• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.37-50
• /
• 2011

This study analyzed the content of special selling events in internet shopping malls to establish academic standards for special selling events as tools for sales promotions and to suggest systematic guidelines for marketers designing special selling events. Based on a content analysis, the titles of special selling events from four internet shopping malls selling women's apparel were analyzed. A total of 692 titles were analyzed. The results are as follow. First, the contents categories of special selling events could be classified into two groups such as 'theme' and 'tool'. Season, product characteristics, style, advice/information, brand, annual/social events, and marketing events were the main content categories that came under the 'theme' group; in addition, the price benefit, free offers, product mix, and marketing technique were the main content categories that came under the 'tool' group. Each main content category was subdivided into several segment content categories. Second, most of the titles were composed of more than two segment content categories that involved various information and benefits; however, the portion of titles composed of only theme related content categories or only tool related content categories was substantial. Furthermore, the theme related content categories were more than the tool related content categories. Third, the usage frequencies of the contents categories were analyzed. The upcoming season, single brand, sale/discount, item/material/color, special price/lowest price, and period/time/quantity limits were the segment content categories that held a high rank. Forth, most of the factors that evoked the unplanned purchases of consumers were related to the content categories of special sale events.