Using QR codes to access food information: a behavioural study with European consumers

Abstract

We present an experiment to evaluate the impact of providing digital access to food information via QR codes. We measure consumers’ willingness to access digital food information by scanning QR codes on paper labels, and how this affects their knowledge about food products. The experiment was conducted online with 3420 participants from three Member States of the European Union (Spain, Germany, and Bulgaria). The sample was stratified in terms of age, gender, regions, place of residence (rural vs. urban) and education level. Participants made a number of choices between pairs of food products across a wide range of food categories. We varied the mode of display of some of the food information: it was either available directly (“paper label”) or only after the participants clicked on a QR code (“hybrid label”). We found that participants were as likely to choose food products with hybrid labels as those with paper labels. However, they were unlikely to access digital food information. As many as 37% of the participants never scanned any QR codes. Only 4% scanned all of them. On average, QR codes were scanned 24% of the time. Furthermore, products with hybrid labels slowed choice down and reduced the accuracy of what consumers knew about the product. We conclude that providing food information via QR codes rather than on paper labels has a negative impact on consumers.

Keywords: digital access; qr codes; consumer choice; information display; labelling

JEL Classification: D12, D83, L81, Q18