A majority of consumers resist switching brands when exposed to competitor sales promotions. Yet, in an effort to entice consumers to switch brands, firms spend more on sales promotions, in the form of price promotions such as discounts and coupons, than any other advertising and marketing expense. Interestingly, marketing research devotes much attention to understanding how the small subset of consumers who switch are impacted by a firm’s promotional efforts, yet little attention is focused on how forgoing a competitive promotion alters a consumer’s loyalty to an incumbent brand. The present research focuses on the potential unintended consequences of price promotions and demonstrates when a competitor brand’s offer fails to motivate consumers to switch brands, a consumer’s resistance to the promotion subsequently increases loyalty to- and spending with- their incumbent brand. Across seven studies, this research demonstrates how a competing firm’s attempt to lure consumers away from a competitor’s brand can strengthen loyalty for the incumbent brand.

大多数消费者在看到竞争对手的促销活动时会拒绝更换品牌。然而，为了吸引消费者转换品牌，公司在促销上的花费比任何其他广告和营销费用都多，以折扣和优惠券等价格促销形式出现。有趣的是，营销研究非常关注了解转换消费者的一小部分如何受到公司促销活动的影响，但很少关注放弃竞争性促销如何改变消费者对现有品牌的忠诚度。本研究侧重于价格促销的潜在意外后果，并展示了当竞争品牌的报价未能激励消费者转换品牌时，消费者对促销的抵制随后会增加他们对现有品牌的忠诚度和消费。通过七项研究，这项研究展示了竞争公司试图吸引消费者远离竞争对手品牌的尝试如何增强对现有品牌的忠诚度。