Sales promotions can be seen as a service that provides encouragement to purchase a product or service by changing the perceived value-for-money equation. In the past decade manufacturers and retailers have been gradually switching from above the line mass media advertising to a variety of below the line sales promotions. Although sales promotions take up a very large share of total marketing expenditure, they remain an area which has less strategic consideration or attention than any other aspect of the promotion mix, especially in the international market arena. There is a scarcity of literature devoted to the use of sales promotion techniques within a particular Asian city over a period of time. This study focuses on the sales promotion techniques employed by advertisers in Hong Kong between 1995 and 2004, and specifically examines the effectiveness of each sales promotion technique in terms of their popularity, size, day of placement and suitability for industries.

Sales promotions can be seen as a service that provides encouragement to purchase a product or service by changing the perceived value-for-money equation. In the past decade manufacturers and retailers have been gradually switching from above the line mass media advertising to a variety of below the line sales promotions. Although sales promotions take up a very large share of total marketing expenditure, they remain an area which has less strategic consideration or attention than any other aspect of the promotion mix, especially in the international market arena. There is a scarcity of literature devoted to the use of sales promotion techniques within a particular Asian city over a period of time. This study focuses on the sales promotion techniques employed by advertisers in Hong Kong between 1995 and 2004, and specifically examines the effectiveness of each sales promotion technique in terms of their popularity, size, day of placement and suitability for industries.