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The purpose of this paper is to understand how free gifts with purchase influence the purchase satisfaction of online consumers, and compares the difference between the contexts, which the consumers are certain and uncertain with the free gifts before purchase.

This study developed a theoretical model to examine how free gifts with purchase influence the purchase satisfaction of online consumers. The moderating effect of uncertainty was also examined. Using a survey questionnaire, empirical data were collected from 288 Taobao users. The partial least squares technique was used to test the proposed research model.

Perceived usefulness, perceived quality, perceived cost, and perceived ingenuity are antecedents of happiness toward a free gift with purchase. Happiness has a positive effect on the purchase satisfaction of online consumers. Uncertainty is an important moderator.

The findings extend the current state of knowledge about the relationship between online purchase with free gifts and purchase satisfaction, as well as reveal the psychological mechanism of the effects of online purchase with free gifts on purchase satisfaction.

The findings of this study provide e-retailers with a deep understanding of how free gifts with purchase affect the purchase satisfaction of online consumers in different presentation approaches of the gifts.

Knowledge about the role of free gifts with purchase on the purchase satisfaction of online consumers is scarce. This study provides empirical evidence about the effect of free gifts with purchase on the purchase satisfaction of online consumer in different presentation approaches of the gifts.

The underlying thesis of this paper is that consumers will infer that the costs of production of a product that is offered free are low, and this will reduce the price they are willing to pay for the product when it is a stand‐alone offering.

Two laboratory experiments examine how consumers respond to products that have been offered as “free gifts with purchase” of another product.

Study 1 shows, that when an economically identical offer is framed as a joint bundle (Buy X and Y for $), compared with when it is framed as a “Buy one, get one free” offer, consumers are willing to pay less for the product offered “free.” Study 2 shows that, when a product is given away “free,” then consumers are willing to pay less for it as a stand‐alone product, especially when the original promotional offer does not include the price of the free gift.

Results imply that the design and communication of consumer promotions affect the price consumers are willing to pay for a product.

Managerial implications for the design and communication of consumer promotions are discussed.

The paper adds to the growing body of research that shows that a price promotion has more than just an economic effect; it also has an informational effect through which it affects consumer responses.

The present study aims to demonstrate that providing a free gift upon purchase may induce consumers to devaluate the main product promoted with the offer. The mediating role of persuasion knowledge and the moderating role of consumer shopping orientation are also examined.

Three studies with between-subject designs are conducted to test the influence of product–gift fit on evaluations of the promoted product.

When a low-fit gift (vs a high-fit gift) is provided as a promotional offer, consumers’ evaluations of the promoted product are undermined. These negative effects are driven by consumers’ activation of persuasion knowledge on the company’s ulterior motive to entice consumers to make a purchase. Such devaluation effects occur especially for consumers with a task-focused shopping orientation, whereas they are mitigated for consumers with an experiential shopping orientation.

This research extends the conceptualization of product–gift fit and challenges the common claim that free gift promotions maintain the value of the promoted product. By instigating a mechanism underlying consumers’ objections toward low-fit gifts, this research implies that consumers may think of an implicit cost to a free offer based on their knowledge of companies’ tactics.

Marketers should be aware of the fact that a certain gift may come at a cost for companies and bring about negative inferences regarding the main product. They need not only to select a gift that drives sales but also to be cautious about the gift’s influence on perceptions of the main product. Marketers should ensure that the gift has a good fit with the product while trying to discover a unique gift for consumers. Marketers should also provide an offer that matches shopping orientation of the target consumers.

This research reveals counterevidence to prior research claiming that free gift promotion does not hurt the perceived value of the promoted product. It enhances a theoretical understanding of devaluation effects and provides useful implications for designing and targeting free gift promotion.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the impact of different multi-unit promotions (MUPs) and a single-unit promotion (SUP) on store-level sales and consumer-level purchase probability and quantity decision.

The paper combines two empirical studies. Study 1 applies a hierarchical multiplicative model to store-level sales data for four product categories provided by a large Dutch retail chain. Study 2 presents a laboratory experiment in which the quantity requirements of the two focal MUP frames are manipulated to assess their impact on consumer purchase decisions.

The paper provides empirical evidence for the superiority of the “X for $Y” above “X + N free”, which confirms the hypotheses based on prospect theory, mental accounting and theory about gift-giving. Quantity requirements of four to five units show the largest effects. In addition, the superiority of the “X for $Y” frame holds for functional product categories, but not for the hedonic categories.

The paper provides managerial insights into the relative effectiveness of alternative MUPs and an SUP and how this promotional effectiveness depends on the type of product category and quantity requirements.

This paper combines actual sales data and experimental data. This “mixed approach” extends existing knowledge by comprehensively evaluating two MUP frames, namely, “X + N free” and “X for $Y” promotions, and an SUP.

Previous research indicates that the goals consumers have when shopping influence their attention to and processing of information they encounter. The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of consumers' pre‐purchase goals on their responses to price promotions.

In three experiments, the existence of consumer goals (i.e. with or without a pre‐purchase goal) were manipulated and promotion characteristics including message framing, promotion format, and promotion depth were systematically varied to examine how consumers respond to these price promotions.

Consumers with a pre‐purchase goal were found to be more attracted to the promotion than those without a goal. More importantly, pre‐purchase goals interact with promotion characteristics and produce differential effects on willingness to buy. Consumers with a pre‐purchase goal are more attracted to promotions emphasizing reduced losses while those without a goal responded more favorably toward promotions emphasizing gains. Moreover, consumers with and without a pre‐purchase goal respond differently to various discount levels.

Existing research on price promotions has not examined the influence of consumers' pre‐purchase goals. This paper brings a new dimension to price promotion research. Understanding these variations in pre‐purchase goals across consumers will help sellers design more effective promotion programs

Although the evidence exists for the effect of promotional frame on repurchase intention, it is unclear whether the timing of repurchase can moderate the effect. In this paper, three experiments were conducted to answer this question.

In Experiment 1, a 2 (framing: bundle vs. gift) × 2 (repurchase target: focal vs. supplementary) × 2 (timing: short vs. long) between-subjects design was used. In Experiment 2, an identical design was used except that repurchase target being the within-subjects factor. In Experiment 3, the design was based on that of Experiment 2 and brand was added a between-subjects factor.

Experiment 1 showed that, with a short interval, repurchase intention under gift frame was higher than that under bundle frame. With a long interval, there was no significant difference between the gift and bundle frames. Experiment 2, however, indicated no effects for expensive products. Experiment 3 showed that brand (private versus national brand) moderate the interaction between framing, repurchase target and timing. Particularly, for private brand, no significant comparisons were found; for national brand, repurchase intention for the focal product was significantly higher than for the supplementary product, but only under the conditions of long interval and gift frame (rather than bundle frame).

Taken together, findings from the current study contributes to the literature by showing for the first time that repurchase timing can moderate the promotional frame effect (i.e. higher repurchase intention under gift framing relative to bundle framing occurs in the short interval but not long interval) and that brand type can moderate the joint effects of framing, timing and repurchase target (i.e. national brand, rather than private brand, paired with long interval and gift frame results in higher repurchase intention for the focal product). The findings provide marketers with important knowledge in terms of how to adjust a promotional frame depending on when consumers repurchase a product and whether the product has a private or national brand.

This paper aims to examine the effect of price promotion presentation formats on consumers’ green purchase intentions across various levels of greenness. Despite the increasing awareness of environmental issues and green products among consumers, there is a gap between their green attitude and purchase intentions. Previous studies show that consumers’ degree of greenness varies and that price plays an important role in their green consumption decision-making.

Two between-subject experiments with 236 participants were used to examine our hypotheses and conceptual model.

The results show that different formats of price promotion presentations influence consumers’ purchase perceptions differently. Consumers with a high degree of greenness are attracted to promotions emphasizing gain, while those with a low degree of greenness prefer promotions underlining reduced loss. In addition, medium-greenness consumers show similar reactions to both formats. Our studies further demonstrate that consumers’ perceived value mediates the moderated effects of perceived quality and perceived savings on green purchase intentions.

This research helps marketers better design price promotions, taking into account the various levels of consumers’ greenness. The focus of reduced loss or gain of the promotional programs should be targeted at consumers with different levels of greenness.

This is the first paper to examine the role of price promotion presentation formats in consumer decision-making regarding green consumption. The study provides new insights concerning how to design price promotions to enhance the green purchase intentions of consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of a dimension of logistics service quality (delivery time) interacting with shipping charges and purchase importance on customer satisfaction and purchase intentions in an e-commerce context. Uncertainty in terms of perceived ambiguity and perceived riskiness is shown to be the theoretical mechanism that plays a mediating role in the relationships between delivery time and customer satisfaction, as well as between delivery time and purchase intentions.

This study used a scenario-based role playing experiment. Three variables are manipulated in the design of the study – delivery time, shipping charges, and purchase importance. Participant responses (n=360) were collected through Amazon Mechanical Turk with perceptual measures.

Results indicated that increased delivery time significantly increased customers’ perceived ambiguity and perceived riskiness which reduced satisfaction as well as negatively impacted purchase intentions. Further, free shipping reduced customers’ perceived ambiguity when delivery time was lengthy, but strengthened the perception of ambiguity when the delivery time was short.

This paper sheds light on how a dimension of logistics service quality (delivery time) interacts with shipping charges and purchase importance to impact customer satisfaction and purchase intentions. It introduces uncertainty in the form of perceived ambiguity and perceived riskiness, to the logistics service literature as the mechanism that can explain how delivery time interacting with shipping charges and purchase importance impact customer satisfaction and purchase intentions. The implications for online retailers are that they should display separate shipping charges for shorter delivery times but for longer delivery times they should display a total price for the product which includes the shipping cost. Also when the purchase is important to the customer, they should offer shorter shipping time choices if they want to increase customer satisfaction.

This study aims to explore the moderating outcomes of mobile promotions in three parts. First, Study 1 is conducted to discover the moderating effect of mobile promotions when consumers initially purchase a restaurant service. Second, Study 2 investigates how the promotion level during subsequent purchasing events moderates the relationship between attitudes toward selecting a restaurant brand (ATRB) and repurchase intentions. Third, the study compares mobile promotion effects between the initial purchase stage and subsequent purchase state.

Two studies are conducted to test the hypotheses. Using a longitudinal survey, Study 1 demonstrates the moderating role of mobile promotions (M-promotions) during the initial restaurant choice stage (T). Study 2 extends these findings to the reordering stage (T+1).

The results of Study 1 show that price discounts are much more impactful than free delivery when food quality and online reviews are positive. Study 2 shows that price discounts have more substantial effects than gifts at time T+1 when ATRB is positive. The findings are relevant to both scholars and managers, adding insights to discussions on promotions arising from the evolution of consumption experiences.

Promotions differ in financial value; hence, comparisons of promotional packages may vary during subsequent purchase states, helping to explain subsequent promotion stages and enabling scholars to understand their impact on the food reordering context.

The fact that no empirical studies have examined the roles of M-promotions during subsequent purchasing stages constitutes a significant gap in extant promotion research. Therefore, this study seeks to fill this gap by providing robust evidence to demonstrate these effects and related temporal mechanisms. Additionally, although the literature on promotion is used mostly in cross-sectional studies, this study addresses a common challenge to reveal dynamics of promotion levels during subsequent consumption periods.

The objective of this paper is to better understand the factors that influence consumers' responses toward gift promotions. Specifically, the aim is to analyse four variables: the nature of the promoted product, the fit between the product and the gift, the type of brand used in the promotion and the deal‐proneness.

In an experimental context, 247 subjects were randomly assigned to a 2 (product type: utilitarian vs hedonic)×2 (gift type: utilitarian vs hedonic)×2 (brand type: high equity vs medium equity) between‐subjects factorial design.

Results indicate that the nature of the promoted product does not influence consumer response. Overall evaluation of gift promotions is more favourable when simultaneously the brand promoted has high equity and the fit between the promoted product and the gift is high. Offering a gift that fits with the product and using high equity brands is a wise strategy to positively influence purchase intentions. Findings also show that deal proneness has a positive impact on purchase intentions.

A limited set of product categories, gifts and brands were used. Future research should also examine other variables and use a representative sample.

Findings provide useful guidelines for the design of gift promotions.

Most previous research has focused on monetary promotions with little about non‐monetary promotions. This paper addresses this gap by analysing consumers' responses to gift promotions incorporating key determinants in the analysis.