Sub­op­tim­al food - ways to re­duce food waste in the re­tail sec­tor

The disposal of food by retailers and consumers is a far-reaching problem. Globally, up to 931 million tonnes of food is wasted every year - that's almost 17% of the food produced worldwide. This results in the loss of valuable resources, unnecessary emissions and methane release, as well as financial losses for retailers. In particular, sub-optimal perceived food (e.g. food close to its best-before date and "ugly" fruit and vegetables) is one of the main reasons for food waste. As these foods are often perceived as inferior by consumers, retailers fear negative effects for themselves and often do not offer sub-optimal foods in the first place. In news research projects, we are addressing the question of which product and price labelling can improve the perception of sub-optimal food and retailers and thus contribute to the prevention of food waste.

  • What appeals are used to promote sub-optimal foods?
  • What are the positive and negative effects of expiry date pricing (i.e. granting (different) price discounts depending on the expiry date)?
  • Which product and price labelling is suitable for improving product and retailer perception?
  • Angenendt, L.; Böhm, E.; Garnefeld, I. (2023). Retail sales promotions for suboptimal food - How to reduce food waste without harming customers' loyalty? 2023 Macromarketing Conference, Seattle, USA.