AN INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK FOR RELATING DIVERSE CONSUMER CHARACTERISTICS TO SUPERMARKET COUPON REDEMPTION

The author proposes a model of consumer redemption of grocery coupons, integrating the separate literatures on consumer demographics, nondemographic consumer characteristics, and cost/benefit perceptions. The model posits that demographics are poor predictors of coupon-use behavior, because they are the farthest in the causal chain. The effects of demographics are mediated by three layers of mediating variables, each successively closer to coupon attitudes and use. Data from a sample of grocery shoppers show most of the hypothesized mediational paths to be significant. The research cautions against arbitrary use of demographics for targeting promotional efforts and offers an approach to constructing an understanding of the psychological processes that mediate between consumers' demographics and their marketplace behaviors.