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.