Group Buying Websites as a Communication Tool: The Case of Latvian Small and Medium Businesses

摘要

This paper deals with a booming online phenomenon: group buying websites (GBWs). While their long-term sustainability along with the motivations for consumers to use them for acquiring products have been explored, the present research tries to unfold the interest for small and medium businesses (SMBs) to rely upon it, as a marketing tool. Taking the case of a developing country, Latvia, we show that GBWs are perceived as an efficient marketing communication channel, to be fully integrated in an IMC campaign. How SMBs react to them and plan to capitalize on them are key addressed issues in this paper, which ends with practical managerial recommendations and future research directions.