The role of peer group on purchase decision amongst youngsters has been stated to be an important influence in many research studies. Considering the promotions associated with a product to be a part of the overall product offering, the influence of peer-group should, then, also be felt on the promotional choice of a customer. This paper examines the influence of peer-group on promotional choice specifically with respect to hedonic and utilitarian premium sales promotion.
The study is based on two sets of college students who form separate peer-groups. The peer groups are characterised by the academic-pursuit and residential status of the group members. One set of students were hostellers and academically pursuing professional courses, while the other comprised day-scholars pursuing conventional courses. Both sets of students were exposed to an experimental setup where they had to choose between a hedonic and a utilitarian freebie that was being given along with a commonly used product which these students had already purchased. The choice of the subjects in the experiment was recorded first as individuals and then as groups. Discriminant analysis was used to analyse the data and test the formulated hypotheses.
The study has shown that residential parameters and career objectives of young consumers influence the peer-group environment which leads to an orientation that is favourable for a particular sales-promotion. Students pursuing professionally oriented courses had a distinctively higher preference for premium-promotions that were hedonic. This paper adds to the basic idea of peer group influence on product purchase in two major areas. First, it shows that sales promotion also exhibits similar patterns of consumption as any other product. Second, the influence of peer group is not just limited to the product. Peer group also influences the way consumers accept a sales promotion.
