Most previous studies on salespromotions concentrated on the influence of sales promotions (mostly pricepromotions) on short-term sales revenue, profits; on purchasing behavior duringand post promotional period. However, little research pays attention to thelong-term effect of promotions on brand loyalty, especially the potentialeffect of non-price promotions on brand equity.
Therefore, this studydeliberates and contribute to the current literature in the field of promotionmarketing; particularly, it extends the knowledge on how various categories ofsales promotions affect the way consumers choose one brand over the others, andtake the product involvement level into account. It was suggested that sales promotionswill behave differently regarding their long-term influence on reference pricewhich is the internal price that consumers perceive based on how beneficial theproduct is. Consumers perceive a gain when what they have to pay is lower thanthe reference price; and vice versa, a loss is perceived when the referenceprice is lower than the observed price1.These beliefs were firmly reinforcedby the studies of behavioral shaping by Rothschild and Gaidis, Peter and Nord.Findings of this study also indicate that consumers respond to sales promotionswith different motives which help explain the underlying reasons why consumerssometimes are willing to spend an extra amount of money using the promotion”premium offers” rather than save some money by using “discounts”; and why pricepromotions do not always bring about positive results as believed. Marketers could better actively forecastthe way consumers respond to sales promotions programs by differentiating theoffered benefits of promoted products, and optimizing the benefit congruency.
Additionally, this study proposes that sales-promotions inclination should besegmented depending on underlying benefits sought instead of deal-inclinationor consumer value-perception. The benefit approach in segmenting would help drivepromotions to targeted consumers who are most responsive to them. Likewise,grouping sales promotions based on offered benefits (utilitarian or hedonic)rather than forms of promotions will be more effective.
