Limited Attention in Beverage Choice: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Abstract This study provides experimental evidence on consumers’ inattention in a beverage choice setting and estimates the degree of inattention under a theoretical framework. In the field experiment, the shelf placement of the beverage varied exogenously. Displaying less (more) sugary beverages at eye height (the farthest position from eye height) increases (decreases) consumers’ demand by 24.8% (25.3%). The estimated consumers’ degree of inattention to the farthest position from eye height was around 20%. Changing the display reduced consumers’ sugar intake from beverages by 5,573g during the intervention, about 6.86g per consumption (about 13.7% of the World Health Organization's (WHO) daily sugar intake recommendation). Our findings support the idea that the limited attention in beverage choice can be harnessed as a nudge policy to reduce consumers’ intake of sugar from sugar-sweetened beverages.