Nonlinear impact of the marketing mix on brand sales performance

Abstract

The pattern of the impact that marketing activities exert on sales has not been widely examined in the literature. Many studies have adopted restricted linear perspectives, disregarding the empirical evidence. We investigated the nonlinear impact of the marketing mix on the volume of sales, volume of consumers and level of purchasing by each consumer, through a longitudinal study with panel data of brands and consumers simultaneously. We analyzed 121 brands during 13 months, with 793 purchases/month by consumers, through application of three generalized estimating equations. The results indicate that the marketing mix, especially branding and pricing, have a strong impact on all the dependent variables in nonlinear form, with good fits of the parameters. The joint effect generates economies of scale for the brands, while for each consumer the joint effect stimulates the gradual purchase of larger quantities. The study demonstrates eight impacting patterns of the marketing mix on the indicators investigated, with alterations in their order and weight for brands and consumers.