How to 'nudge' shoppers into wasting less food... ...and save them money too!

From creative more refined promotions to targeting guilt – here are a range of suggestions to help shoppers.

1. Stock products in the size that shoppers want

“And not just in the size manufacturers can make”. “The whole challenge of the supermarket is the fact that it’s almost impossible to shop for one. Stop packing desserts in twos and fours, crisps in multi-bags big enough to feed an army and fresh pasta in 500g packs, half of which only ends up in the bin.”

Single shoppers will accept this might mean paying a tad more. They accept the fact that one unit will cost more per gram. That’s the way it is. If you buy a pack of 20 bread rolls, you know it’s cheaper (per roll) than buying 2. But, given that there is less likelihood of waste from buying just the 2, it may actually work out cheaper.

Promotions that cater to single or two-person households are another way to address this. Experimenting with delayed bogofs, where shoppers return at a later date for their ‘free’ product has been trialled previously by both Sainsbury’s and Tesco, but so far “this initiative failed to take off” and “the industry is yet to see any worthwhile attempts to further encourage this behavioural change”.

2. Help shoppers switch on their ‘System 2’ brains

Nearly two thirds (60%) of supermarket shopping is handled by our instinct-led System 1 brain. That brain is hard-wired to gorge food and get all we can when it’s available. Any concerns shoppers have about wasting that food are strictly housed in the more rational System 2 brain.

So supermarkets need to find ways to switch on System 2 thinking. One way to do that, is using a jolt of guilt. You need to make people think twice. For example, images of mountains of food waste or food poverty, done tastefully, but making the point. You need to find ways of subtly playing on guilt. Then you need to take that feeling of guilt and assign it to wasting food.

3. Ensure shoppers are clued up on the lifespan of their groceries

Products allowed to pass their use-by date in UK kitchens are responsible for around 2 million tonnes of food going to waste in homes each year. But some supermarkets are already finding innovative ways to change that. Ocado trialled showing the precise number of days remaining on a product until it hit its expiry date (use-by or best before) and calculated an ‘average product life’ for items once they reached a customer’s home.

4. Share big data to help shoppers learn their eating habits

Supermarkets have access to reams of data on the nation’s eating habits. So, why not share it? In fact, why not develop an app that helps customers predict the volumes of food they need to buy each week.

“I eat a lot of salad but I couldn’t tell you how many tomatoes I eat in a week, so I’ll head off to the supermarket and just pick stuff up, perhaps a box of tomatoes, eight sausages though we’re a family of three - and I don’t even know what’s in the fridge.”

With supermarkets already collecting shopping data via loyalty schemes, it can’t be a huge leap to feed this back to shoppers via a simple app into which they could input the amount of food they’re throwing away. Take one from the other and consumers will have a clearer idea of what they need to buy.

5. Use tech to make special offers more dynamic

With the advent of electronic shelf-edge labelling (ESL) comes an opportunity to use promotions to help stores, and their shoppers, cut the waste caused by products nearing their sell-by date. With ESL you can change prices nationally in a split second, so why not start pricing sandwiches in the morning at ￡2, after 2.30pm it’s 20% off, then at 5pm 40% off and discount it until they’re all gone, leaving no waste?”. In a trial with Spar stores in London waste reduced by 30% in only five weeks (as well as providing 100% pricing accuracy).

6. Launch a supermarket scraps challenge

Introducing a little healthy competition could go a long way to transforming how shoppers see their scraps. Launching a creative challenge that asks shoppers to dream up inventive recipes with leftovers and share their results via social media could place a positive spin on a topic often shrouded in... ...guilt.

If you can create a positive competition dynamic around this then you’re much more likely to get people sharing it among their peer groups and community. That’s really important as peers reinforcing behaviour is a much more authentic way to drive behaviour change than being told. Monthly winners could be promoted in stores or across a retailer’s social media channels, while brands could get involved too by co-marketing recipes using up their produce.

7. What about just selling less…?

It might go against the instinct of a successful supermarket CEO, but selling less food is the only sure-fire way to ensure shoppers waste less.

One idea is to make trolleys smaller. In 2012, a study at Indiana University showed that by removing trays from a student canteen, and reducing the surface area for diners to fill, resulted in less food being wasted. The same could work with trolleys, by ditching those huge trolleys that can hold massive amounts of food.

Summary

These brief examples can all help shoppers waste less food, which is an admirable aim. But here's the real payoff: In these days of economic challenge, the same initiatives that result in less food waste, can also save shoppers money too: A real win, win, situation.

1. Selling products in the size that align with shopper needs would result in them only buying the amounts they really require.
2. When shoppers make purchase decisions using more of their System 2 brain , they really do make more reasoned choices - Often, 'reasoned' equates to 'more financially astute'.
3. Ensuring shoppers are aware of the lifespan of their purchase is another way of helping them spend less, buying only taking what they can consume in a given time period.
4. Telling shoppers how much they really buy and letting them then subtract the amount they waste is another shortcut to more financially beneficial and less wasteful shopping.
5. Selling at reduced price is better that not selling at all, and just throwing away: And if this reduction in retailer waste helps the cash-strapped shopper, then that's another positive.
6. Whenever TV or radio shows ask viewers and listeners for ideas, they are always inundated with 'helpful' suggestions. So let's capitalise on this when it comes to supermarket shopping, and actively helping shoppers.
7. And when it comes to just selling less, I realise this won't please shareholders, but if it helps shoppers and contributes to save the planet, then I think that is a sacrifice worth making.

At Adcock Solutions, we explain how your customers really think and make decisions, so that you can engage with them more effectively. Come to us for Behavioural Science insights and expertise that improves the visibility, appeal, engagement, and sales of your brand.

Adcock Solutions?have been improving the marketing communications of leading brands and retailers for more than 25 years.