Rockney G. Walters

Exploring the relationships between shopping trip type, purchases of products on promotion, and shopping basket profit

Abstract How different types of shopping trips influence consumer search and purchase behavior has long been of interest to marketing practitioners and scholars. The reliance of retailers on price specials to influence economic performance means gaining knowledge about linkages between shopping trip type and the consumer response to price specials is important. The present study examines how major shopping trips, fill-in shopping trips, and shopping primarily for price specials are associated with consumer specials search, purchases of price specials, coupon redemption, and retailer shopping basket profitability. The results show consumers visiting the store primarily to purchase price specials were more likely to read flyers and purchased more advertised price specials than consumers on other types of shopping trips. Major and fill-in shoppers were equally responsive to the retailers promotions. The results also indicate retailer profitability was lowest for specials shoppers and highest for fill-in shoppers.

Explaining competitive reactions to new products: An empirical signaling study

This article develops a conceptual model to help explain the strength of competitive reactions to new product introductions and presents the findings from a preliminary empirical investigation of this model. Being able to explain the strength of competitive reactions to new product introductions is important, as such reactions often determine a products success or failure in the marketplace. To explain these reactions Oliver Heil and Rockney Walters investigate competitive market signals associated with new product introductions and the reactions of competing firms to the signals. The authors empirically test the hypothesized linkages among three market signals—hostility, consequences and commitment—and competitive reactions using primary data collected from a large number of US corporations. The empirical results show that the market signaling variables explain a significant portion of the variance in the perceived strength of competitive reactions to new product introductions. The study has implications for managers introducing new products and for researchers studying new product introductions and competition.

Consumer perceptions of refund depth and competitive scope in price-matching guarantees: effects on store patronage

Abstract The study investigates the effect of two characteristics of price-matching guarantees—the depth of refund offer and the scope of competitors eligible for price matching—on consumer perceptions of price-matching guarantee believability and value and consumer intentions to patronize the retailer. The results show that large refund offers built consumer patronage intentions by enhancing perceptions of the value of the price-matching guarantee, while simultaneously exerting a negative impact on patronage by reducing believability of the price-matching promise. The competitive scope also affected the patronage intentions by influencing the perceived value of the price-matching policy.

Measuring the Impact of Product and Promotion-Related Factors on Product Category Price Elasticities

Abstract Our study relates product category price elasticities to factors associated with the product being promoted and the products promotional history. Examining product category elasticities is relevant because category management techniques are playing an increasingly important role in the promotional and merchandising activities of retailers and packaged goods manufacturers. We developed and tested a cross-section model using 52 weeks of scanner data and company records from a large supermarket chain. We hypothesized that brand market share, shelf space allocation, and product type (national brand or store brand) would have a positive impact on product category elasticities, whereas brand price, frequency of promotion, frequency of product display, and the bulkiness of the brand would have a negative effect on product category price elasticities. We found product-specific factors, such as brand market share and price, had a significant impact on category elasticity, whereas most of the promotion-related factors, including the frequency and magnitude of price specials, did not affect category elasticities. Our results offer retailers and manufacturers the opportunity to influence category sales through recognition of brand-level differences.

Measuring Cross-Category Specials Purchasing: Theory, Empirical Results, and Implications

The typical Hi-Lo grocery retailer offers consumers thousands of price specials each week to build traffic and influence economic performance. Retailer reliance on price specials may engender heavy cross-category specials purchasing by shoppers. Retailers contend that high cross-category specials purchasing can damage profitability because many of the specials presented to consumers have reduced gross margins. The present study measures the level of cross-category specials purchasing in a Hi-Lo grocery market and develops and tests a model of the determinants of cross-category specials purchasing using shopping basket level data, information from surveys of shoppers, and retailer promotions. The results of the study show about 39% of all items purchased on a shopping trip were on special and that about 30% of consumers surveyed were highly sensitive to price specials, purchasing more specials than regular priced items on their shopping trip. The findings indicate that the consumer search behaviors, such as reading flyers, significantly affected the level of cross-category specials purchasing as did the demographic variable - household income. The study concludes with a series of practical implications for managers to help them gain profitable shopping baskets and set of implications for researchers interested in developing new insights on cross-category specials purchasing.