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Beng Soo Ong: Associate Professor of Marketing at the Sid Craig School of Business, California State University, Fresno, California, USA
Foo Nin Ho: Associate Professor of Marketing at the College of Business, San Francisco State University, California, USA
Carolyn Tripp: Associate Professor of Marketing at University of Tennessee at Martin, Tennessee, USA
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: This study was partially funded by the 1996 Summer Research Grant of the California State University's Sid Craig School of Business.
The bonus pack is one of the dozens of techniques used in sales promotion. A bonus pack is a special factory pack that offers the consumer extra product at no additional cost (Urseth, 1994). For example, Miceli periodically offers a 30oz tub of ricotta cheese for the regular 24oz price. Good Humor-Breyers Ice Cream offered a specially marked carton containing 14 pops for the usual 12-pack price (Reiter, 1994). The mega-deal in bonus pack promotions would be the "BOGO" (buy one, get one free). Typically, the amount of the bonus varies between 20 and 40 percent; one-third more is most common (Urseth, 1994). Although it may appear surprising to a consumer, offers of "80 percent more" or "100 percent more" are not uncommon. Hence, this study will investigate consumers' beliefs regarding bonus pack offers (quantity and price claimed), their perception of the manufacturer and of the value of the deals, and their purchase intentions. The study will also examine the impact of types of user (e.g. light versus heavy) and buyer (e.g. regular versus infrequent) on perceptions of bonus pack offers.
Retail shelves are dotted with packages touting extra quantities of the products. Many companies have reported success with bonus pack promotions (Reiter, 1994). Yet, somehow, bonus packs have eluded marketing scholars' attention. Chandon (1995), in his literature review, noted that more than 200 studies on sales promotion (e.g. coupon usage, price promotion, rebates, and games) have been published in the past ten years. Unfortunately, our review did not uncover any research articles on bonus packs. Hence, findings from the present study could add to the body of empirical knowledge on sales promotion which thus far has been predominantly in the area of coupons and price promotions.
Background
Positive roles of bonus packs
Since today's American shoppers are more value-conscious than...