We investigate an online retailer’s optimal strategies for her promotion of the garments that are classified based on their price levels and life cycle stages. Accordingly we consider nine scenarios. For each scenario, the retailer implements a promotion strategy that involves only a discount, only a coupon, or both of them. We develop a three-stage approach, in which we first perform regression analysis to identify the significant variables, then obtain the optimal decisions, and .find the best scenario for the retailer. In general, the promotion with a discount depth is optimal for the garments at the introduction and decline stages, whereas that with a coupon is optimal for the garments at the maturity stage. Sales promotions for new garments cannot help to arouse potential customers’ interests, whereas those for mature garments can significantly improve the reading rate. The most profitable garments are the high-priced garments at the introduction stage; but, the best sales garments are the low-priced garments at the maturity stage. The spring season is the best one for the retailer to promote the high-priced garments and the garments at the decline stage, the summer and autumn seasons are the best for a few scenarios, and the winter is a slack season for any promotion. The garments at the introduction and maturity stages may have a higher conversion rate on holidays. Any time limit in sales promotions influences customers’ interests but may not affect their purchase intentions.
| Date of Award | 5 Jun 2019 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Awarding Institution | |
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| Supervisor | Mingming LENG (Supervisor) |
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- promotion
- discount
- coupon
- reading rate
- conversion rate