Pin Responsibility in Unhealthy Food Choice

To help your customers maintain health, accentuate their responsibility for any unhealthy choices. Researchers at University of Southern California, University of Michigan, and Simon Fraser University explored how this works with self-service versus being served unhealthy foods. Consumers in a waiting area were offered a free snack. At certain times, the snack was mixed dried fruits while at other times, and therefore for different consumers, the snack was Reese’s Pieces candies. For each group, sometimes the consumer was required to scoop the snack into a sampling cup from a large container, while for the other consumers, half-filled sampling cups were offered.
     With those offered Reese’s Pieces, about 31% of the observed people facing the prefilled cups took the candy. When required to serve themselves, absolutely none of the people accepted the offer. With those offered the healthier fruit snack, 16% took a prefilled cup, while 6% were willing to scoop for themselves.
     An interpretation of the results is that when people are required to put forth a physical effort to obtain an item, they’re less likely to do it, but this effect is much stronger for unhealthy items. Other studies by the researchers found this was because the physical effort, even if minimal, gave a sense of personal responsibility. You don’t feel as responsible for making the unhealthy choice when all you have to do is snatch it up.
     We don’t want to make choices excessively demanding for shoppers. Still, research at University of Chicago found that consumers who characterized themselves as “smart” rather than “not smart” evaluated products more positively when the products had been pushed back on the shelves rather than being in easy reach. With products where healthfulness isn’t an issue, a small challenge often boosts repeat sales.
     Not every challenge will end up decreasing overall consumption of unhealthy foods, however. Researchers at Technical University of Lisbon and at Tilburg University in the Netherlands found that people who hesitated eating a food product generally overcome their hesitations when presented with small packages more than when presented the equivalent amount in one large package. But, in addition, the people who went through the trouble of opening up a bunch of the small packages ended up eating more than did those who dug into the large package. The participants had said they thought using small packages would help them limit their consumption. Yet the opposite proved to be true.

For your success: Retailer’s Edge: Boost Profits Using Shopper Psychology

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