{"title":"Can mobile promotion automation decrease overall purchases? The role of promotion pattern predictability in customer habit formation","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.104138","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Automating mobile promotions facilitates customization through geo-location and temporal targeting; however, this can lead the geographic and temporal patterns of promotions to become predictable. We argue that this predictability enables customer habit formation as the promotion, the context in which it is received, and the purchase behavior become associated in the customer's memory through repeated co-occurrence. This results in the customer purchasing only when promotions are expected to occur, decreasing their overall purchase likelihood. Across four studies, including empirical data from two different industries in different global regions and two controlled laboratory experiments focused on different purchase scenarios, we find that customers exposed to predictable promotion patterns shift their purchases to when promotions are expected, decreasing overall purchase probability. These effects are stronger for customers with consistent past purchase patterns or low involvement with the product, and predictability of promotion patterns does not impact customer attitudes, providing evidence that they are driven by customer habit formation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48399,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":11.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096969892400434X","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Automating mobile promotions facilitates customization through geo-location and temporal targeting; however, this can lead the geographic and temporal patterns of promotions to become predictable. We argue that this predictability enables customer habit formation as the promotion, the context in which it is received, and the purchase behavior become associated in the customer's memory through repeated co-occurrence. This results in the customer purchasing only when promotions are expected to occur, decreasing their overall purchase likelihood. Across four studies, including empirical data from two different industries in different global regions and two controlled laboratory experiments focused on different purchase scenarios, we find that customers exposed to predictable promotion patterns shift their purchases to when promotions are expected, decreasing overall purchase probability. These effects are stronger for customers with consistent past purchase patterns or low involvement with the product, and predictability of promotion patterns does not impact customer attitudes, providing evidence that they are driven by customer habit formation.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services is a prominent publication that serves as a platform for international and interdisciplinary research and discussions in the constantly evolving fields of retailing and services studies. With a specific emphasis on consumer behavior and policy and managerial decisions, the journal aims to foster contributions from academics encompassing diverse disciplines. The primary areas covered by the journal are:
Retailing and the sale of goods
The provision of consumer services, including transportation, tourism, and leisure.