Title: A content analysis of online promotion strategies among different types of websites

Authors: F.F. Cheng; C.S. Wu; Y.T. Huang

Addresses: Institute of Technology Management, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kuo Kuang Rd., Taichung 402, Taiwan ' Department of Information Management, Tunghai University, 181, Section 3, Taichung port road, Taichung city 40704, Taiwan ' Institute of Technology Management, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kuo Kuang Rd., Taichung 402, Taiwan

Abstract: With the rapid growth of internet users, internet has become a new channel for companies to implement sales promotion activities. Companies in different industries may adopt different sales promotion strategies. The main objective of the current study is to explore the most popular online sales promotion adopted by six different industries (music, bank, automobile, TV channel, bookstore and health food). Content analysis was conducted to examine the online sales promotion activities among those six industries. The results showed that price-offs, free gifts and contests and sweepstakes are the most frequently used promotion strategies on the internet. Contests and sweepstakes are popular among bank and TV channel websites. Price-offs is often used by music, online book and health food stores. Banks mainly adopt patronage awards to attract customers. Finally, product warranty promotions are popular among automobile and book online stores. Results from current study can provide implications regarding the choices among different online promotion strategies by different industries.

Keywords: online promotion; content analysis; sales promotion; online marketing; internet marketing; websites; music industry; banking industry; automobile industry; TV channels; online book stores; health food stores; promotion strategies; price-offs; free gifts; contests; sweepstakes; product warranty; website content.

DOI: 10.1504/IJECRM.2013.060696

International Journal of Electronic Customer Relationship Management, 2013 Vol.7 No.3/4, pp.208 - 218

Published online: 30 Jun 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article