Discounts as a marketing tool for attraction and retention of customers in e-commerce through the example of a comparative analysis of the specificity of fashion e-shops in Russia and Sweden

Abstract: This study provides a comparative analysis of pricing promotions, which create an incentive to buy in Russian and Swedish fashion e-shops. The aim of this work is to determine the national differences in sales promotions used in e-commerce in these countries. This work confirms the existence of modern marketing trend in the e-commerce, which uses discounts as a tool for communication with consumers and for retaining them in the shop as a regular customer, and not just for traditional use of discounts as a way to sell remaining goods. To conduct the study the collected data obtained through systematic observation of application of discounts and promotions as marketing tools in the e-shops in these countries. Following the comparative analysis of statistical data we were able to determine the difference in the periods of sales, the maximum and minimum level of price falls, to create a typology of discounts, typical for both countries and for each of them separately. The recommendations for online retailers who develop the markets of these countries with regard to national specifics in communication with the consumer and based on the most popular types of discounts and promotions are also the important part of this work. The results of this study refute the words of the expert Simonetta Carbonaro that the modern approach to pricing policy in the e-commerce is a "suicide of fashion retail."