An Apple a Day Brings More Apples Your Way: Healthy Samples Prime Healthier Choices

Abstract

Samples may guide consumer choice towards consistent products, resulting in a shopping basket that has a greater proportion of products similar to the sample. Specifically, healthy (unhealthy) samples in a grocery setting may lead to healthier (less healthy) shopping baskets. We demonstrate this in lab (study 1) and field (studies 2) settings. The effect of sample occurs for both related healthy products (study 1) and healthy/unhealthy choices that are less closely related (study 2). These findings suggest consumers may display consistent shopping behavior even with product choices that are situationally determined rather than being their own, such that even externally imposed product “choices,” rather than just observation of one’s own choice, can lead to consistent subsequent choices. 

Keywords: Grocery Stores, priming, food, healthy eating, samples