Promoting healthier online food purchases through site design
(A2024-119331)

AUTHORS

Elke Godden, University of Antwerp; Bart Coppens, KU Leuven; Lukar Thornton, University of Antwerp; Nathalie Dens, University of Antwerp

ABSTRACT

To enhance dietary choices, countries have embraced the Nutri-Score label, yet its impact on online grocery purchases remains underexplored. This experimental study with 1135 Belgian adults evaluated three non-invasive Nutri-Score-related interventions in a Virtual Online Supermarket. Participants, randomly assigned to seven conditions, navigated a shopping list, with interventions including Nutri-Score presence, default product sorting, and options to filter/sort by healthiness. Nutri-Score presence showed no impact. However, changing default sorting to prioritize healthier items reduced mean FSA score, increased purchases of Nutri-Score A and B categories, and decreased D and E category purchases. Options to filter/sort had minimal impact. Encouragingly, altering default product sorting demonstrated potential to promote healthier choices, warranting validation with real-life purchase data.