Good Days and Bad Days: An Investigation of the Habits of Shoppers When They Do or Don't Buy Healthy

• Project start date: 1 October 2010
• Project status: Completed
• Project type: Food safety
• Discipline: Nutrition
• Principal researcher/s: Dr Moira Dean, Queen’s University Belfast
• Collaborator/s: Prof Patrick Wall, University College Dublin, Dr Monique Raats, University of Surrey, Dr Julie Barnett, Brunel University

Research objective

This research sought to gain an understanding of the reasoning behind consumers’ food choices and to explore the role of shopping practices/strategies that both promote and impede healthy shopping behaviour.

The objectives were:

• To identify and classify situational factors influencing shopping decisions and strategies/shopping practices used for healthy shopping
• To conduct a qualitative exploration of the ways in which shoppers make choices in relation to purchasing food
• To investigate the relationships between consumers’ personal, situational and behavioural factors (barriers and promoters) influencing healthy food shopping
• To make recommendations on strategies and practices for implementing healthy food shopping.

Outputs

Research report

• Title: Good days and bad days
• Publication date: 5 November 2013
• Summary: Habits of shoppers when they do or don’t buy healthy foods.
• Findings:

  Consumers typically experienced good/bad eating days and found it easy to relate to this concept. However, good/bad shopping days were linked to a sense of personal achievement and store experience; and had minimal references to health. Those who did refer to health were more likely to be female or those with higher levels of health consciousness.

  A good shopping day was one where consumers 

  • achieved their shopping goals such as getting all the items they had planned
  • bought enough food for the family for the week
  • made healthy purchases
  • got good value for money
  • came across many in-store promotional offers
  • had good product availability
  • received good service from staff members
  • did not encounter long queues
  • were not given too much choice
  • did not get lured into buying unnecessary items.

  Key barriers to a healthful shop are …

  • lack of skills in planning, budgeting and cooking
  • knowledge on how to achieve a healthful shop
  • mood when shopping
  • social circumstances
  • not usually related to the in-store environment.

  Key facilitators of a healthful shop are

  • concern for others
  • control over food purchases.

  Under time and budget constraints consumers

  • make different types of shopping decisions
  • rely on foods and meals that they prepare on a regular basis and are confident about.

  Consumers who are more likely to buy healthful foods …

  • are female rather than male
  • have highersocio-economic status
  • have higher levels of health consciousness
  • have greater nutrition knowledge
  • use quality filtering practices
  • use label filtering practices
  • use novelty seeking practices
  • use family pleasing practices.

  Consumers are more likely to buy less healthful foods when …

  • in a negative mood
  • hungry.
• Recommendations:

  Based on the findings it is recommended that members of the public are supported to:

  • Make a meal plan ahead of shopping
  • Be in the right frame of mind (not hungry, stressed, tired)
  • Stick with the plan to buy fresh, healthy food (lots of people used a mental or physical list to achieve this)
  • Look at labels (building up knowledge and skills over time)
  • Avoid promotions for unhealthy foods

  You can download the report below.

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