Clinical trial NCT06412276: Out-of-home Consumer Food Purchase Behaviour in the Presence and Absence of Value Pricing and Price Promotions
Official title: Out-of-home Consumer Food Purchase Behaviour in the Presence and Absence of Value Pricing and Price Promotions
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Food Selection
Healthy Eating
Eating Behavior
Lead sponsor: University of Liverpool
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Liverpool John Moores University
name: University of Bristol
name: Economic and Social Research Council, United Kingdom
First posted: 2024-05-14
Enrollment: 2051
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: participants will be randomly assigned to one of five conditions.
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: It is important to understand the role that price-based incentives in the out-of-home food sector play in food purchasing, and whether they lead to positive savings for the consumer (as they would likely anticipate when making purchases), or whether these incentives lead to increased spending and increased purchasing of unhealthy products. Additionally, it is important to consider whether the impacts of price-based incentives differ according to a range of demographic characteristics. For example, some evidence suggests that effects of removing a price-based incentive are greater in individuals with a higher BMI. Evidence also suggests there may also be differences in impact according to socioeconomic position (SEP) as individuals in lower SEP groups reportedly use price-based incentives more frequently. If lower SEP individuals are more affected by price-based incentives (i.e. they prompt ordering in excess and greater spend), then the banning of such strategies could help to reduce health inequalities, by nudging lower SEP consumers toward healthier dietary choices in the OOH food sector.

To date, it is unclear what effect policies which remove specific types of price-based incentives would be likely to have on consumer behaviour. In particular, individual product price reductions (e.g. £ off this product), bulk buy price reductions (e.g., Save £ when bought together) and volume value pricing (e.g., the price increase from a small to large portion size not being directly proportional to volume increase).

Therefore our primary objectives are:

• To observe the effect of removing price-based incentives (individual product price reductions, bulk buy price reductions, volume value pricing) in the OOH food sector on:

* Energy purchased per household
* Money spent per household

Secondary Objectives:

• To explore whether any effects of removing price-based incentives differ based on participant characteristics (BMI, SEP, food choice motives)

Detailed description: See attached study protocol for detailed information

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Currently reside in the United Kingdom
* Over the age of 18 years
* Fluent English speaker Frequently use food delivery apps or websites (at least once a month, on average)
* Frequently eat takeaway pizza (i.e. once every 2-3 months)
* Can complete the study on a laptop or desktop

Exclusion Criteria:

* Partaking in a fast or other restrictive eating for religious reasons at time of participation
* Dietary restrictions/intolerances including:

  * Gluten-free
  * Dairy-free
  * Sugar-free

Primary outcomes:
measure: Energy (kcal) ordered
timeFrame: immediately after food choice
measure: Monetary value of order
timeFrame: immediately after food choice
measure: Likelihood of using a bulk-buy promotion
timeFrame: immediately after food choice
measure: Likelihood of selecting a larger or smaller size
timeFrame: immediately after food choice
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Liverpool
country: United Kingdom
facility: University of Liverpool
Study officials:
References: