The Effectiveness of Promotional Cues for Organic Products in the German Retail Market

Abstract

The market for organic products is constantly growing, but successfully promoting them remains a controversial issue. Marketing research shows that organic products such as fruits and vegetables cannot be advertised effectively via monetary promotions (e.g., discounts); however, how promotional effectiveness is affected by other promotional actions (e.g., offering premiums instead of discounts) or the product type promoted (e.g., promoting hedonic products such as organic ice cream instead of utilitarian products) has not been empirically investigated to date. Through a study conducted with 487 German participants, we demonstrate that monetary promotion is less effective for organic than for conventional products. In contrast, non-monetary promotion (via offering increased content) enhances promotional effectiveness more for organic than for conventional products. Increased heuristic processing can explain these findings, as consumers focus more on the heuristic cues offered by non-monetary promotion when confronted with organic, and in particular hedonic organic, products.