By synthesizing findings across the sales promotion literature, this article helps the reader understand how promotions work. We identify and explain empirical generalizations related to sales promotion; that is, effects that have been found consistently in multiple studies involving different researchers. We also identify issues which have generated conflicting findings in the research, as well as important sales promotion topics that have not yet been studied. This overview of the research and findings from the sales promotion literature is intended to offer direction for future research in the area.sales promotion, retailer promotions, trade promotion, empirical generalizations

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and participants in the Marketing Science conference in Ann Arbor. The authors also thank Ranga Venkatesan and Prerit Souda for assistance in data collection and analysis. This study benefited from a grant from Don Murray to the USC Marshall Center for Global Innovation. Greg Allenby served as associate editor for this article. Raj SethuRaman, GeRaRd j. telliS, and RichaRd a. BRieSch* the authors conduct a meta-analysis of 751 short-term and 402 longterm direct-to-consumer brand advertising elasticities estimated in 56 studies published between 1960 and 2008. the study finds several new empirical generalizations about advertising elasticity. the most important are as follows: the average short-term advertising elasticity is .12, which is substantially lower than the prior meta-analytic mean of .22; there has been a decline in the advertising elasticity over time; and advertising elasticity is higher (1) for durable goods than nondurable goods, (2) in the early stage than the mature stage of the life cycle, (3) for yearly data than quarterly data, and (4) when advertising is measured in gross rating points than monetary terms. the mean long-term advertising elasticity is .24, which is much lower than the implied mean in the prior metaanalysis (.41). many of the results for short-term elasticity hold for longterm elasticity, with some notable exceptions. the authors discuss the implications of these findings.

The authors investigate the impact of product assortments, along with convenience, prices, and feature advertising, on consumers' grocery store choice decisions. Extending recent research on store choice, they add assortments as a predictor, specify a general structure for heterogeneity, and estimate store choice and category needs models simultaneously. Using household-level market basket data, the authors find that, in general, assortments are more important than retail prices in store choice decisions. They find that the number of brands offered in retail assortments has a positive effect on store choice for most households, while the number of stockkeeping units per brand, sizes per brand, and proportion of stockkeeping units that are unique to the store (a proxy for presence of private labels) have a negative effect on store choice for most households. They also find more heterogeneity in response to assortment than to either convenience or price. Therefore, optimal assortments depend on the particular preferences of a retailer's shoppers. Finally, the authors find a correlation in household-level responses to assortment and travel distance (r = .43), which suggests that the less important an assortment is to a consumer's store choices, the more the consumer values convenience, and vice versa.

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