Understanding the effect of product displays on consumer choice and food waste: a field experiment
Date
2016
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
This study aims to discover the link between product displays, consumer choice, and food waste at the retail level. To discover this connection, field experiments were conducted. The experimental sessions occurred in the fall of 2015 in northern Delaware, and a total sample size of 119 adult participants was gathered. In the study, participants were free to choose one apple from three different product displays, while being filmed in order to observe their behaviors during the selection process. However, no product display was perfect in appearance. One product display (“single”) only had one apple in it that did not have any blemishes or marks. The second display (“blemished”) was organized in appearance and fully stocked, but had blemished apples along with apples with no imperfections. In the blemished display, the apples with imperfections were visible to participants, and were placed on top of the normal apples. The third display (“disorganized”) was fully stocked with only perfect looking apples, although it was disorganized.
Our results showed that the disorganized display was the most popular option, followed by the blemished display and then the single display. These findings indicate that participants are more likely to select an item from a fully filled product display over selecting the last item in a product display. Furthermore, participants rated the apple in the single display as having the lowest quality, even though it was free from any imperfections. When these ratings were analyzed through ordered logit regression models, it was found that participants who agreed on a survey that they would never buy the last item left on a product display were more likely to give the apples in the disorganized and blemished display a better quality rating—an intuitive outcome. Conditional logit regression models were additionally used to examine what participant characteristics affected what display they chose from. Those participants who identified themselves to be the primary shoppers in their households were more likely to take an apple from the single display over taking an apple from the disorganized or blemished display. Participants who stated that they were against purchasing the last item left on a product display were more likely to select an apple from the disorganized or blemished display, over taking the solitary apple in the single display.
These results obtained from this study can assist in explaining the reasoning behind why retailers keep their product displays fully stocked, and why food waste occurs in the retail sector, particularly with fresh produce. Because the product supply is greater than the consumer demand, all of the items cannot be purchased in time before they become unsellable—and thus they are thrown out and contribute to overall food waste.