Sales promotions for preorder products: The role of time‐of‐release

• Published in: Psychology & marketing Vol. 36; no. 9; pp. 875 - 890
• Main Authors: Jha, Subhash, Deitz, George D., Hart, Phillip, Royne Stafford, Marla B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Periodicals Inc 01.09.2019
• Subjects: construal level theory; new product release; positive affect; preorder; Product introduction; Product quality; Purchase intention; quality certainty; Rule of origin; sales promotion; Sales promotions
• ISSN: 0742-6046; 1520-6793
• DOI: 10.1002/mar.21242

Preorder offers are increasingly common for many types of products and services. Sales promotions, such as price discounts and free gifts, are frequently used to raise offer attractiveness and elicit a stronger sales response. Through a series of experiments, we show that a preorder promotion's effectiveness depends on whether it matches the construal level associated with timing of the featured product's release. When a match occurs, it increases consumers’ positive affect leading to higher purchase intention directly or by raising the perceived certainty of new product quality. In addition, we find interesting differences related to promotion type. Specifically, we show that a larger discount promotes low‐level construals, which leads to stronger purchase intentions only when the product is scheduled for near‐future release. Since a gift may elicit either high‐ or low‐level construals, a premium offer of higher perceived value leads to stronger purchase intentions regardless of release timing.