Promotional Framing of Green Products: Mediating Role of Sale Proneness

Abstract

The impact of sales promotion in boosting short-term sales is well established in the literature. While there are ample studies on the impact of sales promotion on conventional products in western countries, there is very scant research on the effect of promotions on green products and almost nonexistence research in emerging economies. This research addresses this gap by doing a comparative assessment of economically equivalent bonus pack sales promotion and price discount sales promotions on green versus non-green products through two experiments designed as a 2 (green product motivation: hedonic vs. utilitarian) × 2 (promotional frame: price discount vs. bonus pack) × 2 (discount level: low vs. high) between-subjects study, and 2 ( product types: green, non-green/control) × 2(promotional frame: price discount, bonus pack) between-subjects study. This research further examines the mediating role of sale proneness in the purchase process. The findings of this research indicate that buyers' preferences for promotion are quite varied for the purchase of green versus non-green products, and the price discount increases sale proneness which exerts a negative impact on product purchase willingness. Accordingly, this study has some theoretical and practical implications.

Keywords:

• promotional frames
• pricing
• green products
• sale proneness
• emerging economies
• hedonic
• price discount

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.