Who Buys Oddly Shaped Food and Why? Impacts of Food Shape Abnormality and Organic Labeling on Purchase Intentions

Abstract

Even without official quality standards, food retailers generally do not offer abnormally shaped food based on the assumption that consumers reject food that deviates physically from some norm. Because this practice contributes significantly to food waste, the current study tests this assumption experimentally. A representative sample of 964 Danish consumers indicated their purchase intentions for two fruits and two vegetables with varying levels of food shape abnormality (normal, moderately abnormal, and extremely abnormal) and organic labels (organic label, no label). Food shape abnormalities influence consumers' purchase intentions, but only if the food deviates extremely from the norm; no differences in purchase intentions emerge for moderately abnormal food. Awareness of food waste issues and proenvironmental self-identities also drive purchase intentions, such that participants with high levels of these traits express significantly higher purchase intentions for abnormally shaped food. Thus, increasing awareness of food waste issues, particularly among those with strong proenvironmental self-identities, might encourage more consumers to purchase abnormally shaped fruits and vegetables.

A study on the use of an immersive virtual reality store to investigate consumer perceptions and purchase behavior toward non-standard fruits and vegetables

“…This is interesting especially, when compared to results from Loebnitz et al [17] who found out that participants purchased significantly less FaVs when they were extremely misshaped. This difference could be due to differences in how participants were presented with the products: photographies of one single real FaV for Loebnitz et al [17] while we presented them with several 3D virtual products they could manipulate.…”

“…4. Nevertheless, we compared to the real pictures used in [17] as extremely abnormal FaVs, our "heavily" misshaped FaVs did not seem unrealistic. It would prove beneficial to be able to compare results using both real and 3D virtual FaVs.…”

“…In [17], Loebnitz et al investigated the impact of oddly shaped food (two fruits and two vegetables) on consumer purchase intentions. Using photographies of real FaVs (apples, lemons, carrots and eggplants) they tested the impact of varying levels of food shape abnormality (normal, moderately abnormal, and extremely abnormal) using a between-subjects experimental design with 964 participants from an online household research panel.…”

Generation of variability in shape, aspect and time of 3D Fruits and Vegetables

“…To reduce the "food losses", a recent trend consists of selling abnormal (i.e., non-standards) FaVs by emphasizing on organic or pro-environmental considerations [21]. Yet, marketing studies aiming to study the impact of abnormal FaVs on consumer behaviors in retail settings are difficult to perform since (i) such FaVs are not always available, (ii) their appearance is time dependent.…”

If it is Unsightly, is it Less Healthy? Understanding the Consumer’s Desire for Aesthetically Perfect Produce

“…They were then asked how likely they were to purchase each of the options. The results showed that extreme abnormalities in fruits and vegetables did influence the consumer intent to purchase and they showed a preference for less blemished produce, or normal produce (Loebnitz et al, 2015). This desire for produce with no imperfections and an increase in the customer's willingness to pay for organic was also found in a study conducted by Chengyan…”