Information, ingestion, and impulsivity: The impact of technology-enabled healthy food labels on online grocery shopping in impulsive and non-impulsive consumers

Unhealthy food consumption is a problem for society, companies, and consumers. This study explores how technology-enabled healthy food labels can impact food choice in an online grocery store context. We conceptualized unhealthy and healthy food choice as a matter of impulsivity problems. Three technology-enabled healthy food labels were derived based on variables that might impact self-control, and their influence on food choice was investigated.

In this study of 405 people, food labels that encouraged self-monitoring, pre-commitment, and social comparison impacted the consumers food choices. For the more impulsive easters, self-monitoring and pre-commitment proved to have a stronger effect. In comparison to non-impulsive eaters, which were more effected by social comparison. Overall, the findings suggest that self-monitoring of previous healthy food choices might be more effective than pre-commitment based on discounts on healthy food products, but these differences were minor. This paper is published at Frontiers in Nutrition.

Price consciousness as basis for Thai and Finnish young adults’ mobile shopping in retail stores

This short paper, published in Procedia Computer Science, explores the connection between price-conscious shopping habits and the use of smartphones for in-store shopping among young adults from Thailand and Finland. Through a cross-national survey, the study finds that price-conscious consumers are more likely to use mobile shopping in retail stores. Thai consumers had a stronger association to price consciousness and mobile shopping, than for Finnish consumers. These insights suggest that cultural factors can impact how a consumers mobile shopping behavior is influenced by their price awareness

The relative importance of healthy food labels when shopping for groceries online

Healthy food labels are popular tools to encourage consumers to make healthier food choices. This study, published in Procedia Computer Science, explores how online grocery shopping decisions is influenced by healthy food labels. A conjoint study with 111 participants discovered that factors, such as price, brand and country of origin, had a stronger impact on purchase decisions than healthy food labels. Still, the presence of a healthy food label increased the likelihood of a product being selected. Results of the study also show gender differences, as healthy food labels had a stronger impact on female consumers. These findings present the opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of healthy food labels in influencing consumers food choices. It is evident that simply presenting healthy food labels on products is equally beneficial for consumers, manufacturers, and policymakers alike.