PRICING STRATEGY

Retailer price promotions reduce food wastage by increase waste awareness

By our News Team | 2023

Dutch study finds that supermarkets can help prevent food wastage through the design of clever promotional campaigns. 

Contrary to what is often assumed, retailer price promotions such as ‘Buy One, Get One Free’ or other product-quantity discounts in supermarkets do not cause more food to go to waste. 

Rather, such offers appear to increase consumer awareness of the risk of wasting food, which in turn spurs them on to prevent food waste. Supermarkets could, therefore, encourage such awareness-driven behaviour by designing smart campaigns that help prevent waste.

Pricing Strategy

Photo by Greta Hoffman from Pexels

This is one of the main findings of a recent follow-up study on the effect of retailer price promotions in supermarkets on food waste. The first study showed that retailer price promotions reduce waste; the follow-up study shows why.

The research was carried out by three academic institutions in the Netherlands: Tilburg University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Wageningen University. 

“What we see is that, while price promotions often make consumers buy more than they would normally do, they then also try to avoid wasting the surplus they bought,” says lead researcher, Arjen van Lin, of the Marketing Department of the Tilburg School of Economics and Management.

Consider other types of special offers

To reduce food waste even further, one of our recommendations to supermarkets is to consider using other types of ‘one + one free’ offers that will heighten awareness even more. For example, ‘one now +one free later’ or ‘one to go + one to freeze’.”

Published in the Journal of Consumer Research, the study was conducted in collaboration with GfK, a leading market research agency in the Netherlands.

Over nine weeks, scanner panel information was collected on households shopping at Albert Heijn (better known as AH), the largest supermarket chain in the country.

One to two weeks after having bought specific products (certain vegetables, fruits, and bread products) at the regular price or at the promotional price, customers would be asked to participate in a questionnaire about what they did with these products.

Analysing the date, the researchers found that when consumers buy more than they would normally do, they are more concerned about the risk of wasting food. This concern drives more conscious behaviour, encouraging consumers to increase their efforts to prevent food wastage, for example by freezing some of the food they buy.

You can read more about the study, entitled, ‘Does Cash Really Mean Trash? An Empirical Investigation into the Effect of Retailer Price Promotions on Household Food Waste’ here.

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    Dr Kin Kariisa

    Group CEO - Next Media

    Dr. Kin Kariisa is an extraordinary force at the helm of Next Media Services, a conglomerate encompassing NBS TV, Nile Post, Sanyuka TV, Next Radio, Salam TV, Next Communication, Next Productions, and an array of other influential enterprises. His dynamic role as Chief Executive Officer exemplifies his unwavering commitment to shaping media, business, and community landscapes.
    With an esteemed academic journey, Dr. Kariisa’s accolades include an Honorary PhD in exemplary community service from the United Graduate College inTexas, an MBA from United States International University in Nairobi, Kenya, a Master’s degree in Computer Engineering from Huazong University in China, and a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics from Makerere University.
    Dr. Kariisa pursued PhD research in Computer Security and Identity Management at Security of Systems Group, Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands. As a dynamic educator, he has shared his expertise as a lecturer of e-Government and Information Security at both Makerere University and Radboud University.

    Dr Kin did his PhD research in Computer Security and Identity Management at Security of Systems Group, Radbond University in Nigmegen, Netherlands. He previously served as a lecturer of e-Government and Information Security at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and Radbond University in Netherlands.

    Dr Kin did his postgraduate courses in Strategic Business Management, Strategic Leadership Communication and Strategies for Leading Successful Change Initiatives at Harvard University, Boston USA.

    • Other current and previous roles played by Dr Kin Kariisa:
    • Lecturer of e-Government and Information Security to graduate students at Makerere University, Kampala and Radbond University in the Netherlands
    • Director of Eco Bank Uganda Limited, one of the largest banks in Africa
    • Chairman of the National Association of Broadcasters, an umbrella industry association for all Television, Radio and online broadcasters in Uganda.
    • Chairman of Board of Directors of Nile Hotel International, that owns the leading hotel in Uganda, Kampala Serena Hotel.
    • Chairman of Board of Directors of Soliton Telmec Uganda, the leading telecom company in Optic fibre business managing over 80% of optic fibre in Uganda.