New research has found that associating lone fruits with ‘sad’ emotions can make supermarket shoppers feel sorry for them, increasing sales and mitigating food waste.
Have you ever felt so sorry for a single banana that you’ve ended up buying it?I know I have – and apparently, I’m not alone. Research suggests that labelling loose bananas as “sad singles” moves grocery shoppers on an emotional level and increases the chances of it being bought, helping supermarkets reduce food waste.
Academics from the University of Bath, RWTH Aachen and Goethe University Frankfurt sought to compare the efficacy of such labels with “happy singles” signage for loose bananas and tomatoes. Both sentiments were found to be more effective than a sign that showed no emotion – “Here are single bananas that want to be bought as well” – but the sad label turned out to be the most influential.
Sad bananas make for happier sales
The study, published in the Psychology & Marketing journal, observed the purchasing behaviours around single bananas – often separated as a result of shoppers tearing others from a bunch – of over 3,800 countries in the German supermarket chain Rewe. The retailer had previously labelled bananas as single and wanting to be bought, but minus the emotional element.
This in-store study was adapted as an online experiment, asking 745 consumers to imagine themselves in the situation. Shoppers were confronted with a sign showing a banana bearing a sad face under the message: “We are sad singles and want to be bought as well.”
The intervention increased the number of single bananas sold per hour by 58%, from 2.02 (when they were next to an emotionless sign) to 3.19. In contrast, the ‘happy banana’ signage drove up sales to 2.13 per hour (a 5.8% hike), proving that the more gloomy messaging was nearly 50% more effective on supermarket shoppers.
“As far as we know, this is the first study comparing happy and sad expressions on bananas separated from their bunch to look at the impact on sales,” said University of Bath’s Lisa Eckmann, a co-author of the study. More of this article (green queen) - link - more like this (fruit) - link - more like this (food waste) - link
The study, published in the Psychology & Marketing journal, observed the purchasing behaviours around single bananas – often separated as a result of shoppers tearing others from a bunch – of over 3,800 countries in the German supermarket chain Rewe. The retailer had previously labelled bananas as single and wanting to be bought, but minus the emotional element.
This in-store study was adapted as an online experiment, asking 745 consumers to imagine themselves in the situation. Shoppers were confronted with a sign showing a banana bearing a sad face under the message: “We are sad singles and want to be bought as well.”
The intervention increased the number of single bananas sold per hour by 58%, from 2.02 (when they were next to an emotionless sign) to 3.19. In contrast, the ‘happy banana’ signage drove up sales to 2.13 per hour (a 5.8% hike), proving that the more gloomy messaging was nearly 50% more effective on supermarket shoppers.
“As far as we know, this is the first study comparing happy and sad expressions on bananas separated from their bunch to look at the impact on sales,” said University of Bath’s Lisa Eckmann, a co-author of the study. More of this article (green queen) - link - more like this (fruit) - link - more like this (food waste) - link
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