"Nudging Consumers to Cheaper Food Choices"

This research project is about consumers’ choices between private
labels (i.e., PLs) and national brands (i.e., NBs). As private labels are
on average 30 to 40 percent cheaper than their national band
counterparts, consumers can save on their grocery budget by buying
private labels instead of national brands. Yet, they do not do so for all
types of products.
Prior research pointed out that consumers sometimes perceive or
anticipate large quality differences between PLs and their NB
counterparts. The present research project intends to disclose
whether there exists yet another burden in consumers’ minds that
withholds them from purchasing PLs over NBs. Specifically, we
propose that consumers may perceive PL food products as less
healthy than the alike NBs, which may withhold them from buying PL
food products.
Moreover, this project intends to reveal whether certain retail
contexts are more conducive to buying PLs instead of NBs. We
propose that this might be the case when consumers 1) order their
groceries online (instead of offline) and 2) choose from small (instead
of large) assortments.
In sum, the goal of this project is to help consumers save money on
their food purchases, by nudging them to PL choices. The findings
ensuing from this project will contribute to diverse research streams
within the field of consumer behavior, but will also prove relevant to
different parties in the market place. That is, to consumers and
practitioners in the retail and food industry.