Prevalence of healthy and unhealthy food and beverage price promotions and their potential influence on shopper purchasing behaviour: A systematic review of the literature

Abstract

Policies to restrict unhealthy food and beverage price promotions have been recommended, as part of a broader strategy to reduce obesity, but little evidence underpins such recommendations. We aimed to synthesize the literature on the prevalence of healthy and unhealthy food and beverage price promotions and their potential influence on purchasing behaviour. Eight scientific databases (covering health, business, and marketing) and grey literature were systematically searched using search terms related to "food and beverage price promotions" up until July 2019. Articles were included if they examined prevalence of, and/or consumer response to, food and non-alcoholic beverage price promotions, from a nutritional perspective. Of the 16 included studies, eight examined the prevalence of price promotions and eight examined the potential influence of price promotions on purchasing behaviour. Seven of the "prevalence" studies found that price promotions were more common for unhealthy foods and beverages. Seven "influence" studies found a greater proportion of price-promoted purchases were for unhealthy compared with healthy products. Policies that reduce the prevalence and/or influence of price promotions on unhealthy foods and beverages may shift consumer purchasing away from unhealthy foods and beverages. Empirical studies are required to better understand how consumers and industry may respond to such policies.

Influence of Food and Beverage Companies on Retailer Marketing Strategies and Consumer Behavior

“…Findings regarding the impact of price promotions and product placement on consumer behavior are consistent with findings of previous reviews [ 3 , 9 , 20 , 21 ]. To the authors’ knowledge, the review by Glanz et al is the only study to also explore promotion; however, they did not identify any studies related to signage, and only one related to in-store sampling [ 21 ].…”

“…A review of price promotions among Scottish retailers found that TPR are the most prevalent form of price promotion, accounting for 74% of promotions, followed by bundle deals, which represent 23% of promotions [ 9 ]. Price promotions are offered more frequently for unhealthy compared to healthy products [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 20 , 50 , 51 ].…”

“…The Newcastle–Ottawa scale assigns studies composite quality scores by awarding a certain number of stars out of a total of nine possible stars. Similar to an approach used by Bennett et al, amendments were made to the scale; for articles using aggregate sales data, a “not applicable” option was allowed for categories of “non-respondents” and “controlling for confounding variables” [ 3 ]. The denominator (total number of possible stars) was reduced appropriately.…”

“…The retail food environment plays a critical role in shaping dietary habits and is an important setting for interventions to improve diet quality and prevent diet-related chronic diseases, including diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease [ 1 ]. Evidence suggests that marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages may be more common and effective at driving sales compared to marketing of healthy foods and beverages [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Low-income and racial and ethnic minority populations are disproportionately targeted by unhealthy food marketing, which may exacerbate disparities in diet quality and diet-related chronic disease [ 10 ].…”

“…The second part of this research question—how retailer marketing strategies impact consumers—has been only partially explored in previous reviews. Specifically, three previous reviews have focused on price promotions’ impact on consumers; all three concluded that price promotions were associated with consumer behavior [ 3 , 9 , 20 ]. In a 2012 integrative review, Glanz et al synthesized literature on the impact of price, placement, and promotion on consumer behavior but limited their search to literature focused on brick-and-mortar grocery stores.…”