• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.117-140
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• 2011

The sales promotion strategy can be classified into two categories: cost-down and value-added promotions. Although many studies have been performed on sales promotion in the past, little attention has been given on cost-down promotion, and in particular on its strategy. Also there has been a renewed interest on value-added promotion strategy as means of attracting more customers and delivering value by providing a greater benefit. This study examines the effect of value-added promotion on the evaluation of promotional products. The topic is important because the value-added promotions are not always perceived as a benefit by consumers and they depend on the situational factors. We postulate three hypotheses on the basis of related literature. We conduct two studies: one employing experiment (study 1) and the other, quasi-experiment (study 2) to investigate the effect of two situational factors, namely the promotional package type and retailer uncertainty on the valuation of promotional products. Study 1 employs 2 promotional package types (bundled with freebie type vs. one-plus-one type) by 3 evaluation targets (overall package, a focal product and freebie) in experimental design. Also it is found that consumers devaluate the promotional product when the level of retailer uncertainty is high (t=-4.70, p=.000) as shown in Table 2. As depicted in Figure 2, the interaction effect of retailer uncertainty and package types on the evaluation of promotional product as a whole does not appear to be significant. However, when the level of retailer uncertainty is high, the focal product suffers from lower valuation if it is included in a bundle with freebie type package. The purpose of Study 2 is to cross-check the results of Study 1. The results of Study 2 also show that the consumers devaluate the promotional products as a whole when the level of retailer uncertainty is high. Furthermore, Study2 examines the consumers' willingness to purchase. The willingness to purchase of 2 different consumer groups divided by their reservation prices before and after exposure to a promotional stimuli shows no significant differences(t=1.911, p=.057). The results suggest that the consumers' reservation prices before the exposure to the promotion can be a reference prices of their's. But after the promotional events, the promotional price would become their reference prices. Furthermore, when the level of retailer uncertainty is high, consumers devaluate the promotional product as a whole. Because the promotional offerings activate the persuasion knowledge of consumers and make them incorporate negative inference about the firm's motives into their valuation and consequently, consumers tend to hesitate to purchase.