Out of home businesses - marketing strategies: research

1. Introduction

The Scottish Government commissioned Ipsos Scotland to undertake research to understand the current landscape of price and placement marketing strategies used within premises and online by out of home (OOH) businesses in Scotland. 'Out of home' refers to any food or drink bought and eaten away from home, including 'on the go', and any takeaway or home delivered food (it does not include retail grocery shopping). This report details the findings from research undertaken in OOH business across Scotland (ordering in-premise and online) in July-August 2022.

Background

A key outcome of Scotland's National Performance Framework is that we are healthy and active. An important part of achieving this includes consuming healthy foods as well as restricting the consumption of foods that are high in fat, sugar, and salt (HFSS). Research has highlighted that focusing on food promotions and marketing strategies can be more effective at restricting the consumption of HFSS foods than focusing on campaigns such as "eat less, move more" (see Sugar Reduction: The evidence for action. Annexe 4, Public Health England, 2016).

Prior to this study, there was little recent data on promotions in OOH outlets in Scotland. The most recent studies were a 2017 Food Standards Scotland commissioned study looking at price and placement promotions and an NHS Scotland commissioned piece of research looking at non-price related promotions in 2018 (unpublished). The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted on food and drink business and consumer behaviours, as well as increasing existing health inequalities. The pandemic led to a marked decrease in purchases across the wider OOH market. However, the takeaway market saw growth of 31% from 2019-2020 and higher rates of online purchases using apps. It also led to changes in marketing strategies and promotions used by OOH outlets in-premise and online. The number of promotions being offered by OOH outlets reduced during 2020, but has since returned to a level similar to that of 2019 (see The impact of Covid-19 on the out of home sector in Scotland, Food Standards Scotland, 2021).

In its 2022/23 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government announced that it will introduce a "Public Health (Restriction of Promotions) Bill" that will include "provisions for restricting food and drink promotions to protect public health, to make it easier for people to spend less and make healthier food choices." This is in keeping with the 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery Plan. The Scottish Government has recently consulted on its proposals to restrict the promotions of foods high in fat sugar or salt. The findings in this report will form part of the evidence base to inform the development of the policy.

Research objectives

The overall aim of this research was to understand the landscape of price and placement marketing strategies used within premises and online by out of home (OOH) businesses in Scotland, with particular focus on promotions used on food and drink high in fat, sugar, or salt. The specific research objectives were to:

• Map the different types and prevalence of marketing strategies and promotions used to influence consumer purchasing used in-premise and online by OOH businesses in Scotland, as well as how these strategies are used across different types of outlets across the OOH sector;
• Compare the types/categories of food and drink being promoted in-premise and online by OOH businesses;
• Explore any differences in promotions and marketing strategies used for HFSS and non-HFSS food and drinks;
• Understand the interaction of OOH promotions with key inequalities, e.g. to explore any differences in how marketing strategies of HFSS food and drink are used in different geographies of Scotland, urban/rural areas, and areas by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintiles (and to consider other relevant key inequalities);
• Create a methodology that has the ability to be repeated over time to monitor change.

The study covered a wide range of promotions and marketing strategies including: price promotions (e.g. multi-buys, meal deals, add-ons, upsizing of portions); and placement promotions, i.e. placement of items at prominent locations such as checkouts. It also covered what nutritional information was displayed in-premise or online.