Perceptions on Pricing Strategies to Reduce Obesity

Pricing strategies to encourage healthy eating habits and reduce obesity risk are frequently discussed in the mainstream media.  These pricing strategies typically revolve around either discounting healthy foods, taxing unhealthy foods, or combination of the two.  In a previous blog, I discussed two recent studies that suggested pricing strategies might be effective at reducing overall calorie intake, which might lead to a reduction in obesity risk.  However, how these pricing strategies will be received by the consumer is still uncertain.

A new focus group oriented study explored the perceptions that consumers have about different pricing strategies.  For this study, researchers recruited 7 focus groups from deprived neighborhoods in two large cities and discussed 4 topics related to pricing strategies:

• Factors in food selection
• Attitudes and perceptions regarding food prices
• Designing pricing strategies
• Attitudes and perceptions of professionally developed pricing strategies

These focus group discussions revealed a lot of interesting information on consumers perceptions about pricing strategies:

• Price was seen as an effective tool for inducing healthier food choices
• The focus groups valued pricing strategies that focused on encouraging healthy eating more than strategies designed to discourage unhealthy eating.
• Focus group members suggested pricing strategies that included reducing the price of healthy foods, providing a healthy food discount card for low-income families, and combining price discounts with displaying healthy foods at the point of purchase.
• The focus groups believed that pricing strategies could only be effective when combined with appropriate marketing.

These are interesting results, especially in light of the previous studies on pricing strategies.  According to this focus group study, consumers appear to substantially favor strategies that revolve around the reduction in prices of healthy foods, which is not surprising.  However, the previous studies have reported that reducing the price of healthy food choices did not alter the nutritional value of consumers' dietary intake and resulted in an increase in overall calorie consumption.  In contrast, these earlier studies reported that increasing the price of fast food and taxing unhealthy foods led to an increase in the nutritional value of food purchased, a reduction in overall calories purchased and less weight gain.  The overall picture provided by these studies suggests a disconnect between what has been reported to be effective at stimulating the consumption of healthier foods and what consumers perceive as a more desirable option.  Strategies to close this disconnect and find a way to effectively stimulate healthier eating while reducing cost are needed.  Perhaps, the use of appropriate marketing tools as discussed by the focus group members in this new study might help close this disconnect.

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