Designing a Model for Implementing Social Bundling Strategy in the Home Appliance Industry

Abstract

Objective Social bundling strategy is an extensive business approach to pricing based on the company's marketing strategies, which involves offering two or more products for sale as an item. In industries that are active in competitive markets and have a diverse product range, the bundling strategy can be effective. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of designing a social bundling model in the home appliance industry using the Grounded theory. Methodology This is mixed research applying both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The statistical population of the study consisted of company managers, marketing managers, and university professors. Since experts in this field are not easily identifiable, the snowball sampling method was used. In the snowball method, the first group of experts is used to identify and select the next sampling units. In this method, sampling is continued until the categories reach theoretical saturation. The data collection tool, in the qualitative part, was a semi-structured interview. In the quantitative part, a questionnaire was used to gather the required data. To evaluate the validity, the Creswell model was used in the qualitative part and the content validity and the reliability of the in-coder and inter-coder were calculated. In the quantitative part, content validity and test-retest reliability were measured. Findings this study, to present the research model, the Strauss and Corbin grounded theory was applied. The main elements of Strauss and Corbin, included causal conditions, underlying factors, interfering factors, pivotal phenomena, and strategies and consequences, which were identified using ATLAS.ti software and coding methods. Conclusion The results of the study present a model including causal conditions (macro-industry policies, competitive market, and sanctions), contextual conditions (culture, organizational performance, and organic structure), and interventionist ones (alignment with economic status and organizational effectiveness). This study also introduces the central phenomenon (sales, pricing, and relationship with customers), presents social bundling strategies (specialist force in sales, advertising media, and market research), and identifies the related consequences (profitability, brand equity, and easy shopping). In this study, the social bundling model is presented based on the three pivots of sales, pricing, and relationship with customers.

Keywords

• social bundling
• sales
• pricing
• customer relationship
• home appliance industry