Affiliation:
1. School of Economics and Management Tsinghua University Beijing China
2. HKU Business School The University of Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong
3. Sauder School of Business University of British Columbia Vancouver Canada
Abstract
AbstractOnline retailers employ various kinds of social and marketing information cues to influence consumers’ product interest and purchases. This study focuses on the effects of two types of information cues, product popularity and time restriction on product promotions, on consumers’ product approach behavior. It takes a unique perspective by examining how such effects change as consumers’ shopping goals become more concrete. The results of a field experiment and a laboratory experiment show that product popularity and time restriction may not always have a positive influence on consumers’ product approach behavior. In particular, when consumers have not yet formed specific shopping goals, product popularity and time restriction weaken each other's effects on users’ initial product judgment, whereas these two information cues reinforce each other's effects on consumers’ final product evaluation when consumers’ shopping goals have become more specific. This study deepens our understanding of the individual and interaction effects of product popularity and time restriction at different levels of consumer goal specificity. The findings have significant implications for how retailers can leverage different information cues for promoting products.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Subject
Management of Technology and Innovation,Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering,Management Science and Operations Research