Out-of-home Consumer Food Purchase Behaviour in the Presence and Absence of Value Pricing and Price Promotions

Plain-language summary

It is important to understand the role that price-based incentives in the out-of-home food sector play in food purchasing, and whether they lead to positive savings for the consumer (as they would likely anticipate when making purchases), or whether these incentives lead to increased spending and increased purchasing of unhealthy products. Additionally, it is important to consider whether the impacts of price-based incentives differ according to a range of demographic characteristics. For example, some evidence suggests that effects of removing a price-based incentive are greater in individuals with a higher BMI. Evidence also suggests there may also be differences in impact according to socioeconomic position (SEP) as individuals in lower SEP groups reportedly use price-based incentives more frequently. If lower SEP individuals are more affected by price-based incentives (i.e. they prompt ordering in excess and greater spend), then the banning of such strategies could help to reduce health inequalities, by nudging lower SEP consumers toward healthier dietary choices in the OOH food sector. To date, it is unclear what effect policies which remove specific types of price-based incentives would be likely to have on consumer behaviour. In particular, individual product price reductions (e.g. £ off this product), bulk buy price reductions (e.g., Save £ when bought together) and volume value pricing (e.g., the price increase from a small to large portion size not being directly proportional to volume increase). Therefore our primary objectives are: • To observe the effect of removing price-based incentives (individual product price reductions, bulk buy price reductions, volume value pricing) in the OOH food sector on: * Energy purchased per household * Money spent per household Secondary Objectives: • To explore whether any effects of removing price-based incentives differ based on participant characteristics (BMI, SEP, food choice motives)

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