Assistant Professors Timothy Norvell and Alisha Horky researched the effects gift card programs have on company revenue and profit.
Assistant Professors of Marketing Timothy Norvell and Alisha Horky surveyed gift card redeemers of a national casual restaurant chain to determine how gift cards affected their purchase behavior.
The duo’s paper, titled “Gift Card Program Incrementality and Cannibalization: The Effect on Revenue and Profit,” was published in volume 39 of the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services.
Norvell and Horky found that in the best-case scenario, where the lowest possible discount was given, the profit was much lower than anticipated. Moreover, in the worst-case scenario, where the highest possible discount was given, the profit was negative.
Norvell holds a doctorate in business administration with a concentration in marketing from the University of Georgia, an master’s of marketing research from the University of Georgia, and a bachelor’s from the University of Central Florida. Prior to entering academia, Norvell held marketing research positions with Motorola, Ford Motor Company, IBM, Sprint and Applebee’s. He currently provides marketing research and strategy consulting to the service industry and teaches marketing research at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
Horky teaches operations and supply chain management courses at Elon. She joined the faculty at Elon after earning her doctorate in business administration with a concentration in marketing from Mississippi State University. Prior to her academic career, Horky worked in specialty retail.
The Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services is an international and interdisciplinary forum for converging fields of retailing and services studies. It has a focus on consumer behavior and managerial decisions.