For more than a decade, sales promotions have grown in importance, becoming the most popular tool in the marketer’s kit. A brief look back helps to explain how tougher market conditions and shrinking profits pushed marketers to use promotions to fight for share. But a hard look at the numbers and a careful consideration of the logic of promotions reveals their disastrous short- and long-term costs—the double jeopardy of sales promotions.
A version of this article appeared in the September–October 1990 issue of Harvard Business Review.
