Purpose

Food waste is a big problem where millions of pounds of produce are discarded every year because they are imperfect or unattractive. Despite the societal implications of selling unattractive produce, limited research has been directed toward understanding the effect of imperfect produce on consumers’ evaluations of the produce and retailer outcomes. This paper aims to investigate why consumers tend to discard imperfect produce and how retailer interventions (i.e. anthropomorphized signage and packaging) can alleviate these negative effects.

Design/methodology/approach

Three experiments were conducted to examine the postulations. Study 1 highlights the role of consumers’ embarrassment in the purchase decision of imperfect produce and retailer patronage intention. Studies 2 and 3 provide managerially relevant boundary conditions of anthropomorphic signage and opaque packaging.

Findings

Convergent results across three studies (n = 882) indicate that imperfect produce increases purchase embarrassment and reduces purchase intention and retailer patronage intention. Retailer interventions (i.e. anthropomorphic signage and opaque packaging) can allay this feeling of embarrassment and lead to an increased retailer patronage intention and higher service satisfaction.

Practical implications

This research provides guidance to retailers for effectively promoting imperfect produce.

Social implications

Retailers’ actions can benefit the well-being of farmers, suppliers, customers and the overall environment.

Originality/value

This research adds to the literature on unattractive produce by identifying new moderators, namely, anthropomorphic signages and opaque packaging. The research also shows that purchase embarrassment is a key process mechanism.

中文翻译：

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不完美的产品：零售商的行为和服务结果

目的

食物浪费是一个大问题，每年有数百万磅的产品因为不完美或没有吸引力而被丢弃。尽管销售没有吸引力的产品会产生社会影响，但有限的研究旨在了解不完美的产品对消费者对产品和零售商结果的评价的影响。本文旨在调查为什么消费者倾向于丢弃不完美的产品以及零售商的干预措施（即拟人化的标牌和包装）如何减轻这些负面影响。

设计/方法/方法

进行了三个实验来检验这些假设。研究 1 强调了消费者尴尬在不完善产品和零售商惠顾意愿的购买决策中的作用。研究 2 和 3 提供了拟人标牌和不透明包装的管理相关边界条件。

发现

三项研究的收敛结果 ( n = 882) 表明不完美的产品会增加购买尴尬并降低购买意愿和零售商的惠顾意愿。零售商的干预（即拟人化的标牌和不透明的包装）可以减轻这种尴尬感，并导致增加零售商的惠顾意愿和更高的服务满意度。

实际影响

本研究为零售商有效推广不完美产品提供了指导。

社会影响

零售商的行为有利于农民、供应商、客户和整体环境的福祉。

原创性/价值

这项研究通过识别新的调节器，即拟人化的标牌和不透明的包装，增加了关于不吸引人的产品的文献。研究还表明，购买尴尬是一个关键的过程机制。