Sales Promotion Effectiveness: The Impact of Culture at an Ethnic-Group Level

Abstract

There is considerable interest and debate over the effectiveness of sales promotion. Previous studies have shown that sales promotions are more effective when they provide benefits that are congruent with those of the promoted product. This study explores and extends the congruency framework by analysing the impact of culture at an ethnic group level. The purpose is to investigate the popular assumption that cultural differences exist at this level and to see whether these differences have an impact on sales promotion effectiveness. A quasi-experimental design is used to test a series of hypotheses based on a sample of Anglo-Australians and Chinese-Australians. It is found that despite the existence of cultural differences at an ethnic level, culture does not appear to have a significant impact on consumer responses to sales promotion. It is also found that the congruency effects between product and promotion type are weak and may be non-existent in some cases. Finally, the study also provides evidence that further validates a scale used for the measurement of culture.

Keywords: culture, ethnicity, sales promotions, congruency theory