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Coupons And Consumer Behavior

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INTRODUCTION Coupons are typically used as a marketing and sales promotion device to pique the interest of consumers by offering them enticing discounts if they purchase a certain product. Recently, coupon offers have diversified from offering the consumer a certain percentage off of the retail price of a good, or offering a "Buy one, get one free," promotion (Raghubir, 2004, p. 1). Although viewed as an outdated form of saving money, shopping with coupons profoundly impacts consumer behavior, as they contribute to potential unplanned spending as well as to company profits. Coupons indeed have been deployed my companies as important marketing tools in order to lure undecided and vacillating consumers to purchase certain goods, especially products that consumers would not otherwise buy if they did not have coupons. Coupons often function as a driving force for consumers to spend impulsively, which directly impacts companies and businesses. Although extant literature underscores the adverse ramifications of coupons and consumer behavior, some scholars assert that coupons can be beneficial. In a similar fashion to the rhetorical elements deployed in marketing and advertisements, coupons function as a subtle mechanism for companies to gain customers, raise revenue and increase consumer spending.
LITERATURE REVIEW Traditional logic and sagacity maintains that discounts promoted by coupon promotional sales are apparent. However, from the vantage point of the company, coupons

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