From fatty foods to fruit
The influence of supermarket deals on the shopping habits of Scottish households is to come under the spotlight.
Researchers at Scotland鈥檚 Rural College, in partnership with the University of Aberdeen and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, have been awarded more than 拢93,000 to look at the impact of restricting the marketing of in-store promotions for foods high in fat, sugar and/or salt.
This includes the use of 鈥榬ed tags鈥� to highlight buy one, get one free (BOGOF) and other offers.
Led by Dr Cesar Revoredo-Giha, senior economist at 伊人直播, researchers will use mathematical modelling to determine whether the removal of red tags highlighting special offers on foods such as crisps, biscuits and sugary drinks, will lead shoppers towards other products in the same category or healthier options like fruit and vegetables.
The research is being funded by the Scottish Government, with the analysis informing future policy aimed at improving people鈥檚 health by tackling their diet and weight.
The researchers will use data provided by Kantar 鈥� a company dealing in customer knowledge and insights based on continuous consumer panels 鈥� to construct a mathematical model containing information about customers鈥� purchases, including the type, quantity and price of the product and whether it was bought as part of a promotion.
They will also carry out choice experiments with a representative sample of 1,500 people, using three products to assess the effect of restricting the promotion of price discounts on consumers鈥� choices and willingness to pay.
Finally, they will try to analyse whether a customer who reduces the amount they spend on a particular product high in fat, sugar or salt, reallocates this extra money to similar products or to healthier options.
Dr Revoredo-Giha said: 鈥淭he consumer is the king of the food supply chain. The retailer can influence them but at the end of the day, it鈥檚 consumers who decide what they buy or don鈥檛 buy. Knowing what determines consumers鈥� decisions is precious information for the supply chain and that鈥檚 part of our work.
鈥淚t will help us understand better the role of marketing on consumers. In this case, it鈥檚 about restricting the advertising of promotions for those products high in fat, sugar and salt. However, you can use similar marketing to promote other products that are beneficial, like fruit and vegetables. That鈥檚 important because it has a key role to play in policy.
鈥淥n the academic side, it鈥檚 of interest to see what factors influence the demand for food products as it helps us improve our models and their predictions.鈥�
The six-month project Economic modelling: reducing health harms of foods high in fat, sugar or salt will run until February.
Posted by 伊人直播 on 17/09/2019
