Pricing and product adoption · Longitudinal category-level econometric analysis
The Category-Demand Effects of Price Promotions
Nijs, V. R., Dekimpe, M. G., Steenkamp, J.-B. E. M., & Hanssens, D. M. (2001). Marketing Science, 20(1), 1–22.
Plain-English take
The research estimates category-demand expansion effects rather than only brand switching and tests how marketing intensity and competition moderate promotion response. For your marketing: When discounting, separate category growth from switching between vendors or purchase timing.
How much weight to give this
2.5/5 Limited or context-dependent evidence
The 1–5 evidence-check score is a practical reading aid, not a formal peer review or a probability that a conclusion is true. It combines design strength (2 points), sample reporting (1), comparison/control clarity (1), and how much of the paper could be checked (1). Access affects how confidently this directory can assess a study, not the study's underlying quality. Blinding is reported separately because it is not relevant to every design.
This is observational evidence; selection or unmeasured differences may affect the result.
A usable sample size is not stated in the profile's accessible source.
Statistical adjustment is not the same as random assignment; review the controls and assumptions.
This profile could be checked against an abstract or metadata, not the full paper.
Double-blind? Not applicable in the same way as a participant-treatment experiment.
Research question
What the authors investigated
Under what conditions do price promotions expand demand for an entire product category in the short and long run?
Design
The authors analyze national sales across 560 Dutch supermarket product categories over four years with multivariate time-series models, accounting for marketing mix and competition.
Sample and setting
560 consumer product categories in Dutch supermarkets; the data include prices, promotions, advertising, distribution and new-product activity.
Reported result
What the study found
The research estimates category-demand expansion effects rather than only brand switching and tests how marketing intensity and competition moderate promotion response. The abstract emphasizes that category expansion is conditional on market context.
This is a paraphrase of the source. Check the original paper for definitions, estimates, statistical uncertainty and analysis details.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
Retail packaged-goods data from one national market and historical period; estimated category-level effects do not predict SaaS discount outcomes or the profitability of a particular promotion.
Possible founder application
When discounting, separate category growth from switching between vendors or purchase timing. For software, define the analogous incremental outcome and test it against a non-discounted control.
Evidence access
Publisher and bibliographic abstracts; full text access may vary
INFORMS bibliographic record and IDEAS/RePEc abstract. This profile does not add unverified numerical effect sizes.
If only an abstract or metadata was available, the profile is limited to claims supported there. A paper's paywall does not change its evidentiary status, but it limits what we can substantiate from accessible text.