Cesar Zamudio, assistant professor in the Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at »ĘÉ«Ö±²„, along with College of Business Administration doctoral student Paul Mills, received a $10,500 grant from the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) for their submission to the instituteās research proposal competition.
The Marketing Science Institute received 35 research proposals for the competition that was themed āMobile Platforms, Location-Based Services and Their Impact on Consumers.ā
Zamudio and Millsā submission, āSnap Coupons: Scanning for Discounts at the First Moment of Truth,ā was one of six winning research proposals. Both decided to enter because of Zamudioās expertise in consumer choice research, and Millsā interest in conducting research to illuminate how new technologies influence how consumers shop and make purchases.
āSnap Couponsā are a new smartphone-based couponing mechanism. Their proposal seeks to investigate factors that influence consumersā decisions to scan products prior to purchase. Snap coupons are generated when a consumer scans a product with a smartphone app.
āMore importantly, our research is a field experiment in which the face value of a coupon, the depth of the couponās discount and the presence of competing coupon offers from other brands will be manipulated in such a way that the coupons that maximize coupon redemption and product consumption will be discovered,ā Zamudio says.
Mills says two aspects of the proposed product were evaluated at the competition. The judges looked at its academic contribution and the potential for practical application to the industry.
The proposals were blind-reviewed by six judges from Harvard University, University of Pittsburgh, University of California-Riverside, Columbia University, New York University and AT&T Labs. These judges were recognized for their expertise in the study of the role of new technologies on consumer behavior, says Zamudio.
As winners of the competition, Zamudio and Mills will use their grant to pay for data and computer programming of the software that generates the mobile coupons. Mills says in 2011, he ran a successful pilot test with the smartphone developer, Insight Market Data, in a small kiosk store.
āThe MSI grant allows Dr. Zamudio and me to expand a real-world shopping setting where we are partnered with a full-service, 30,000-square-foot supermarket for this research,ā says Mills.
Mills says the most difficult part in developing the research proposal was choosing which question to focus on because of the newness of the technology. Zamudio and Mills expect many other interesting studies to come out of this research.
āIt feels great to be one of six winners of the research competition,ā says Zamudio, āAs an assistant professor, winning a research grant from a prestigious institution such as the Marketing Science Institute is an important accolade; much more for Paul as a first-year Ph.D. student.ā
āIt is personally rewarding, but I am also motivated by the idea that »ĘÉ«Ö±²„ could successfully compete with some highly regarded schools, and end up on a shortlist with researchers from Columbia, Michigan and Carnegie-Mellon,ā says Mills.
Other winning research submissions included scholars from Florida, Michigan, Boston College, Carnegie Mellon, University of Connecticut and Virginia. »ĘÉ«Ö±²„ and University of Connecticut were the only winning universities that had students involved with their research proposals.
For more information about »ĘÉ«Ö±²„ās College of Business Administration, visit www.kent.edu/business.