Filtering by footprint : nudging Norwegian wine consumers towards sustainable packaging choices

Abstract

This paper evaluates the problem of the misalignment between values and behaviors among Norwegian consumers in the selection of environmentally friendly wines and presents an online nudge strategy to be implemented on Vinmonopelet.no, helping shoppers to better align their choices with their values. After examining several options, as well as existing users’ behavior on the website, it was determined that a new filter should be created for the attribute “Environmental Footprint”. Combining findings from theory and the existing website’s analytics, a digital experimental environment was built to replicate the key features and functions available to shoppers on the real website, while allowing for the controlled introduction of this filter. A random sample of 450 Norwegians was split into three experimental groups: a control who “shopped” without the new filter and two manipulations who “shopped” with variations of the filter’s design. Given a set shopping scenario and a budget of 500 NOK, users were asked to pick one wine in any quantity from the available inventory: 36 products with representative packaging types, flavors, origins, and price. As a result of the filter introduction, 13.3% of users reported using it to find their selected wine. This was moderated by levels of reported sustainable values and normative beliefs, as well as individual differences in terms of demographics. Respondents who used the filter had significantly lower CO2 footprints on average, with 75% of them choosing wines which Vinmonopolet considers to be “environmentally smart”. The largest beneficiary of this switching behavior is the 3-liter bag-in-box option, which saw a 41% increase in both manipulation groups, compared to the control. This led to an overall increase in volume purchased among the users of the filter, suggesting the possible presence of licensing effects between lowered footprint on the justifiability of purchasing more wine.