An examination of retailers and consumers preferences for sales promotion programs in Hong Kong

Sales promotion is value offered to the customer in a short-term orientation. The potentialbenefits of using sales promotions could range from attracting new customers fromcompetitors to persuading customers to switch to brands with higher profit margins orsimply inducing existing customers to buy more. Over the years, sales promotion hasbecome a ubiquitous element of consumer marketing. However, not all promotionalactivities are effective. A large number of literature reviewed essentially focused on thefunctions of sales promotion activities (eg. Liao 2006, Gilbert and Jackaria 2002, Peattie1998, Peattie and Peattie 1995). However, a relatively small number of the studiesexplicitly examined the retailers capability of managing sales. Betts and McGoldrick(1995) examined a wide range of factors that might influence sales, including theexternal environment, retailers and behaviour. Merrilees and Fams article (1999) relatesto the drivers of effective methods of managing retail sales. Following this rationale, theprimary objective of this study is to focus on the sales promotion techniques offered byHong Kong cosmetics and toiletries retailers and to what extent these techniques arepreferred by their consumers.