The effect of premium complementarity on product evaluation

Abstract

The current research investigates the effect of premium complementarity on people's attitudes toward the focal product. Premiums are defined as products or services offered for free in order to induce more purchases later (d'Astous and Landreville 2003). According to the complementarity level with the focal product, premiums could be categorized into two categories, that is, complementary premiums and non-complementary premiums. Complementary premiums refer to the products or services that can be used with the focal product together to achieve one certain function or task (Zemack-Rugar and Rabino 2019). Whereas, non-complementary premiums are the products or services that share some similar attributes or totally functionally unrelated to the focal product (Sarantopoulos et al. 2019). Two experiments are designed to test the proposed effect. I predict that offering consumers a complementary premium (vs. non-complementary premium) will result in more positive attitudes toward the focal product (experiment 1), and this effect is sequentially mediated by process simulation and perceived effectiveness of the focal product (experiments 2). These findings offer novel theoretical insights about premium complementarity and useful strategies that companies can use to effectively promote their products and boost sale. Three potential studies for future research are proposed at the end of the research.