Impact of Gender, Age and Income on Consumers' purchasing Responsiveness to Free-product

Samples

Background

Sales promotions are a marketing tool for manufacturers as well as for retailers. Manufacturers
use them to increase sales to retailers (trade promotions) and consumers (consumer promotions).
Our focus will be on retailer promotions, which are used by retailers to increase sales to
consumers. Typical examples of retailer promotions are temporary price reductions (TPRs),
features, and displays. Modern marketing is more than just producing good products, suitable
pricing and easy access to them . Today, attracting new customers has become so important in
modern retailing in addition to loyal to them and efforts have been paying in that perspective as
known, the cost of keeping consumers present is less than the cost of gaining new customers.
World of today’s world is a benefit-cost. Firms have to rethink the relationship between attitude
and behavior of their consumers. All businesses need to communicate to the consumer what they
have to offer. Promotion refers to the motivational methods of getting the consumer to purchase
the product. Promotion is referred to as “any communication used to inform, persuade, and/or
remind people about an organization’s or individual’s goods, Services, image, ideas, community
involvement, or impact on society”. Promotion (also referred to as Integrated Marketing
Communication (IMC)) mainly consists of messages and related media that are used to
communicate with the market. IMC is defined as “a marketing communications strategy which
requires that a company adopts strategies that coordinate different promotional elements and that
these promotional activities are integrated with other marketing activities that communicate with
customers” . The basics of promotional strategy involve delivering the communicational message
from the producer to the consumer. The object of the message is to persuade the audience to
purchase the product or service. Therefore the consumer needs to be receptive to the message
and to be able to interpret it in such a way the intent to purchase is established. Companies must
communicate with their present and potential customers, as well as internally and therefore
makes it very important in the marketing process. A modern company manages a complex
marketing communication system. The promotion mix includes the tools like Advertising, Public
Relations, Sales Promotion, Direct marketing and Personal Selling. In this we will be focusing
on the Impact of Gender, Age and Income on Consumers' purchasing Responsiveness to Free-
product Samples

Consumer behavior is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy a
product. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process and studies characteristics
of individual consumers as well as groups in an attempt to understand people’s wants and needs.
Consumer behaviour research is the scientific study of the processes consumers use to select,
secure, use and dispose of products and services that satisfy their needs. Knowledge of consumer
behaviour directly affects marketing strategy.

The following factors can influence the Buying decision of the buyer:

Cultural: Culture is the fundamental determinant of a person’s wants and behaviors acquired
through socialization processes with family and other key institutions.

Social : Consumer Behaviour is also influenced by social factors like reference Groups, family,
social Role and status

Personal: A buyer’s decisions are majorly influenced by personal characteristics like gender, age,
stage in lifecycle, occupation, income, and lifestyle.

Psychological: Psychological factors like motivation, perception, beliefs & attitudes of

consumers also have a deep impact on the buyer decision.

Introduction

Consumer behavior is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy a
product. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process and studies characteristics
of individual consumers as well as groups in an attempt to understand people’s wants and needs.
Consumer behavior research is the scientific study of the processes consumers use to select,
secure, use and dispose of products and services that satisfy their needs. Knowledge of consumer
behavior directly affects marketing strategy (Anderson et al, 2005). Consumer behavior towards
the purchase of a product is incluenced by the sales .Sales promotions are a marketing tool for
manufacturers as well as for retailers. Manufacturers use them to increase sales to retailers by
trade promotions and consumers by consumer promotions Neslin, Scott A. (2002). Clow and
Baack (2004) lists two types of sales promotion, namely consumer promotion ( such as coupons ,
premiums and free samples) and trade promotions ( such as trade allowances, trade incentives
and, so on). Sales promotions consist of a huge variety of temporary planned promotion tools
which plan is generating a preferred response from the consumer (Gilbert and Jackaria, 2002).
Our focus is mainly on the Free sampling which is a type of consumer promotion.

Sampling is a smart way to present fewer amounts of products to the customers with no cost, and
it can be sent directly to the customer by mail or attach the sample to another type of products, so
they can able to test or try the product rather than just hear about it, which it can affect their
behavior to purchase it in the near future ( Pride and Ferrel, 2008).Consumers who have the
opportunity to try free samples are often more willing to purchase the products later and have the
potential to become loyal customers (Laran and Tsiros, 2013). Free sample usage has a positive
impact on brand image (Amor and Guilbert, 2009). ). According to Clow and Baack (2007) they
defined the free sample method as a technique to induce customers to try new lunched products.
Ndubisi and Chiew(2006) admitted that free samples technique has a significant relationship on
consumer buying behavior Today, Consumers are bombarded with many kinds of promotional
offers. Retailers of consumer goods usually use promotional incentives to attract consumers;
encourage them to go to their stores rather than competitors choose to buy their brands, purchase
larger quantities of products on promotion (Ndubisi, 2005). For some food products, sales
promotion methods are more important than advertising in ensuring profitability of the product
(Vlachvei et al., 2009). However, Most of academic researchers have directed their studies to the
impact of sales promotion methods on consumers’ purchase decisions ( Kiran and Kishore,
2012.Research has shown that among seven independent variable such as age, income,
education, birth month, credit card debt, Prentice Hall marital status, preferred breakfast and
political outlook only income and education are major predicators of consumer behavior towards
product sample (Abdul Waheed, Syeda Shawana Mahasan and Moeed Ahmand Sandhu 2014).

Literature Review
Consumer promotions such as coupons, free samples can produce measurable long-term effects
on sales that can be observed as much as 12 months after the promotion. It states the three
potential effects of free samples on sales: (1) an acceleration effect, whereby consumers begin
repeat purchasing of the sampled brand earlier than they otherwise would; (2) a cannibalization
effect, which reduces the number of paid trial purchases of the brand; and (3) an expansion
effect, which induces purchasing by consumers who would not consider buying the brand
without a free sample (Kapil Bawa , 2004).

Free-product samples that are gifted in stores to retail consumers give them the opportunity to try
the product before making a real purchase (McGuinness et al., 1995). They are used as part of a
strategy to encourage retail consumers to buy products and increase sales of consumer goods
(Sun, 2011).Consumers’ responsiveness is meant to be the deal proneness or consumers’
tendency to reacting topromotions when they are in transaction processes (Lichtenstein & et al.
1995). Among different types of promotions, free-product samples have been widely used as an
effective promotional tool in generating product trial and making real purchase (Rossiter and
Percy, 1987; Belch and Belch, 1990;Bawa and Shoemaker, 2004; Heilman et al., 2011). A study
on in-store sampling has shown that 92% of consumers preferred free-product samples over
cents-off coupons while purchasing (Fitzgerald,1996). Along the same line, Lindstedt (1999)
found that 70% of shoppers will try in-store free-product samples if approached, and 37% will
buy the product once they are sampled. In this regard, a study revealed that on the day of
promotion, in-store free product samples can increase sales of the sampled product by as much as
300% (Mei and Moses, 2005) or even 500% in another study (Lindstedt 1999).However, results
of Linstendt (1999) and Jones (2001) indicated that free-product samples have shown

to boost sales by 37%-50% on the day of promotion (Heilman et al., 2004). Nonetheless, past
and recent academic research in marketing considered sampling as one of the most under-
researched areas of promotions (Lammers, 1992; Peattie, 1998; Heiman et al., 2001; Bawa and
Shoemaker, 2004; Ben Amor, 2007; Heilman et al., 2011).
In general, many marketers acknowledge sampling programs as creating short-term boosts in
consumers’ responsiveness; hence improve sales of new products and expect a continuous
growth in expenditures on sampling programs (Fowler, 2001). Surveys provided further
information on the importance of trial samples for purchase. In one survey, 72% of the
consumers showed that they purchased at least some of the brands for which they had received
samples. The respondents agreed that sampling was a good risk-free opportunity to try new
products, while 89% reported they would "feel better" about purchasing a product that they had
been sampled, and 69% stated that product samples and demonstrations influenced their behavior
more than television or radio advertisements (Estell, 2002). Along the same line, a National
Incentive Survey conducted in Britain by Marketing Magazine stated that 72.8% of respondents
considered free-product samples as the most likely promotional offer that makes them buy the
products (Hupfer and Grey, 2005). As well, free samples © Research Journal of International
Studies - ISSUE - 26 (April-2013) 85 reduce the brand uncertainty inherent in trying unfamiliar
products and may be more important for low-involvement products (Ghosh, et al., 1995).
Additionally, marketers should keep in mind that consumers understand they offer samples
because of their high confidence that testing experience will lead to later purchase (Wellner,
1998). Past studies showed different results of the relationship between free samples and
consume responsiveness. For instance, marketing managers recognize the significance of product
trial and thus give free samples to consumers in order to draw their attention to the product and
expose them to a behavioral experience with product rather than just hearing about it (Kardes,
1999; Pramataris et al.,2000; Fill, 2002; Shimp, 2003). These studies have shown that free
samples -as a promotional tool- are important on consumers’ buying behavior. In addition, Banks
(2003) stated that by adding value through free samples trial, brands attain stronger possibilities
in affecting consumer behavior and choice. On contrary to those previous findings, Gilbert and
Jackaria (2002) found that free-product samples hold no significance in consumer’s buying
responsiveness. Chandon, et al. (2000)showed that sales promotions might be appealing to
consumers with high proneness for reasons beyond financial savings. These consumers may
switch brands to benefit from special deals and offers that would support their smart shopper’s
self-perception, switching to products on promotion. However, many researchers saw that the
success of free-product samples in promoting subsequent purchase behavior can be explained by
principles of instrumental or operant conditioning theory, which argues that reinforced behaviors
tend to be repeated than other behaviors (Chandon, 1995). When a trial sample is received
favorably, the consumer’s positive reinforcement can create a favorable response towards the
product and develop intentions to purchase or make real purchase (Rothschild and Gaidis, 1981;
Nord and Peter, 1980; Peter and Nord, 1982; McGuinness et al., 1992; McGuinness et al., 1995;
Motes and Woodside, 2001; Sun, 2011).
Male and female consumers depict completely different behaviors as far as purchasing various
goods and services are concerned. Men tend to gather information through heuristic men as and
gather salient cues in comparison to women who believe in depth information search. Men tend
to value quality and efficiency the most while women value emotional connect and relations
(Zeitham, 2012).There is no gender bias or differences in these relationships, which suggests that
the impact (or lack of it) of the promotional tools under study on product trial and repurchase is
general across men and women consumers( Nelson Oly Ndubisi, 2005)

Age

Previous studies demonstrated that age has a great influence on consumers’ response to
promotions (Kausler and Kleim, 1978; Dotson, 2001; Vipul, 2010; Sharma and Antil, 2013). The
study by Dotson (2001) pointed out a number of significant differences in reported usage of sales
promotion incentives regarding age. It found out that the youngest group, less than 25 years old,
reported a higher likelihood of taking advantage of free-product samples than 35-54 years old
groups. Generally, Young consumers perceive promotion as activities which bring distinguished
benefits in the form of the likelihood to purchase products at reduced prices or to obtain free
samples of goods or freebies (Adamczyk, 2008). In spite of these findings, conflicting results
have been found in other studies regarding age. For instance, Moschis et al. (1995) found that
older consumers appear to be more sensitive and prone to deals in general and more responsive
to sales promotion items such as coupons and free samples in particular. Another study reported
that older consumers respond favorably to promotion methods including free-product samples
and coupons (Moschis, 1994).

Gender

Out of all the factors that influence customers decision making behaviour, one of the major
factor is the gender. It refers to the social relationship/ roles and responsibilities of men and
women, the expectations held about the characteristics, aptitudes and likely behaviors of both
women and men (femininity and masculinity) that are learned change over time and vary within
and between cultures. According to Mitchell and Walsh (2004), males and females want
different products and they are likely to have different ways of liking and obtaining these.
Gender has an important role in consumer behaviours. Because, the differences between men and
women about expectation, want, need, life-style etc. reflect to their consumption behaviours
(Akturan, 2009:66). Solomon et al (2010) suggests that, products are sex-typed or androgynous.
Sex-typed defines a product that takes on masculine or feminine characteristics. Put simply,
Barbies for girls and Hotwheels for boys.
Although gender studies in consumer purchasing behavior are limited as a whole, some studies
found gender differences in consumer’s decision-making processes (Mokhlis and Salleh, 2009).
However, conflicting results were found with respect to the relative significance of masculinity
and femininity in explaining findings. For instance, Coughlin and O’Connor (1985) revealed that
masculinity was a significant predictor of consumer purchase intentions, while Fischer and
Arnold (1990) found © Research Journal of International Studies - ISSUE - 26 (April-2013) 86
femininity to be more significant than masculinity in shopping for holidays. Other previous
studies provided convincing evidence that male and female consumers’ decision-making style if
different (Mokhlis and Salleh, 2009). For promotion responsiveness, some studies have found
that women are more promotion prone than men (Mazumdar and Papatla, 1995; Harmon and
Hill, 2003). Focusing on free-product samples, Dotson (2001) and Ndubisi (2005) demonstrated
that consumers’ responsiveness to free-product samples does not differ between male and female
consumers.

Household income

Part of the neo-classical microeconomic theory is that consumers always react to maximize their
utilities when buying commodities (Hunt and Lautzenheiser, 2011). Therefore, past studies have
concentrated on financial saving as a primary consumer benefit of deals (Blattberg and Neslin,
1990). Hence consumers will respond to sales promotion only when financial incentive of doing
so exceeds the opportunity cost of its redemption (Kwon and Kwon, 2007). Accordingly, using
free-product samples is a positive chance of benefit where the cost will almost diminish. Hence,
it is logic that the attraction of this technique will be stronger in lower-income households who
have limited shopping budgets (Urbany et al, 1996; Kwon and Kwon, 2007; Vipul, 2010). In this
context, Mishra et al. (2012) revealed significant differences in perceived utilitarian and hedonic
benefits of sales promotion based on consumer’s monthly household income. On the other hand,
some studies found a surprising
outcome indicating that those with higher household incomes appear to use promotional deals
more often (Blattberg et al., 1978; Bawa and Shoemaker, 1987; Kwon and Kwon, 2007).
Reversely, other studies found that deal proneness level is equal in all categories of income
groups (Blattberg and Neslin, 1990; Dotson, 2001; Montaldo, 2006; Sharma and Antil, 2013).

Theoractical framework

Gender

Age Consumers' purchasing

Responsiveness
Household income

Free-product Samples

Questionnaire
Demographics Source
Gender Male (Abdul Waheed, Syeda
Female Shawana Mahasan and Moeed
Ahmand Sandhu ,2014)
Age 20-25 (Abdul Waheed, Syeda
26-35 Shawana Mahasan and Moeed
36-45 Ahmand Sandhu ,2014)
46+
Household income Less than 20000 (Abdul Waheed, Syeda
25000-35000 Shawana Mahasan and Moeed
35000-45000 Ahmand Sandhu ,2014)
More than 45000
The consumers’ purchase responsiveness to Sources
free product samples
The consumers’ purchase responsiveness to
free product samples
The consumers’ purchase responsiveness to
free product samples
The consumers' purchasing Responsiveness
to Free-product Samples

1. I often look for free samples before (Mahmoud Abdel Hamid Saleh, 2013)
buying the product
2. I prefer to try the product before buying
it
3. I usually look for free samples of new (Bothayna Alothman, 2013)
products
4. I give more attention to shops that give
free samples before my Purchasing
decision
5. I prefer the product that I try in free
samples before purchasing (Layla Alhoshan,2013)
6. Free sample is important to me before
making a purchase decision
7. I prefer buying from the shops that give
free-product samples
8. I always visit the shops that give free-
product samples
9. When I visit a shop, I always ask about
the free-product samples
10. I usually buy the product that satisfied
me after trying a free sample of it