Journal
FOOD QUALITY AND PREFERENCE
Volume 64, Issue -, Pages 82-87Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodqual.2017.10.015
Keywords
Portion size; Choice architecture; Grocery shopping; Compensatory behavior; Sustainable consumer behavior
Categories
Funding
- Special Research Fund of Ghent University [BOFDOC2016001601]
- department Environment of the Flemish Government
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Point of purchase interventions may curb portion size effects and overconsumption by consumers. This study determines whether adding smaller portion sizes to a retailer's assortment unobtrusively encourages consumers to buy smaller portions. Therefore, a field experiment with meat sausage as focal product, was conducted over the course of a month in a branch of a large European retailer, generating receipts of each individual shopping trip. The product sales data revealed slightly more sales of the two smaller portions in terms of units (52%), versus the default, larger portion (48%), resulting in a pertinent reduction in total volumes sold in kg. Furthermore, a two-way ANOVA comparing sales at the individual level before and during the intervention for the experimental store versus eight control stores showed a reduction in the volume of meat sold during the intervention period in the experimental store. Moreover, the results of a one-way ANOVA indicated that smaller portion buyers do not compensate by buying more other products within the same product category. The finding that adding smaller portions to a default choice architecture can nudge consumers towards buying smaller sized items, has important implications for retailers and public policy makers involved in promoting healthy and sustainable consumer behavior.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available