EXPRESS: Power Distance Belief Affects Coupon Use

Coupons have the potential to double, triple, or even quadruple sales (Neslin 2002). However, coupon redemption rates remain abysmally low, which causes inefficiencies in marketing, as coupons are sent to a large segment with only a small fraction responding. Hence, marketers are continuously trying to identify consumer segments that are more or less likely to respond to couponing efforts, as this knowledge allows marketers to fine-tune the segments to whom coupons are directed. Eight studies utilizing two field studies, a scanner panel dataset, and a series of experiments (and ten more studies in web appendix D) suggest that consumers higher in power distance belief are less likely to use coupons because they tend to be more skeptical about businesses’ motives. The authors also test several boundary conditions. This research provides managers with several strategies to enhance coupon use, including (a) targeting cultural segments lower in power distance belief, (b) activating low power distance belief via situational cues, (c) reducing skepticism towards businesses’ motives, and (d) offering price-matching guarantees.

• 저널Journal of Marketing
• 토픽Consumer Market Behavior and Pricing · Marketing
• DOI10.1177/00222429261458261
• 저자Minkyung Koo, Ashok K. Lalwani, Sijie Sun