findings can facilitate marketers’ understanding and predictions of deal recipients’ responses to promotions.Originality/valueThis paper adopts a holistic view to investigate how different promotion attributes interact with one another to stimulate sales. It explores the integrative effect from field data and finds converging evidence through a set-theoretic approach and controlled experiments.

Omnichannel promotions and their effect on customer satisfaction

Purpose This paper aims to investigate whether customer satisfaction varies when presented with different types of omnichannel promotions (shopping goal-congruent vs shopping goal-incongruent and monetary vs non-monetary promotions) and if the effect on satisfaction is mediated by service excellence. In addition, this paper examines whether consumers respond differently to these promotions when shopping for utilitarian or hedonic products or when they have an inherent utilitarian or hedonic shopping motivation. Design/methodology/approach Two online shopping scenario experiments are conducted. Study 1 (n = 1,034) differentiates effects of omnichannel promotions between hedonic and utilitarian product categories. Study 2 (n = 345) contrasts hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivation in the same product category. Findings The findings in this paper demonstrate positive effects from both presenting a shopping goal congruent and a monetary promotion in an omnichannel setting on customer satisfaction. The positive effects are explained by service excellence and are demonstrated to be attenuated in the hedonic product category and for consumers with a hedonic shopping motivation. Research limitations/implications The effect of omnichannel promotions was demonstrated using a scenario-based experimental approach, future research should use field experiments. Practical implications The findings in this paper demonstrate practical implications for a retailer who wishes to optimize its omnichannel promotion strategy across channels and touchpoints. Originality/value To date there is little directions for retailers on how to optimize their omnichannel promotion strategy. This paper contributes to research and practice by demonstrating that shopping goal-congruent promotions (vs in-congruent) and monetary promotions (vs non-monetary) increase customer satisfaction more in an omnichannel context. The effects are enhanced for utilitarian (vs hedonic) products/shopping motivation.

Brand strategies development through sales promotion and endorsement of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in West Java Indonesia

Not all business in the market get customer attentions as they deserve, especially for Small Medium Enterprise (SME). It sparks fierce competition between SME to stand out from rivals in the market. Sales promotion is known as one of the most effective method which influence sales volume, especially for SME’s market. The second strategy is having endorsement from a third-party. Previous studies have identified impact of monetary promotion through online and in-store strategy to build strong brand identity without, and so as endorsement. However, there is still inadequate understanding of branding development particularly what specific promotions and endorsement works better for SME, as previous research are mostly based on multinational or big firms which have different characteristics with SME. Therefore, this paper examine the impact of two types of promotions, which are: monetary (vs non-monetary) promotion and celebrity (vs.non-celebrity) endoresement into better customer perceptions about SMEs’ product and brand.

Tourists’ outbound travel behavior in the aftermath of the COVID-19: role of corporate social responsibility, response effort, and health prevention

Little is known regarding how the tourists will perceive the post-pandemic travel particularly when planning to travel to the most affected global destinations. This study was designed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its adverse impact on the travel and tourism industry. It primarily investigated the key factors of the U.S. tourists’ destination attachment and the intentions to return to European and Asian destinations after the pandemic. A total of 367 participants were involved in the web-based survey. The results of the structural equation modeling demonstrated that in the event of a pandemic (1) the corporate social responsibility and the perceived response efforts were critical to generate the destination attachment and the approach behavioral intentions, (2) monetary promotions were not sufficient to generate the destination attachment and approach the behavioral intentions to the international destinations, and (3) the health preventive behavior and the destination attachment were important direct predictors of the approach behavioral intentions. These key findings could assist the travel and tourism companies to more effectively overcome the adverse impact of the pandemic on their businesses.

A Critical Investigation of Consumer Response for Monetary and Non-monetary Promotions Across E-services

Monetary and non-monetary promotions are very evident in e-commerce. Consumer comes across them daily while making purchase decisions. This study brings in the perspective of how consumer leverages the two types of promotion when they choose to make their e-purchase. Study focuses on three service sectors (ordering food online, booking ride online and booking event tickets) and how consumer response differs across them for evaluating two categories of promotion. Consumer budget also plays an important role. It changes the consumer shopping orientation as well as the evaluation of promotion while making a purchase decision. Study also shows that gender play a significant role while evaluating monetary promotion; however, non-monetary promotions are no different for them. The findings of the study have implications for e-retailers to implement their promotional strategies more efficiently.

‘Pedagogies of cruelty’ and the patriarchal order of the nation state: the falsos positivos as a paradigmatic example

ABSTRACT This article explores an episode of mass atrocity that took place in Colombia in 2002-2010 under the rule of Álvaro Uribe: the falsos positivos, a subset of extrajudicial killings carried out by state armed forces in exchange for monetary bonuses, holidays and/or promotions whose victims were more than 3000 poor and mostly male people. Drawing from Rita Segato's work, I address this event from a perspective that re-centres patriarchy and coloniality. I argue that the very possibility of the killings' occurrence, staging, symbolic function and scale, and the nearly zero empathy they generated in the general population, was the result of a historical implementation of ‘pedagogies of cruelty' that in the context of Colombia have successfully trained the urban classes into what I will denote ‘selective desensitisation'. As an extreme enactment of the ‘mandate of masculinity', these crimes constitute an event that entrenches the patriarchal order that underlies the modern-colonial nation state. Apart from providing an explanatory framework for an extraordinary example of lack of empathy for certain victims in the context of Colombia, I aim to expand Segato's concept of ‘pedagogies of cruelty’ so as to demonstrate its immense analytical potential in the current global political landscape.

Smartphone Brand Loyalty and Consumer Heterogeneity

Research Question: The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of sales promotion and advertisement on brand association and brand loyalty of Samsung smartphones via the analysis of gender and age as moderating variables. Motivation: The motivation for this study emerges from the fact that the effect of sales promotion and advertisement on brand loyalty have not considered the effects of consumer heterogeneity such as age and gender. Idea: The core idea of this study is to verify the effect of monetary promotion, non-monetary promotion, perceived advertising, and individual attitude towards brand association and brand loyalty through the moderate effects of age and gender. Data: This research was carried out in South Jakarta, Indonesia by employing a simple random sampling method and questionnaires distributed to 100 respondents. Tools: Data were analyzed by using Partial Least Square Structural Equation (PLS-SEM) method and the SmartPLS 3.0 software. The PLS-SEM was performed with a two-step approach by analyzing the outer and inner model, afterwards followed by a multi-group analysis to analyze moderating effects of both variables of gender and age. Findings: The findings indicate that non-monetary promotion and individual attitude towards advertising significantly affect brand association while brand association significantly affects brand loyalty. Gender and age-specific analyses indicate that gender differences significantly moderate the influence of individual attitude towards advertising on brand association and age differences significantly moderate the effect of monetary promotion on brand association. Moreover, women, men, younger and older consumers behave differently towards sales promotion. Contribution: This study contributes to the literature by adding empirical evidences in terms of how different consumers respond to sales promotion and advertising as well as further effects on brand association and brand loyalty.

The role of marketing communication mix on Korean customers' coffee shop brand evaluations

PurposeThis study investigates relationships among components of the marketing communication mix, brand identification, brand image, brand love and brand loyalty. The focus of this study is advertisement spending, customers' attitudes toward the advertisement, monetary promotion and non-monetary promotion as marketing communication mix elements.Design/methodology/approachProposed relationships are investigated with 683 previous coffee shop customers, based on a cross-section, online, self-administered survey in South Korea.FindingsResults identify advertising spending, attitude toward the advertisement, monetary promotion, and non-monetary promotion play key roles in influencing brand identification; however, they do not influence brand image. Both brand identification and brand image further influence brand love on brand loyalty.Originality/valueThis study is the first to investigate the marketing communication mix elements in a coffee shop context.

The Effectiveness of Promotional Cues for Organic Products in the German Retail Market

The market for organic products is constantly growing, but successfully promoting them remains a controversial issue. Marketing research shows that organic products such as fruits and vegetables cannot be advertised effectively via monetary promotions (e.g., discounts); however, how promotional effectiveness is affected by other promotional actions (e.g., offering premiums instead of discounts) or the product type promoted (e.g., promoting hedonic products such as organic ice cream instead of utilitarian products) has not been empirically investigated to date. Through a study conducted with 487 German participants, we demonstrate that monetary promotion is less effective for organic than for conventional products. In contrast, non-monetary promotion (via offering increased content) enhances promotional effectiveness more for organic than for conventional products. Increased heuristic processing can explain these findings, as consumers focus more on the heuristic cues offered by non-monetary promotion when confronted with organic, and in particular hedonic organic, products.