Year: 2026
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: In the retail sector, discounting suboptimal food products that remain safe for consumption poses a potential strategy for reducing food waste.However, the effectiveness of this strategy can only be measured together with the outcome after purchase.This study examined consumer purchase and post-purchase behaviour related to discounted suboptimal food (DSF) in Sweden with particular attention to purchase motivations, planning, sociodemographic characteristics and subsequent household outcomes.A two-stage quantitative survey design was used to follow specific DSF products from purchase to post-purchase handling.Participants were recruited from several COOP stores in Stockholm, Uppsala and Scania County, with 123 respondents completing the initial and 94 participating in the follow-up survey six days later.Price (91%) was the most prominent purchase motivation, followed by perceived product safety (82.9%) and concern that the product might otherwise be discarded.DSF purchases in this study consisted of both planned and initially unplanned purchases, while many respondents with initially unplanned purchases subsequently developed a plan for usage of the product.Limited evidence was found of systematic differences in purchasing behaviour across sociodemographic groups or the main product categories, and the principal purchase motivations were not significantly associated with purchase planning.Postpurchase outcomes were generally positive: most followed products were reported consumed (89.4%), disposal rate was very low (3.2%) and satisfaction with the DSF purchase was high (96.7%).The findings indicated that DSF showed high post-purchase effectiveness among the products examined, when effectiveness is understood as purchased DSF being consumed rather than wasted.The study highlights the importance of evaluating retail food-waste-prevention strategies beyond the point of sale by considering the subsequent household outcome of discounted products.
Author: Dadgar, Azin
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223194281