Mock meat in the butchery: Nudging consumers toward meat substitutes

Publication date: Available online 24 September 2019Source: Organizational Behavior and Human Decision ProcessesAuthor(s): Jolien Vandenbroele, Hendrik Slabbinck, Anneleen Van Kerckhove, Iris VermeirAbstractIs it possible to nudge consumers to swap their chicken sandwich for a meat substitute? A field study tests whether adapting the choice architecture of a large retail store increases the purchase of meat substitutes among nonusers. Instead of offering meat substitutes exclusively in a separate, vegetarian section, this study places them next to similar meat products in the butchery. As such, we (1) increase the meat substitutes’ visibility and (2) offer them in pairs with their meat-based counterparts. Doing so enhances sales of meat substitutes, relative to both past sales in the experimental store and sales in eight other control stores that serve as benchmarks. No backfire effect was observed as meat product sales did not increase significantly. A follow-up study disentangles the effect of product visibility and pairwise presentation. Both product visibility and pairwise presentation increase sales of meat substitutes. However, when visibility is high, fewer meat substitutes were sold in a pairwise presentation.

Source: Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes - September 24, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research