Asymmetric demand patterns for products with added nutritional benefits and products without nutritional benefits

Yan, Ji; Tian, Kun; Heravi, Saeed; Morgan, Phillip L.

doi:10.1108/ejm-06-2015-0356

Cited by 10 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Another paper used food sales data to examine consumer demand patterns for products with claimed nutritional benefits. It found that consumers are more sensitive to price decreases and less sensitive to price increases for both healthy and unhealthy food and that these sensitivities are greater for products with no nutritional benefit, supporting the hypothesis that products with nutritional benefits have a higher brand equity than those without [70].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 70%

The use of commercial food purchase data for public health nutrition research: A systematic review

et al. 2019

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BackgroundTraditional methods of dietary assessment have their limitations and commercial sources of food sales and purchase data are increasingly suggested as an additional source to measuring diet at the population level. However, the potential uses of food sales data are less well understood. The aim of this review is to establish how sales data on food and soft drink products from third-party companies have been used in public health nutrition research.MethodsA search of five electronic databases was conducted in February-March 2018 for studies published in peer-reviewed journals that had used food sales or purchase data from a commercial company to analyse trends and patterns in food purchases or in the nutritional composition of foods. Study quality was evaluated using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Quality Assessment Tool for Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies.ResultsOf 2919 papers identified in the search, 68 were included. The selected studies used sales or purchase data from four companies: Euromonitor, GfK, Kantar and Nielsen. Sales and purchase data have been used to evaluate interventions, including the impact of the saturated fat tax in Denmark, the soft drink and junk food taxes in Mexico and supplemental nutrition programmes in the USA. They have also been used to identify trends in the nutrient composition of foods over time and patterns in food purchasing, including socio-demographic variations in purchasing.ConclusionFood sales and purchase data are a valuable tool for public health nutrition researchers and their use has increased markedly in the last four years, despite the cost of access, the lack of transparency on data-collection methods and restrictions on publication. The availability of product and brand-level sales data means they are particularly useful for assessing how changes by individual food companies can impact on diet and public health.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 70%

The use of commercial food purchase data for public health nutrition research: A systematic review

et al. 2019

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“…Our results shed light on the diminishing effect of front-of-package nutrition information: to improve consumer purchasing of low MS food, a focus on claims and labels might be more efficient than highlighting these food items’ actual nutrient composition. Yan et al (2016) emphasized the importance of focusing on nutritional benefits for healthy food to increase brand valuation and the price consumers are willing to pay for the food item. Chandon (2020) emphasized the importance of nudging consumers using labels as one of the effective strategies that could push sales of healthy food.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These results were replicated in an experimental study on Oreos and potato chips that differed in fat content and in a field study using retail data on the within-category variation for cream cheese, processed cheese, soft drinks and beer. Other streams of research noted that consumers react differently to price gains and losses based on the un/healthiness of food (Talukdar and Lindsey, 2013; Yan et al , 2016).…”

Section: Compounded Effect Of Motivational Salience Of Food and Motivational Salience Of Marketing Activities On Salesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Correlational public health research has empirically linked the increasing prevalence of obesity over the past decades to modern market conditions created by reducing the economic cost of high-calorie food and developing sophisticated marketing tactics centered around advertising and in-store promotions (Chandon and Wansink, 2011). Previous behavioral research, however, led to mixed results when it comes to consumers’ responses to un/healthy food (Chernev and Gal, 2010; Raghunathan et al , 2006) and to the differential responses to food marketing and retailing strategies for un/healthy food (Mishra and Mishra, 2011; Talukdar and Lindsey, 2013; Yan et al , 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A neurobehavioral account of differential consumer responses to price and in-store display between un/healthy food

Labban

Dubé

2021

EJM

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Purpose This paper aims to elucidate some of the complexity around food consumption by drawing from neuroscience research of food as a motivated choice (i.e. a neurobehavioral process sensitive to dopaminergic response to food and environmental cues such as marketing). The authors explore the single and compounded effect of the motivational salience of food’s intrinsic reinforcing value tied to its sugar content and that of two marketing food cues, price and in-store display, on actual consumer purchase behavior. Design/methodology/approach The authors test the above hypotheses in two perceived “healthy” product categories with a wide distribution of sugar content. The authors estimate a within-category model using three years of retail transaction data to test the effect on weekly sales. Findings The authors confirm the single effect of each of food’s and marketing cues’ motivational salience as well as their compounded effect with high-motivational-salience food being less price elastic and more susceptible to in-store display activities. Research limitations/implications This research highlights the need to complement current reliance on unhealthy/healthy perception with finer grained objective evidence linked to the formulation of the food itself and the marketing applied to them. Practical implications The present study findings may help marketing managers and policymakers develop better targeted pricing and display strategies for low- and high-motivational-salience food, attempting to strike a better balance between consumer welfare and commercial performance. Originality/value This paper is one of the few that links real-world market outcomes to predictions derived from a unique combination of consumer neuroscience and neurobiology of food, advancing data-driven decisions.

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“…Marketers may also use flavor cues in a way that undermines diet intentions. For example, consumers may be more susceptible to strategic pricing tactics designed to create demand for products perceive as healthy that other alternatives (Yan et al , 2016). As noted previously, the medicinal properties associated with this flavor in particular have wide-reaching negative consequences on the attractiveness and consumption of tobacco products currently under investigation by FDA.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flavor halos andconsumer perceptions offood healthfulness

Pham

Morrin

Bublitz

2019

European Journal of Marketing

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Purpose This paper aims to examine how repeated exposure to health-related products that contain flavors (e.g. cherry-flavored cough syrup) create “flavor halos” that can bias perceptions about the healthfulness of foods that contain the same flavors (e.g. cherry-flavored cheesecake). Design/methodology/approach Six experiments, using both between- and within-subjects designs, explore the effects of flavor halos in hypothetical and actual consumption settings. They test the underlying mechanism, rule out competing explanations and identify an opportunity to correct the cognitive biases created by flavor halos. Findings Flavor halos can be created via repeated exposure to flavored medicinal products in the marketplace. These flavor halos bias dieters’ judgments about the healthfulness of vice foods containing such flavors. Dieters are motivated toward a directional conclusion about food healthfulness to mediate the guilt associated with consuming indulgent products. Providing dieters with corrective information mitigates these effects. Research limitations/implications The authors examine one way flavor halos are created –via repeated exposure to flavored medicinal products. Future research should explore other ways flavor halos are created and other ways to mitigate their effects. Practical implications Considering the prevalence of obesity, organizations striving to help consumers pursue health goals (e.g. weight watchers) can use flavors to improve dietary compliance. Health-care organizations can help consumers understand and correct the cognitive biases associated with flavor halos. Originality/value By identifying flavor halos, this work adds to the literature investigating how flavors influence consumers’ judgments about healthfulness. The results suggest dieters apply flavor halos as they engage in motivated reasoning to license their indulgent desires.

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Asymmetric demand patterns for products with added nutritional benefits and products without nutritional benefits

Cited by 10 publications

References 60 publications

The use of commercial food purchase data for public health nutrition research: A systematic review

The use of commercial food purchase data for public health nutrition research: A systematic review

A neurobehavioral account of differential consumer responses to price and in-store display between un/healthy food

Flavor halos andconsumer perceptions offood healthfulness

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