The Impact of Food Loss and Waste Reduction Practices on Consumer Grocery Store Choice

Efforts to reduce food loss and waste (FL&W) have gained increasing attention in both policy and retail settings, yet little is known about how such initiatives influence consumer behavior in grocery store selection. To address this limitation, we conducted a discrete choice experiment to determine how consumers respond to grocery stores committing to varying levels of FL&W reduction, different FL&W verification methods (self-reported, third-party, or government-certified), and benefit framings of why to reduce FL&W (hunger versus environmental impact) when selecting a grocery store. Using the results of a mixed logit model, we predicted the probability of store choice under two scenarios: one which varied the level of FL&W reduction and another which varied the verification mechanism. Government verification positively influenced store choice, while third-party verification had no statistically significant impact. Additionally, framing FL&W reduction as addressing hunger leads to a stronger consumer grocery store preference than environmental framing. Traditional factors like product variety, overall shopping expenses, and travel time impacted choice, highlighting a retailer’s need to balance these factors with FL&W reduction elements. Results can inform policymakers and retailers interested in designing effective FL&W reduction strategies that can offer a competitive advantage.