Novice and expert Internet users : influence of price discounts on attitude toward the banner and website

Due to the increasing number of promotional banners hosted on websites, it is important to study how the use of price discounts may affect attitudes toward the banner and the website, and how this effect may vary depending on the user's experience of the Internet. This paper endeavors to fill this research gap by conducting an empirical study amongst 226 individuals. The results of this study lead us to conclude that users' attitudes toward online price discounts exert an influence on their opinion of the host website. Moreover, the findings show that the transfer of affect between the price discount and the website depends on the individual's experience of using the Internet. Price discount has a direct influence on attitude toward the website when the individual is an "expert" Internet user but not when they are a novice. In the case of novice Internet users, opinion on the discount offered affects opinion about the website indirectly, via attitude toward the banner. The present work discusses a series of conclusions are discussed and sets out the main managerial implications.