Looking For Great Discounts – How Store Coupons Shape Attention, Product Memory, and Store Impressions

Consumers perceive identical dollar discounts as more valuable when the percentage saved is higher. Therefore, consumers may focus on items close to a coupon’s face value when browsing a store, with downstream effects on memory and evaluation. Supporting this hypothesis, receiving an unrestricted $5-off coupon prior to browsing an online store increased attention as well as later recall of low-priced items relative to no-coupon controls or receiving a coupon requiring $20 minimum spending. This bias was further reflected in estimates of store’s price structure and evaluations of the variety offered in different product categories. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Citation:

Norbert Schwarz and Charles Y. Z. Zhang (2009) ,"Looking For Great Discounts – How Store Coupons Shape Attention, Product Memory, and Store Impressions", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36, eds. Ann L. McGill and Sharon Shavitt, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 1058-1058.