Purpose

Most previous studies have indicated promotional attributes separately (e.g. time pressure, giveaways, price discounts, exclusivity) and found controversial effects. This paper aims to explore how different attributes can be aligned with each other and integrated with different levels of brand strength to influence sales or purchase intention according to the fit logic.

Design/methodology/approach

Both field data and controlled experiments are used to understand the effectiveness of promotion configurations. This paper first conducts an exploratory study using qualitative comparative analysis, based on 625 online promotion campaigns. This paper identifies several effective configurations of promotion attributes, leading to the development of two hypotheses. Three experiments are then designed to test the validity of these two hypotheses.

Findings

The results show that strong brands should adopt nonmonetary promotion, whereas weak brands should adopt monetary promotion; exclusivity and time limitation should be used separately.

Research limitations/implications

This paper provides empirical insights on how promotion elicits sales in terms of the configuration of promotional attributes and brand strength. This paper examines the integrative effect of types of giveaways, promotion duration and promotion target as well as brand strength on promotion effectiveness. Future research can explore other promotional attributes. This study is a first attempt to introduce and apply the set-theoretic approach to address strategic research issues and inform strategic decisions and managerial actions.

Practical implications

The findings can facilitate marketers’ understanding and predictions of deal recipients’ responses to promotions.

Originality/value

This paper adopts a holistic view to investigate how different promotion attributes interact with one another to stimulate sales. It explores the integrative effect from field data and finds converging evidence through a set-theoretic approach and controlled experiments.

中文翻译：

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一种确定促销属性有效配置的集合论方法

目的

大多数以前的研究分别指出了促销属性（例如时间压力、赠品、价格折扣、排他性）并发现了有争议的效果。本文旨在探索如何根据契合逻辑将不同的属性相互对齐并与不同级别的品牌实力相结合，以影响销售或购买意愿。

设计/方法/方法

现场数据和受控实验都用于了解促销配置的有效性。本文首先基于 625 个在线促销活动，使用定性比较分析进行了探索性研究。本文确定了促销属性的几种有效配置，从而得出了两个假设。然后设计了三个实验来测试这两个假设的有效性。

发现

结果表明，强势品牌应采用非货币促销，而弱势品牌应采用货币促销；排他性和时间限制应分开使用。

研究限制/影响

本文提供了关于促销如何在促销属性和品牌强度配置方面引发销售的实证见解。本文考察了赠品类型、促销持续时间和促销目标以及品牌强度对促销效果的综合影响。未来的研究可以探索其他促销属性。本研究首次尝试引入和应用集合论方法来解决战略研究问题并为战略决策和管理行动提供信息。

实际影响

调查结果可以促进营销人员对交易接受者对促销活动的反应的理解和预测。

原创性/价值

本文采用整体观点来研究不同的促销属性如何相互作用以刺激销售。它探索了现场数据的综合效应，并通过集合论方法和受控实验找到了收敛证据​​。