Household Purchases Research Articles

Association between total available nutritional quality and food expenditure in Peruvian households, 2019-2020.

Evidence points to a direct relationship between nutritional quality and food expenditure. However, food expenditure is highly susceptible to changes, and nutritional quality of household food presents limited evidence. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between nutritional quality available and total food expenditure in Peruvian households, and whether there were differences by area (urban and rural) and between years of the COVID-19 pandemic. For this, we used Peru's National Household Survey (ENAHO) from 2019 and 2020. We assessed total food expenditure in US dollars per day, whereas household nutritional quality available was assessed based on dietary diversity and compliance with the household calorie requirements, percentage of food expenditure, and potential confounders. We used the Student's t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), linear regression, and the Wald test to assess the interaction effect. Households with adequate total/partial nutritional quality available by area were found to spend, on average, USD 2.00 more in urban than in rural areas and, by year, they presented 7.1% more percentage of food expenditure in 2020 than in 2019. Despite associations existing between nutritional quality available and total food expenditure by year and study area, the effect modification was only present by study area. In multivariable model, households with adequate total/partial nutritional quality available consistently presented a lower total food expenditure by year, with a lower total food expenditure in urban areas. An inverse relationship was found between nutritional quality available and total food expenditure, in contrast to the direct relationship of studies assessing dietary cost and nutritional quality. Our results reflect the nutritional deficit in the food purchases of Peruvian households.

Impact of Covid 19 on Buying Behaviour and Purchase Decision-Making: An Empirical Analysis

COVID 19 has changed the world. The way we do business, the way we study, the way we socialise, the way we travel, everything has changed. Several countries across the globe experienced lockdowns. The lockdown has forced people to stay indoors and be in survival mode. With no flights, salons, restaurants, hotels, transport, and even offices, the people were trapped in their homes. The home has been converted into a workplace, school as well as a playground. Several businesses have suffered losses and even faced shutdowns and on the other hand, COVID-19 has acted as a window of opportunity for many new products and services. Consumers are hence forced to change their purchase patterns. The grocery bill for most households has doubled during the lockdown. Dining out and travel has decreased. Generation Z is devoting the budget to education as they want to upgrade their skills and prepare themselves for the challenges that the post-COVID world will pose. OTT platforms have seen a surge in viewership as people are exploring all sorts of media to relax and rejuvenate in their homes. Groceries, automobiles, electronic gadgets, kitchen appliances, apparel, insurance, and financial investments are the major components of household spending. In this paper, we have explored the major components of household buying and how COVID-19 has impacted them. The study is based on inputs from a primary survey and existing reports and information. The primary survey helps us to understand the changes in household buying patterns, purchase decision-making, and gender roles. We have collected primary data using an online survey as face-to-face interaction was difficult due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The changes in household buying may become permanent changes or might fade away. Understanding this difference is crucial for marketers to formulate long-term strategies for their products and services. This study will provide insights and help marketers to understand the changing buying behaviour and purchase-decision making in households.

Fisheries and aquaculture products consumption in France: when the Covid-19 crisis did not lead to more sustainable purchases

In terms of food consumption, sustainability dimensions are often conflicting with purchasing power and practical purchases. France lands, farms, imports, and consumes large quantities of fisheries and aquaculture products (FAPs). The pandemic affected both domestic and foreign FAP supply through restrictions on trade and fishing conditions. Numerous sale points offering FAPs were closed during the pandemic. This general context has likely questioned the role of consumers on environmental, economic, and social matters. The aim of the paper is to assess whether the Covid-19 crisis has been an opportunity for French consumers to align their consumption at-home with the environmental issues by favouring domestic producers, short channels, or eco-friendly products. Quantitative data on at-home ordinary household purchases in metropolitan France from 2017 to 2021 was used along with t-test methods. It seems that fresh FAPs consumption did not truly adapt to the domestic fish production in defiance of import restrictions and available surpluses. While fresh shellfish at-home consumption did not change significantly in 2020, salmon and cod are still widely favoured by French consumers at-home, although their French production is virtually non-existent. On the contrary, domestically produced fish species remains poorly consumed at-home. The abundant supply of fresh salmon initially intended for other markets has permitted to consolidate the dominant position of this species on the French at-home consumption market. Initiated by supermarkets and hypermarkets and followed up by consumers, the trend of purchasing pre-packaged fresh fish has been substantially amplified by the pandemic and seems to persist over time.

Environmental Concerns and Household Purchase Practices of Working and Non-Working Women

Environmental Concerns and Household Purchase Practices of Working and Non-Working Women

Women’s autonomy and its effect on antenatal care visits among Tharu women of reproductive age (15-49) of Khairahani Municipality, Nepal

Women's autonomy in health care decision-making is enormously essential for improved maternal and child health outcomes and women's empowerment. This study examines women's autonomy and its effect on antenatal care (ANC) visits among the women of the Tharu community of Khairahani municipality, Chitwan. The probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling technique was adapted for sample estimation in each selected ward. A list of all the Tharu households in the community was prepared from which 294 women were selected using systematic random sampling techniques. Univariate, bivariate (Chisquare test), and multivariate analyses (binary logistic regression) were performed. One-fifth of women were youths aged 15-24 (mean 27.8 years). One out of ten women was illiterate, and about two-thirds (65%) were involved in agriculture. More than two in five women (42%) did not have autonomy. Women's autonomy, age group, educational status, occupational status, and husband's occupational status were significantly associated with antenatal care visits. A significantly high number of women (p<0.001) who had high autonomy (89%), compared with those who had no autonomy (65%), used ANC services for their last birth. Women with low autonomy and high autonomy were three times (OR=3.05; 95% CI=1.01-8.5) and 4.5 times (OR=4.5; 95% CI 2.3-8.6) more likely to utilize ANC visits than those who had no autonomy. Women's autonomy in healthcare decision-making, household purchases, and money expenditure were significantly associated with the use of antenatal care visits. Women's participation in the decision-making process regarding health care and household matters should be focused on and increased for better utilization of antenatal care services.

Women’s household decision-making power and contraceptive use in Mali

BackgroundUtilization of contraceptives remains low in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa despite evidence of its benefits. Several factors are associated with contraceptive use. However, little is known about the association between women’s decision-making capacity and the utilization of contraceptives in Mali. This study sought to determine the association between women’s household decision-making power and contraceptive use in Mali.MethodsThis study involved a cross-sectional analysis of data from the 2018 Mali Demographic and Health Survey. A total of 7893 married women were included in the final analysis. A binary logistic regression analysis was conducted with statistical significance set at p < 0.05.ResultsContraceptive use among married women in Mali was 17.1%. The odds of using contraceptives were higher among women with joint decision-making with their husbands on how to spend respondent’s earnings [aOR = 1.79; 95% CI = 1.12, 2.85], joint decision-making with their husbands on what to do with their husband’s earnings [aOR = 1.43; 95% CI = 1.12, 1.83], and joint decision-making with their husbands on large household purchases [aOR = 1.32; 95% CI = 1.10, 1.59]. Deciding alone on a visit to family or relatives was associated with lower odds of contraceptive use [aOR = 0.72; 95% CI = 0.58, 0.89].ConclusionThe study has revealed that joint household decision-making is positively associated with contraceptive use. Therefore, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 3, the ministry for the advancement of women, children and families and related stakeholders should unearth strategies to empower women in joint decision-making and encourage men’s involvement in contraceptive decision-making.

Sugar-sweetened beverage purchases in urban Peru before the implementation of taxation and warning label policies: a baseline study

BackgroundSugar-sweetened beverage consumption is associated with obesity and chronic disease. In 2018, Peru increased the tax on high-sugar beverages (≥6 g of sugar per 100 mL) from 17 to 25%, yet little is known about pre-existing beverage trends or demographic characteristics associated with purchases in the country. The aim of this study was to explore beverage purchasing trends from 2016 to 2017 and examine variation in purchase volume by sociodemographic characteristics among urban households in Peru.MethodsThis study used monthly household purchase data from a panel of 5145 households from January 2016–December 2017 from Kantar WorldPanel Peru. Beverage purchases were categorized by type and tax status under the 2018 regulation (untaxed, lower-sugar taxed, high-sugar taxed). To assess beverage purchasing trends, per-capita volume purchases were regressed on a linear time trend, with month dummies for seasonality and clustered standard errors. Mean volume purchases by beverage tax status (total liters purchased per month), overall and by key demographic characteristics (education, socioeconomic status, and geographic region), were calculated. Mean volume by beverage type was assessed to identify the largest contributors to total beverage volume.ResultsThe trends analysis showed a decline in total beverage volume of − 52 mL/capita/month (95% CI: − 72, − 32) during the 24-month study period. Over 99% of households purchased untaxed beverages in a month, while > 92% purchased high-sugar taxed beverages. Less than half of all households purchased low-sugar taxed beverages in a month and purchase volume was low (0.3 L/capita/month). Untaxed beverage purchases averaged 9.4 L/capita/month, while households purchased 2.8 L/capita/month of high-sugar taxed beverages in 2017. Across tax categories, volume purchases were largest in the high education and high socioeconomic (SES) groups, with substantial variation by geographic region. The highest volume taxed beverage was soda (2.3 L/capita/month), while the highest volume untaxed beverages were milk and bottled water (1.9 and 1.7 L/capita/month, respectively).ConclusionsNearly all households purchased high-sugar taxed beverages, although volume purchases of taxed and untaxed beverages declined slightly from 2016 to 2017. Households with high SES and high education purchased the highest volume of taxed beverages, highlighting the need to consider possible differential impacts of the tax policy change by sub-population groups.

The impact of cash transfer participation on unhealthy consumption in Brazil

We assess the impact of the Brazilian government’s conditional cash transfer program Bolsa Família on unhealthy consumption by households, proxied by expenses with ultra-processed food, alcohol, and tobacco products. Using machine learning techniques to improve the propensity score estimation, we analyze the intensive and extensive margin effects of participating in the program on the household purchase of unhealthy products. Our results reveal that program participants spend more on food in general, but not necessarily more on unhealthy options. While we find evidence that participants increase their probability of spending more on food away from home, they do not significantly alter their expenditures on packaged food, alcohol, or tobacco products.

WOMEN’S AUTONOMY AND UNINTENDED PREGNANCY: AN IDHS 2017 DATA ANALYSIS

Unintended pregnancy impacts hugely on maternal and child health. This study aimed to examine the influence of women’s autonomy on unintended pregnancies including unwanted and mistimed pregnancies. Using the Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey (IDHS) 2017, this study analyzed 12,624 currently married women who had birth within five years preceding the survey. Women’s autonomy was constructed from several variables related to women’s decision on obtaining health care, visiting family, and spending large household purchase. The result of logistic regression analysis showed that women’s autonomy affected significantly on unintended pregnancy after controlling other variables. However, it implied a negative correlation in which autonomous women were 1.3 more likely to experience unintended pregnancy than their counterparts. Both parity and birth interval showed the biggest influences on unintended pregnancy; the odds ratios were 2.7 and 3.1 respectively. Women who married at age 21 years and above, lived in rural areas and decided the number of children to have with husbands tended to have a lower risk facing an unintended pregnancy. Improving IEC and counseling about family planning and reproductive health is expected to increase couples’ knowledge. Therefore, the decisions on the number of children and contraceptive use can be made jointly and unintended pregnancy will be prevented.

Did the sweetness of beverages change with the Chilean Food Labeling and Marketing Law? A before and after study.

There has been a rapid proliferation of policies around the globe to reduce sugar consumption, yet there is little understanding as to whether these policies have led to changes in the overall sweetness of products, which is essential for understanding long-term effects on food preferences and intake. For example, the implementation of Chile's Law on Food Labeling and Advertising led to decreases in the sugar content of non-alcoholic packaged beverages and increases in non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) use in these beverages. Given that NNS have greater sweetness intensity than sugars, it is unclear what was the net effect of these changes on the sweetness of purchased beverages. Using longitudinal household purchase data (n > 2,000 households), we measured the changes in the sweetness of beverage purchases after implementing the first phase of the Chilean law and examine if there were differences by key family sociodemographic variables. We developed three sweetness indices: (1) NNS sweetness, including the sweetness of the six NNS most consumed by Chileans; (2) total sugars sweetness, including the sweetness from total sugars; and (3) total sweetness, combining the sweetness from NNS and sugars. Using fixed-effects models, we compared the observed post-law purchases to a counterfactual based on pre-law trends. We found that NNS sweetness increased relative to the counterfactual, while total sugars sweetness decreased after the law. However, the absolute changes in NNS sweetness were almost entirely offset by the decreases in total sugar sweetness, leading to no change in the total sweetness of beverage purchases. Additionally, there were no differences in the sweetness changes by family sociodemographics. Our findings indicate that Chilean consumers are exposed to similar sweetness levels in their beverages after the law. Future research should explore whether sweetness also remained consistent in dietary intake.

Effects of Substitution of Higher-Alcohol Products with Lower-Alcohol Products on Population-Level Alcohol Purchases: ARIMA Analyses of Spanish Household Data.

In its action plan (2022–2030) to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, the WHO calls on economic operators to “substitute, whenever possible, higher-alcohol products with no-alcohol and lower-alcohol products in their overall product portfolios, with the goal of decreasing the overall levels of alcohol consumption in populations and consumer groups”. This paper investigates substitution at the level of the consumer, based on Spanish household purchase data. ARIMA modelling of market research data of 1.29 million alcohol purchases from 18,954 Spanish households is used to study the potential impact of lower-strength alcohol products and the impact of beer prices in reducing household purchases of grams of alcohol between the 2nd quarter of 2017 and 1st quarter of 2022. Reducing the alcohol strength of existing higher-strength beers and wines had a much greater associated impact on reducing the purchases of all grams of alcohol than the relatively small increases in purchases of no-alcohol beers (ABV ≤ 1.0%) and zero-alcohol wines (ABV = 0.0%). For beers, the relative price per gram of alcohol decreased with the increasing ABV of the beer. Increasing the price per gram of alcohol in beers with an ABV > 3.5%, adjusted for the ABV of the beer, was associated with much greater increases in purchases of no-alcohol beers (ABV ≤ 1.0%) and much greater decreases in purchases of all grams of alcohol than decreases in the price of no-alcohol beers or increases in the price of beers with an ABV > 3.5% unadjusted for ABV. Thus, a key to reducing purchases of grams of alcohol, which also results in increased purchases of no-alcohol beers, is to increase the price of higher strength beers (ABV > 3.5%) with the price per gram of alcohol increasing as the ABV of the product increases.

Processed foods purchase profiles in urban India in 2013 and 2016: a cluster and multivariate analysis

ObjectivesSales of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) and beverages are rising in low-income and middle-income countries. Such foods are often linked with weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension—diseases that are...

Evolution of household purchases of poultry meat in France: 2017-2020 trend

Evolution of household purchases of poultry meat in France: 2017-2020 trend

Date labels, food waste and supply chain implications

Abstract We developed a survey to collect information on consumers’ intentions to discard 15 food products when exposed to different date labels. Results show that the use of certain date labels has the capacity to reduce food waste, but the reductions would happen differentially across food groups. When we examine the nutritional implications, we find that a shift from the ‘Best by’ date label to the ‘Best if Used by’ date label would increase total household purchases of energy and lead to a disproportional increase in purchases of fats, cholesterol and protein.

How Do Nutritional Warning Labels Affect Prices?

Obesity is increasing worldwide, and in many countries, the problem is particularly serious among lower-income groups. Front-of-pack nutritional warning labels are a prominent regulatory tool to fight obesity and have been implemented or are currently being debated in many countries. Existing studies document that warning labels incentivize consumers to substitute away from unhealthy products. However, not much is known about equilibrium price changes in response to consumers’ utility for warning labels. Using household purchase data in the cereal category, this article studies the adjustments of prices after the mandatory introduction of warning labels in Chile. The authors develop a model showing that warning labels lead to higher prices of labeled cereals, as is also observed in data. In contrast, prices of unlabeled products tend to drop or at least increase less, incentivizing price-sensitive consumers to remain in the category. The authors decompose postlabeling market share adjustments into a pure label effect that fixes prices at initial levels after regulation and a total effect that accounts for price reoptimizations. Their findings point to self-enforcing effects of a warning label regulation as the price adjustments amplify policy makers' goal of reducing unhealthy food intake, especially because market forces incentivize low-income segments to choose healthier alternatives.

The Impact of Lower-Strength Alcohol Products on Alcohol Purchases by Spanish Households.

In its action plan (2022–2030) to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, the WHO calls on economic operators to “substitute, whenever possible, higher-alcohol products with no-alcohol and lower-alcohol products in their overall product portfolios, with the goal of decreasing the overall levels of alcohol consumption in populations and consumer groups”. In this paper, we investigate substitution at the level of the consumer based on Spanish household purchase data. ARIMA modelling of market research data of 1.29 million alcohol purchases from 18,954 Spanish households is used to study the potential impact of lower-strength alcohol products on reducing household purchases of grams of alcohol between the second quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2022. For households that recently bought either no-alcohol beer or wine (ABV ≤ 0.5%), the subsequent associated purchases of higher-strength beers and wines, respectively, and total grams of alcohol were reduced, the more so the higher the volume of initial purchases of beers and wines. The introduction of 20% ABV variants of same-branded 40% ABV whisky and gin during early 2021 was associated with reduced purchases of grams of alcohol within all spirits and of total grams of alcohol as a result of switching from other spirits products to the 20% variants, although not associated with reduced purchases of grams of alcohol within all variants of the studied same-branded whisky and gin; instead, an increase was observed in this category. With respect to Spanish household purchase data, the evidence behind the WHO’s call for substitution is substantiated. Further research across different jurisdictions is needed to provide ongoing monitoring of the impact of potential substitution on consumer behavior and public health, including unintended consequences, with findings from research informing future alcohol policies at all levels.

Effect of voluntary Health Star Rating labels on healthier food purchasing in New Zealand: longitudinal evidence using representative household purchase data

Front-of-pack labelling (FoPL) aims to promote healthier diets by altering consumer food purchasing behaviour. We quantify the impact of the voluntary Health Star Rating (HSR) FoPL adopted by New Zealand...

Enhanced women’s decision-making power after the Suchana intervention in north-eastern Bangladesh: a cluster randomised pre-post study

ObjectivesWomen’s decision-making power is a dimension of empowerment and is crucial for better physical and psychosocial outcomes of mothers. Suchana, a large-scale development programme in Bangladesh, actively provided social interventions...

The effects of minimum unit pricing for alcohol on food purchases: Evaluation of a natural experiment

BackgroundOn the 1st of May 2018 Scotland became the first country to introduce minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol sales. The objective of this study is to identify the effects of this policy instrument on food purchasing by evaluating a natural experiment. MethodsLongitudinal analysis compares regions with similar characteristics but differing exposure to MUP (Scotland and the north of England). Secondary data from the Kantar Worldpanel on itemised purchases between April 2017 and April 2019 provided a total sample of 8051 households. The outcomes analysed are weekly household expenditure (£s) and purchase volume (grams), both overall and disaggregated to 16 product categories. ResultsFollowing the introduction of MUP, total household food expenditure in Scotland declined by 1.0%, 95%CI [-1.9%, −0.0%], and total food volume declined by 0.8%, 95%CI [-1.7%, 0.2%] compared to the north of England. There is variation in response between product categories, with less spending on fruit and vegetables and increased spending on crisps and snacks. ConclusionMinimum unit pricing for alcohol has displaced some household food purchasing and the pattern of changes in food categories appears to be less desirable from a healthy diet perspective. However, changes caused by a minimum price at a nominal 50 pence per unit of alcohol are relatively small.

Influencing factor analysis of household electric vehicle purchase intention of HaiNan Free Trade Port under the background of low-carbon lifestyle

Hainan Free Trade Port Layout decided to gradually ban fuel-based vehicles so as to achieve the goal of carbon emission peak by 2030, in 2021, HaiNan further required 100% use of new energy vehicles in official field. Therefore, as a complementary job, it is important to recognize key factors that influence purchasing will of electric vehicles of local residents. The study bases on field interviews and grounded theory, and we utilized qualitative analysis method to recognize four main scopes, namely: risk perception, value perception, mental pressure and self-control that influence the purchase intention of the public after three levels of notion encoding. Then a ridge regression model is built to get the relative weight of the factors, and we adopted theory of planned behavior by integrating factor weights and categories extracted from qualitative analysis into the TPB model so as to find psychological reasons of people’s choice, finding risk perception and value perception are dominate features that influence public purchase choice. At last, targeted suggestions are put forward based on above results.