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The purpose of this paper is to examine how consumers respond differently to “scratch and save (SAS)” promotions versus “tensile price claims (TPC).” SAS promotions provide a possible discount (determined probabilistically) but conceal the exact amount until purchase. Tensile price claims (e.g. “up to 25 percent off on items marked with a red tag”) make imprecise price promotional claims. In addition to making indefinite price claims, SAS promotions (e.g. scratch and save up to 25 percent off) include gambling elements; the exact discount is determined randomly for individual consumers by a scratch‐off card.

Two experimental studies are conducted.

Evidence from two experiments indicates that consumers perceive SAS promotions to be more ambiguous than tensile price claims. In addition, the results demonstrate consumer uncertainty towards SAS promotions but also consumer willingness to gamble: deep discount SAS promotions are perceived as more attractive than limited‐scope tensile price claims.

The findings suggest that consumers perceive SAS offers more enticing than limited tensile price claims as the proposed discount increases. Furthermore, establishing a minimum savings offer could be used to encourage consumers to shop at retailers offering SAS promotions.

Limited work has focused on examining how consumers respond to SAS promotions because SAS promotions are a relatively new store‐level promotional tool. Furthermore, no research effort has been extended to directly compare consumers' perceptions of SAS promotions with tensile price claims.

The exponential growth of organised retail has led to competition among mall retailers with the use of promotions to increase traffic to the stores. The footfall in the malls is dependent on the sales generated by various retail stores located in the malls. The current research analyses the role of promotions used by the retailers located in Indian malls in improving consumers’ commitment towards the mall. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of culture, personality traits like value consciousness, price consciousness and coupon proneness, and promotions used by retailers in malls on consumers’ commitment towards the malls.

Eight malls from six cities were selected by popularity and footfall. Mall-intercept technique along with systematic sampling was used to collect data from 453 mall shoppers using a self-administered questionnaire. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data.

Retailer promotions were categorised under discounts, promotional offers and loyalty cards. The findings suggest that cultural values of long-term orientation and masculinity have an impact on consumers’ perceptions towards discounts, promotional offers and loyalty programmes. Different promotional strategies had varied responses from consumers.

Mall retailers can use the findings to design promotions according to the cultural values of masculinity and long-term orientation. Loyalty programmes can symbolise status and long-term relationship with retailer. Commitment towards retailers and consequently malls could be enhanced through discounts and promotional offers. Different promotional strategies can be used to target price-conscious consumers and increase footfall in the stores. The linkages between cultural dimensions and promotional techniques would be helpful in targeting different consumer groups by designing promotions which are in line with cultural values.

The research extends the existing literature on mall retailing by analysing the importance of cultural dimensions on sales promotions strategies used by retailers in malls. The study establishes that perceptions towards retailer promotions differ across cultures. Different promotions offered by retailers generate varied response from consumers across different cultures which would influence their commitment towards malls.

The authors empirically evaluated the effect of price promotions on customer quality evaluations and repeat-purchase intentions in coffee chain stores. The moderating role of customer characteristics in this process was also investigated.

Consumers in 12 coffee chain stores were surveyed and 488 usable questionnaires were obtained. Relationships in the test model were examined using structural equation modeling techniques. A multiple-group solution was used to test the moderating effects of consumer characteristics.

The results of structural equation modeling analyses suggested that price-promotion activities at Starbucks in Taiwan had a favorable effect on customer quality evaluations and positively influenced repeat-purchase intentions. The moderating effects of consumer characteristics were partially supported. Whereas sex showed no significant moderating effect, consumption frequency did demonstrate a moderating effect.

The results indicate that existing customers may see price promotions at Starbucks in Taiwan as a reward or incentive, and thus lead to an increase in favorable evaluations. The findings provide a new perspective that may encourage those involved in the marketing of coffee chain stores to manage price promotions in a more strategic manner by considering customer characteristics.

The effects of price promotions on brand evaluation remain controversial and may vary among product categories. Additionally, most studies regarding price promotions have used an experimental approach, and few studies of price promotions in the coffee industry have been reported. The study is among the first to empirically examine the effects of price promotions and the moderating role of consumer characteristics in the process at coffee chain stores.

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.

The current research aims to explore influence of shopping motives and price perceptions on Indian consumers' attitude towards mall retailer promotions. Effect of price discounts, gifts, coupons, and rebates offered by mall retailers to attract store traffic were examined.

Data were collected through mall intercept technique in six cities across India. Convenience sampling method was used to target metropolitan and non-metropolitan cities for data collection.

Results suggest that consumers' attitude towards mall retailers' promotional strategies is influenced by shopping values and price consciousness, deal proneness, and coupon proneness. Age, education, and income influence consumers' attitude towards promotions.

Only three constructs of price perception scale were used for the research. Future research can include all the items of price perception scale to understand its applicability on Indian sample. Promotions offered by branded and non-branded retailers in malls were not examined.

The findings can be useful to mall retailers for designing promotions to increase footfalls and sales. Promotions can be used by retailers to convey value and attract price conscious consumers. Retailers need to match their promotional offers according to price sensitivity and shopping motives of consumers.

There is limited research to examine role of promotions used by mall retailers in attracting footfalls in Indian malls. The influence of price perceptions and shopping motives on promotions offered by retailers in Indian malls has not been examined.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether consumers differ in their online or offline purchase intention, depending on which channel with price promotion information they are first exposed to, and to analyse the moderating role of brand trust.

Overall, 174 responses were obtained via an online survey using two contact channels (online/offline) by two levels of brand trust (high/low) between-subject designs.

Spillover effects were found across channels when a consistent price promotion is executed in both online and offline channels, purchase intentions for cross-channel and contact channel increase simultaneously. Although there was a similar effect in the discrepancy of purchase intentions towards the cross-channel according to contact channels, it varied depending on brand trust. When brand trust is high, having contact with offline price-discount information has a large online spillover effect. When brand trust is low, the spillover effect from online to offline is large.

This study expands the multi-channel research by proving the spillover effects between channels and confirming the difference according to brand trust.

Increasing promotion information for online contact is effective in driving offline visits for new brands, and the effective use of promotion information at offline stores can have a positive impact on online channels for well-known brands.

This study explores the cross-channel spillover effect of price promotion and proves that these effects depend on brand trust.

Considers the differences between consumer perceptions of nonmonetary promotions such as free extra product and monetary promotions such as discounts and rebates. Reports on an experiment which found that monetary promotions did not have to be as large as nonmonetary promotions to be noticed by the consumer, and that large incentives make consumers sceptical. Concludes that the decision about which type of promotion to use depends on whether a price‐conscious or a premium product market segment is being sought.

While most marketing research on organic products refers to the premium price levels of organic products, little research exists on consumers’ behavioural responses to price promotions or discounts of organic products. The present study aims to fill this research gap.

To develop alternative hypotheses about consumers’ behavioural responses to price promotions of organic fast-moving consumer good (FMCG) products, the authors used the researcher-introspection method in a pre-study. To test the hypotheses developed based on the pre-study, the authors conducted a field experiment on online advertising of an FMCG sold in drugstores. In the field experiment, the authors exposed consumers to an online ad featuring either a price promotion (−20%) or the regular price of the product. The ads also varied in terms of whether they contained explicit organic claims or not, and whether they included implicit organic cues or not.

The price promotion increased the clickthrough rate of the ad both when combined with an explicit organic claim and when combined with the implicit cue of green product pack. The results suggest that consumers do not have significant suspicions about price promotions of organic products, but rather presume that the price promotion of an organic FMCG product is a periodical promotional action, similar to the price promotions for conventional, non-organic products. Also, consumers seem to assume that the regular prices of organic FMCG products are so high that the retailer/manufacturer can well afford periodic price discounts.

The present research shifts the focus of organic marketing research from the premium price levels to the effectiveness of price promotions and discounts. Further, the present results contrast with certain earlier studies that have questioned the effectiveness of price promotions for organic products.

The results have different implications for marketing managers of brands not yet providing organic product versions in the market, of brands producing non-organic products, which cannot easily be rendered organic, and of brands offering organic products in the market.

This is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first empirical study and field experiment on price promotions of organic products, including explicit organic claims.

Previous sales promotion research has focused primarily upon groceries and packaged goods. This research examines what motivates consumers to respond to sales promotions for leisure services. Leisure services may offer price deals, but also frequently offer non‐price sales promotions which may add entertainment value for some consumers. We find that consumers who are likely to respond to leisure service price deals are motivated by primarily economic reasons. Emotional motives, on the other hand, are found to drive consumer responses to organization‐related non‐price deals.

The purpose of this study is to resolve inconsistencies in the literature about how one-time price promotions affect reference prices. Specifically, this study suggests that the measure of reference price used within a study (e.g. expected price or fair price) can affect the outcomes of that study.

This research uses three separate experiments, replicating and extending existing work, to simulate purchasing decisions for products in the context of a price promotion. Experiments allow careful control of the confounds presumed to cause the inconsistencies between studies.

Study 1 shows that measurement of different reference prices within the same experiment leads to carryover effects, which inflate the correlation between measures. Expected price and fair price appear to be conceptually and empirically distinct and should be measured separately to reduce design artifacts. Study 2 shows that one-time price promotions affect fair price, but not expected price, and Study 3 shows expected price and fair price converge after multiple promotions.

Independent measurement of reference price concepts allows robust claims about their distinctiveness. These findings have implications for how reference price should be measured in survey research and for pricing and promotional strategy.

This research contributes by showing how the measure of reference price used affects the outcomes of price promotion studies. It does this through the replication and extension of past research. Replication allows greater confidence in the findings of past research, and testing the same findings under different conditions allows for the boundaries of existing research to be delimited and generalizations to be made.