Introduction

Marketers and academics often view the reliance on sales promotions,

especially non-Monetary promotions, as a consequence of price
competition These critics argue that, in the short run, the effect of
monetary promotions erodes their capacity to rent market share, In the
long run, it is feared that sales promotions increase price sensitivity and
destroy brand equityboth with retailers and consumers As a result,
many industry experts are calling for more effective and cost-efficient
promotions that rely less on price

Customer satisfaction is known to have a positive impact on market share

and satisfaction levels may be moderated by factors such as price
sensitivity and perceived value. Transaction utility theory tells us that
consumers make overall cognitive judgments about a price-based
promotion after the experience, driving their intention to repeat the
process in the future. Studies do show a link between unexpected product
promotions and increased cognitive processing of satisfaction and
pleasure.

Research Problem
To measure the factors that affect the customer satisfaction with sales promotion
Literature Review
Sales Promotions

Sales promotions can be loosely defined as special offers that essentially

aim to stimulate demand during the period in which they are set (e.g.
Peattie and Peattie 1995; Walsh 2000; Lehman and Winer 2002).
Retailers are increasingly concerned with adding value to consumer
offerings, and sales promotions offer one way of doing this at limited cost.
The potential benefits of using sales promotion can range from attracting
new customers from competitors to persuading customers to switch to
brands with higher profit margins or simply inducing existing customers
to buy more. Impulse buying is a significant contributor to sales in any
consumer market (Liao, Shen, and Chu 2009), and sales promotions are
specifically designed to stimulate this type of buying behavior. However,
although sales promotions take up a large share of total marketing
expenditure in most consumer goods firms, they remain an area that is
given less consideration or attention than any other aspect of the
promotion mix (Srinivasan and Anderson 1998). In addition, at odds with
this importance in the consumer goods industries is a notable lack of
research into the use of sales promotions outside of Europe and the USA
(Huff and Alden 1998).

Customer satisfaction with sales promotion

Satisfaction, or indeed pleasure, with a promotion not only can be linked

to repurchase, but also may in fact be able to be linked to a transfer of
satisfaction to the brand or company offering the promotion (Tat and
Schwepker 1998). When consumers are satisfied, it generates positive
word of mouth and purchase recommendations (Wirtz and Chew 2002)
and thus the sales promotion achieves its target by directly impacting
buying behaviour (Alvarez and Casielles 2005). Thaler (1985) proposes
that the deal satisfaction a consumer experiences when purchasing a good
can be divided into two core components acquisition utility (dealing
with the value of the good compared with the price) and transaction
utility (the perceived merits of the deal). Transaction utility theory tells
us that consumers will make overall satisfaction or dissatisfaction
judgments about a sales promotion after the experience, driving their
intention to repeat the process in the future. Overall judgments about the
promotion are formed through consideration of the acquisition utility of
the deal (satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the intrinsic utility of the item
purchased less its price) and transaction utility (pleasure or displeasure
associated with the offered deal), with this relationship strongest in
situations where the value of the item is greater (Tat and Schwepker
1998). This suggests that not only is general observed satisfaction of the
consumer important (in that it can impact on perceived acquisition
utility), but also overall pleasure with the sales promotion.

Unexpected versus expected sales promotions

Bei and Simpson (1995) claim that positive psychological feelings

associated with a purchase may be more significant to satisfaction than
the product itself. This relates to an issue that causes some problems in
regard to transaction utility theory and sales promotion: the fact that
many consumers have become so used to experiencing price-based
promotions that they are effectively conditioned to expect them (Tat and
Schwepker 1998) and thus may not cognitively process pleasure or
satisfaction signals in association with them. Frequent use of promotions
is said to have a negative effect on price and brand image; however, in a
crowded promotional market, it is seen that price promotions have the
detrimental impact, whereas non-price promotions may actually help to
enhance brand perceptions (Montaner and Pina 2008). If one posits that
this negative impact is less to do with the monetary nature of the
promotion, and more to do with desensitised consumers who have had
repeated and intense exposure to certain forms of price-based promotion
(direct price discounts), the extent to which consumers expect to see a
promotion is likely to act on feelings of satisfaction.

Utilitarian Benefits versus Hedonic benefits to customers

Utilitarian benefits are primarily instrumental, functional, and cognitive;

they provide customer value by being a means to an end. Hedonic benefits
are non-instrumental, experiential, and affective; they are appreciated for
their own sake, without further regard to their practical purposes
(Hirschman and Holbrook 1982. p. 100).

Babin, Dardcn and Griffm (1994) show that this distinction applies to
shopping, because this activity provides utilitarian benefits (by helping
consumers efficiently find and buy the best products) and hedonic
benefits (by creating entertainment and raising self-esteem). Similarly,
the benefits of sales promotions can be classified as utilitarian when they
help consumers maximize the utility, efficiency, and economy of their
shopping and buying and as hedonic when they provide fun, and selfesteem.

Through these definitions, the savings, quality, and convenience benefits

of sates promotions can be tentatively classified as utilitarian, because
they help consumers increase the acquisition utility of their purchase and
enhance the efficiency of the shopping experience. In contrast, the
entertainment and exploration benefits o( sales promotions can be
tentatively classified as hedonic, because they are intrinsically rewarding
and related to experiential emotions, pleasure, and self-esteem. On the
one hand, buying a promoted product can provide shoppers with the
moral satisfaction of behaving according to their principles and values

(e.g., On the other hand, buying a promoted product can he a means of

increasing shoppers' prestige and achieving higher social status or group
affiliation (e.g.. becoming a recognized smart shopper)an extrinsic or
utilitarian benefit.

Research Model
Utilitarian Benefits
Savings
Quality
Convenience

Hedonic Benefits
Value expressions
Entertainment
Exploration
Customer satisfaction with Sales
Promotions
Unexpected Sales Promotions

Expected Sales Promotions

Research Questions
1. R1: Do utilitarian benefits to customer have an impact on customer
satisfaction with sales promotion?
2. R2: Do hedonic benefits to customer have an impact on customer
satisfaction with sales promotion?
3. R3 : Do Unexpected promotions, such as on-pack rebates and refunds, are
likely to result in greater levels of customer satisfaction with sales
promotion than expected promotions, such as store-wide price discounts
Hypothesis
1. H1 : The higher the utilitarian benefits to customer the more the
satisfaction with sales promotion
2. H2:The higher the hedonic benefits to customer the more the satisfaction
with sales promotions
3. H3Unexpected sales promotion has higher effect than expected sales
promotions on the customer satisfaction with sales promotions

Research Methodology
Variables Definitions
Variable

Conceptual Definition

Customer satisfaction with sales

promotions

Satisfaction, or indeed pleasure,

with a promotion not only can be
linked to repurchase, but also may
in fact be able to be linked to a
transfer of satisfaction to the brand
or company offering the promotion
(Tat and Schwepker 1998).Thaler
(1985) proposes that the deal
satisfaction a consumer
experiences when purchasing a
good can be divided into two core
components acquisition utility
(dealing with the value of the good
compared with the price) and
transaction utility (the perceived
merits of the deal).
Hedonic benefits are noninstrumental, experiential, and
affective; they are appreciated for
their own sake, without further
regard to their practical purposes
(Hirschman and Holbrook 1982. p.
100),the entertainment and
exploration benefits o( sales
promotions can be tentatively
classified as hedonic

Hedonic Benefits

Utilitarian Benefits

Unexpected sales promotions

Operational Definition
5 points Likert Scale

5 points Likert Scale

Utilitarian benefits are primarily

5 points Likert Scale
instrumental, functional, and
cognitive; they provide customer
value by being a means to an end.
(Hirschman and Holbrook 1982. p.
100). Through these definitions, the
savings, quality, and convenience
benefits of sates promotions can be
tentatively classified as utilitarian,
The In Frequent use of promotions 5 points Likert Scale
is said to have a negative effect on
price and brand image; however, in
a crowded promotional market, it is
seen that price promotions have
the detrimental impact, whereas
non-price promotions may actually

Expected sales promotions

Research design

help to enhance brand

Perceptions (Montaner and Pina
2008).
consumers have become so used to 5 points Likert Scale
experiencing price-based
promotions that they are effectively
conditioned to expect them (Tat
and Schwepker 1998)

Research
Application

Basic research

Attempts to expand the limits of knowledge.

Not directly involved in the solution to a
pragmatic problem

Research
Objective

Descriptive
research

Some understanding of the nature of a problem

that describes characteristics of a certain
phenomenon

Information
Thought

Quantitative

Intends to quantify the data and generalize the

results from the sample to the population of
interest. Data usually collected through survey..
Explain the nature of relationship between
dependent and independent variables

Purpose of the
study

Hypothesis
testing

Types of
investigation

Correlation

Extent of
researcher
Interface

Minimal

Study setting

Non-contrived
(field study)

Unit of analysis

Individual

Studying individual as unit of analysis

Time horizon

One-shot

Data are gathered just once

(cross
sectional)

Sampling and Data Collection

Studying all important variables

It is a correlation study done without

interference e of researcher

Normal environment

In this research we can use paper and pencil questionnaire to generate,

these data are standardized, allowing easy comparison. We will distribute
these questionnaires among the AAST Students We will determine the
sample size judgmentally and we distributed the questionnaires
randomly

Conclusions
(1) Monetary savings are not the only consumer benefit of sales promotions.
(2) Consumers can distinguish between the six benefits
(3) These six benefits can be grouped according to their utilitarian or
hedonic nature
(4) All benefits. except quality, are significant predictors of the overall
evaluation of monetary or nonmonetary promotions
(5) Nonmonetary promotions provide stronger hedonic benefits and weaker
utilitarian benefits than monetary promotions, and nonmonetary
promotions are evaluated primarily on the basis of their hedonic
benefits, whereas monetary promotions are evaluated primarily on their
utilitarian benefits. With the exception of value expression, which is a
universal predictor because of its dual utilitarian and hedonic nature
(6) In the case of refunds and rebates as described by the respondents, these
price promotions were generally unexpected and came as a pleasant
surprise in the purchasing situation. Combination and percentage
discount offers, however, tended to be expected in that they were heavily
promoted and indicated at the point of purchase.
Recommendations

(1) For increasing sales promotion effectiveness with sales promotions. One
of the major conclusions of the benefit marketers can increase sales
promotion effectiveness using promotions for different segments
.Segments with high income would prefer utilitarian benefits sales
promotions, like price discounts while against high income segments or
high social classes they can use promotions with more hedonic benefits

(2) If its not possible to use multiple promotional tools they can use sales
promotions that combine multiple hedonic and utilitarian benefits. Such
multibenefit promotions would appeal to the different benefits sought by
the various segments of consumers that buy each product.

(3) They would also match the different benefits provided by the various
brands promoted under a multiband promotion, this can be achieved by
designing promotions that combine monetary and nonmonetary
incentives (e.g., an in-pack coupon with an on pack contest or a multipack
refund with an in-store display that emphasizes new product uses).
(4) Some evidence consumers experiencing greater satisfaction and pleasure
with unexpected promotions (such as on-pack rebates and refunds)
rather than with the expected (and heavily advertised) price discounts.
This finding highlights noise in both markets and suggests that managers
in each need to find more creative ways of using sales promotion than
just price discounting. Combinations of techniques could capture

consumer interest in both price discounts and relationship or valueadding promotions.