Reference price and scarcity appeals and the use of multiple influence strategies in retail newspaper advertising

The use of scarcity and reference price techniques in 13,594 retail newspaper display advertisements across four major U.S. cities was evaluated in terms of frequency and usage strategies using framing and information‐processing perspectives. One or both of these techniques were found in 22.4% of the ads. Scarcity was used more frequently than reference pricing, and was strongly associated with the use of reference pricing. Limited time availability was found to dominate the use of scarcity tactics. Scarcity and reference pricing were also strongly associated with the use of other attention and persuasion tactics, such as color ads, larger ads, and “Sale” announcements. Given the extensive use of reference pricing and scarcity appeals, their association with each other, and their further association with other commonly recognized advertising tactics, additional research on the use of multiple influence strategies appears warranted. The authors thank Tiffani Oltmanns and Daniel Taraba for their assistance ...