Boosting mobile promotion. Exploring the platform effectiveness on in-store promotion

While mobile promotions have become increasingly popular in recent years, limited studies have analysed the effects of mobile promotions on consumer behaviour, and very few research has focused on in-store mobile promotions. By focusing on location based advertising, this research investigates the effect of the platform used in the in-store mobile promotion (WhatsApp – Facebook) and the content of the promotion (shopping goal congruent- shopping goal non-congruent) on consumer purchase intention. The results of two experiments demonstrate that: i) WhatsApp in-store mobile promotions are more effective in driving purchase intentions; ii) the effect of platform on mobile promotion is greater when the promotion is congruent with the consumer goal. We explain such effects using the level of social presence triggered by the platform. The paper ends with a discussion of the study’s implications, along with its limitations and future research directions.