AT & T Consumer Promotions

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The cell phone, Internet provider and television premium channel markets are highly competitive. AT&T is quite popular in these arenas and currently uses many promotional programs to entice consumers to join their customer base. The Internet is full of ads and special promotions put out by AT&T. Most of their customers have been exposed to more than one of their special promotions as potential customers. According to Fogel & Thornton (2008) “Consumers face a variety of sales promotions designed to influence their choices of products. Coupons, rebates, bonus sizes, “buy one, get one” offers, sweepstakes, and product premiums (“gifts with purchase”) are all promotional tools directed toward consumers that allow firms to achieve short-term results …show more content…
6.2). Coupons can be distributed in direct mail and print media, affixed onto the product’s packaging or free-standing inserts. Raghubir et al (2004) states “To put this in perspective, coupons are just one of a variety of consumer promotions tools used by manufacturers and retailers to induce trial, encourage repeat purchase, or induce brand switching. Other common forms of promotions include sweepstakes, competitions, price discounts around calendar events (e.g., Christmas Sale, President’s Day Sale), annual discount events by manufacturers or retailers (e.g., semi-annual Nordstrom’s sale), free gifts, free samples, trial packages, and membership rewards” (p. 23). Although coupons are a good vehicle for promotion of products, they can cause a negative consumer perception of the brand. It can also slow sales, as some consumers will only shop for the item when a coupon is generated. Generating coupons is not free, manufacturers usually bear the cost and coupon fraud is also possible. (Ogden & Ogden, 2014, Ch. 6.2). Coupons.com is a reputable coupon website that features many different coupon specials for AT&T. These include trade-up programs for cell phones offering $300.00 in credits, the website states that there are 11 different AT&T coupons available for consumers to choose from. …show more content…
Ogden & Ogden (2014) states “While the cash refund or rebate is enticing and can often be the reason for the purchase, the National Consumers League, a consumer advocacy group, estimates that only 2% to 3% of rebate forms are successfully submitted” (Ch. 6.2). Too many times submitting the rebate form, attaching a valid receipt and the 4 to 6 week wait is deemed by the consumer to be too much trouble. AT&T offers several types of rebates both by mail and online for cash cards, free products and services or promotion cards. (www.att.com).
Sampling is a promotion that involves the company providing a free sample of the product. It could occur at point-of-sale, or it may be included through an internet offer or attached to another product. Sampling sometimes occurs in grocery stores with food items and coupon offered for customers to use to immediately purchase the product. According to Ogden & Ogden (2014) sampling is “Often viewed as the best way to introduce a new product to the market and generate excitement, it is also the most expensive consumer promotion” (Ch.