Sales effects of product health information at points of purchase: a systematic review

• Published in: Public health nutrition Vol. 16; no. 3; pp. 418 - 429
• Main Author: RIET, Jonathan Van
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.03.2013
• Subjects: attitudes and opinions; Biological and medical sciences; Choice Behavior; Commerce; Consumer protection; Consumers; Descriptive labeling; Diet; Food Labeling; Food Preferences; Food products; foods; Grocery stores; Health; Health care; health information; Health promotion; HOT TOPIC – Nutrition labelling; Humans; Literature reviews; Logos; Medical sciences; Metabolic diseases; Miscellaneous; Nutrients; Nutrition; Nutritive Value; Public health; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Purchasing; sales; Supermarkets; systematic review; United States > US; Sweden; Nutritional information; Supermarkets; Food; Sales data; Literature; Target group; Attitude; Systematic review; Health service; Review; Information; Objective; Goal; Sales; Health food; Efficiency; Scientific research; Primary; Intention; Nutrient; Paper; Purchases; Behavior; Public health
• ISSN: 1368-9800; 1475-2727; 1475-2727
• DOI: 10.1017/S1368980012001103

Information about healthy and unhealthy nutrients is increasingly conveyed at the point of purchase. Many studies have investigated the effects of product health information on attitudes and intentions, but the empirical evidence becomes sketchier when the focus of research is actual purchase behaviour. The present paper provides an overview of empirical evidence on the effectiveness of product health information for food products at the point of purchase. A systematic literature review was conducted. Only studies were included that assessed the effect of product health information at the point of purchase on actual purchase behaviour, using data provided by stores' sales records or obtained by investigating customer receipts as the primary outcome measure. The included studies' target group comprised supermarket clientele. Several studies found no significant effects of product health information on actual purchase behaviour. Interventions were more likely to be effective when they lasted for a longer time, when they included additional intervention components, and when they targeted the absence of unhealthy nutrients instead of or in addition to the presence of healthy nutrients. No strong evidence for the effectiveness of product health information was found. The effect of intervention duration, additional promotional activities and targeting of healthy v. unhealthy nutrients should be closely examined in future studies.