Mexican Households’ Purchases of Foods and Beverages Vary by Store-Type, Taxation Status, and SES

Abstract

Where people shop for food is often linked to the healthiness of food purchases. In Mexico, no research has examined the connection between where people shop, what they buy, and their socioeconomic status (SES). Mexico’s sugary beverage and junk food taxes have made households decrease purchases of taxed products. However, whether households have changed where they shop is unknown. To address this gap, we use a repeated cross-sectional analysis of household packaged food and beverage purchases from the Nielsen Mexico Consumer Panel Survey from 2012 to 2015 (n > 5500 households). We examine changes in the volume of the purchase of taxed and untaxed products from different store-types (i.e., convenience stores, supermarkets, traditional retailers, wholesalers, home water-delivery, and others) by SES using multivariate linear regression models. Results show that high-SES households purchased more foods and beverages at all store-types except for low-SES who purchased the most foods and taxed beverages at traditional retailers. Purchases of taxed foods and beverages from traditional retailers significantly decreased for low-SES and middle-SES households and from supermarkets for middle-SES and high-SES households. Purchases of untaxed beverages from wholesalers significantly increased for middle-SES households and from convenience stores for high-SES households. Our findings suggest that consumers choose different stores to purchase beverages than to purchase foods and that taxes may have differentially affected each store-type.

The caloric and sugar content of beverages purchased at different store-types changed after the sugary drinks taxation in Mexico

“…Consistent with previous studies using the Mexico Nielsen CPS data, SES was categorized into low, middle and high. The SES index is comprised of seven household assets (number of rooms, type of floor, number of bathrooms, shower, gas range, number of light bulbs and number of cars), and the education level of the head of the household [9, 11, 15, 19, 20].…”

“…Because food suppliers are major mediators between the food environment and the eating behaviors that influence the development of obesity [13, 14], determining whether calories and sugars from beverages vary by store-type is important. Evidence has shown that the types of beverages that Mexican households purchase vary by store-type and purchases of taxed beverages are highest at traditional stores [15]. Store-level interventions and policies can potentially increase the healthfulness of stores’ assortment of foods and beverages, improve households’ diet quality and prevent obesity [16–18].…”

“…Nielsen CPS detailed data collection process has been described elsewhere [9, 11, 15, 19, 20]. Briefly, Nielsen CPS interviewers gather purchasing information from packaged products with a barcode through bimonthly household audits, in which enumerators visit participants’ homes and retrieve information from receipts and logs from purchasing diaries, conduct pantry inspections and re-scan barcodes from available products.…”

“…The Nielsen CPS data includes information on the retailer where every shopping episode occurs. As in previous work [15], stores were categorized using store size, product assortment and additional services provided to consumers [26, 27] into convenience stores (e.g. 7-eleven), supermarkets (e.g.…”

Mexican households’ food shopping patterns in 2015: analysis following nonessential food and sugary beverage taxes

“…traditional shops (small family-owned shops, e.g. bodegas, tiendas, momand-pop shops) and supermarkets) and found variations observed by socio-economic status (SES) (28) . These variations included low-SES households purchasing primarily at traditional retailers and middle-and high-SES households primarily at supermarkets.…”