Sales Promotion Trends: Internet Communication
For many years consumers typically became aware of sales promotions in passive ways. That is, most customers obtained promotions not through an active search but by being a recipient of a marketer’s promotion activity (e.g., received coupons in the mail). The Internet is changing how customers obtain promotions. In addition to websites that offer access to coupons, there are a large number of community forum sites where members share details about how to obtain good deals which often include information on how or where to find a sales promotion. Monitoring these sites may offer marketers insight into how customers feel about certain promotions and may even suggest ideas for future sales promotions.