The Effect of Temporal Distance between Purchase and Consumption over Food Purchasing Behavior

Abstract

Governments worldwide, as well as researchers, are making a concerted effort to prevent food stockpiling, which has been identified as a cause of obesity. Nevertheless, the problem of obesity has gradually become a widespread worldwide concern. For this reason, researchers have shed light on the importance of factors that cause the consumer to purchase a large quantity of food at one time. Therefore, this study indicates that, according to previous studies, it can be inferred that the temporal distance between purchase and consumption is the result of an individuals decision, an endogenous factor affecting consumer food-purchasing behavior. Two experimental studies were therefore established. In study one it was shown that at the situation of purchasing a single item, such as a loaf of bread, ramen, milk, or coke, whether the temporal distance of the consumption moment was near or distant, such as directly following purchase or two days later, the effect of the consumers food-purchasing behavior was confirmed. Following study one, study two involved the purchase of multi-food products at an online market that a large retail offline shop operated. This study also confirmed the influence of the temporal distance between purchase and consumption, which was set by a delivery date of immediately after purchase versus two days after purchase. Additionally, the effect of the availability of nutrition information was confirmed. The common result of both studies was that consumers increased their purchasing when they purchased food for distant-future consumption rather than for near-future consumption. In study two, regarding nutrition information, the results indicated that, when nutrition information was provided, the total calorie count of a subjects shipping order was lower than when nutrition information was not stated. The concluding results indicate to us that consumers food-purchasing behaviors differ according to the temporal distance of purchase and consumption. Moreover, the availability of nutrition information at the time of purchase also can affect consumers food-purchasing behaviors.