Analysis of Sales Promotion Effects on Household Purchase Behavior

3.2.7 Presence <strong>of</strong> Non-school Age Children
The presence <strong>of</strong> children (especially non-school age children) is related to search costs.
Non-school age children require special attention and a great deal <strong>of</strong> time that might
otherwise be allocated to shopping activities (Urbany et al. 1996). As mentioned before,
consumers under time pressure will be deterred from using out-<strong>of</strong>-store promotions. Table
3.7 shows a short overview <strong>of</strong> prior findings regarding the relationship between non-school
age children and promotion response. We expect time pressure therefore to be negatively
related with out-<strong>of</strong>-store promotion use.
Table 3.7: Summary <strong>of</strong> studies relating the presence <strong>of</strong> non-school age children with
promotion response
Sign Relationship Study
- Blattberg et al. (1978)
Narasimhan (1984)
Bawa and Shoemaker (1987)
Urbany et al. (1996)
Hypothesis H9: The presence <strong>of</strong> non-school age children in the household
and promotion response are negatively related.
H9a: The presence <strong>of</strong> non-school age children in the household
and promotion response are negatively related, especially for
out-<strong>of</strong>-store promotions.
3.2.8 Variety Seeking
Researchers have different opinions about the relationship between the variety seeking trait
and promotion response. Some say that variety seeking should be positively associated with
deal response since deals encourage product trial (e.g., Montgomery 1971, Ailawadi et al.
2000). On the other hand, there are several studies that argue it is the other way around.
Older people, for instance, may be more likely to enjoy shopping (Urbany et al. 1996), but
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