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Is the Economic Crisis Changing MarketingStrategies? Evidence from the Food Industry

Article in Journal of Global Marketing · March 2016

DOI: 10.1080/08911762.2015.1122138

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3 authors, including:

Cristina Calvo-Porral

University of A Coruña

38 PUBLICATIONS 24 CITATIONS

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Available from: Cristina Calvo-Porral

Retrieved on: 14 May 2016

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cristina_Calvo-Porral?enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng%3D%3D&el=1_x_4https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cristina_Calvo-Porral?enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng%3D%3D&el=1_x_5https://www.researchgate.net/?enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng%3D%3D&el=1_x_1https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cristina_Calvo-Porral?enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng%3D%3D&el=1_x_7https://www.researchgate.net/institution/University_of_A_Coruna?enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng%3D%3D&el=1_x_6https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cristina_Calvo-Porral?enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng%3D%3D&el=1_x_5https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cristina_Calvo-Porral?enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng%3D%3D&el=1_x_4https://www.researchgate.net/?enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng%3D%3D&el=1_x_1https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284022775_Is_the_Economic_Crisis_Changing_Marketing_Strategies_Evidence_from_the_Food_Industry?enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng%3D%3D&el=1_x_3https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284022775_Is_the_Economic_Crisis_Changing_Marketing_Strategies_Evidence_from_the_Food_Industry?enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng%3D%3D&el=1_x_2


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JOURNAL OF GLOBAL MARKETING

, VOL. , NO. , –

http://dx.doi.org/./..

Is the Economic Crisis Changing Marketing Strategies? Evidence from theFood Industry

Cristina Calvo-Porrala, John Leighton Stantonb, and Jean-Pierre Lévy-Manginc

aEconomic Analysis and Business Administration Department, University of La Coruña, La Coruña, Spain; b Food Marketing Department, SaintJoseph’s University, Philadelphia, PA, USA; c Marketing Department, University of Quebec in Outaouais, Gatineau, Canada

KEYWORDS

Economic crisis; foodindustry; marketingstrategies; price; package size

ABSTRACT

In the context of a severe economic crisis, the objective of this research is to examine to what extentthe economic crisis and austerity’s measureshave generated new marketing strategies in food compa-nies. Wedevelop a comparative analysis though multivariateanalysis of variance,consisting of foodproduct categories across eight European countries, distinguishing between countries that needednancial support—the so-called rescuedcountries—and the countries with better economicdevelop-ment. Our ndings show an increasingly trend toward increasing product prices and price per quan-tity in the rescued countries, along with an increase in thepackage content. Ourndings suggest that

food companies have been raising prices through the recession, as consumers continue to pare theirspending and demand.

Introduction

The economic collapse was not conned to some Euro-

pean countries; the effects was truly globalized, desta-

bilizing most advanced capitalist economies, from the

United States to every country of the European Union,

some of which found themselves on the brink of

bankruptcy. Having to spend so much public money

to save the banking and nancial sector from totalcollapse, governments were left with far less money

to spend on services, leading them to massive cuts

in expenditure and causing accelerated unemployment

and unmet social need (Coleman, 2012). The eco-

nomic downturn and the austerity measures devel-

oped by numerous governments reduced considerably

household income, praised austerity, and discouraged

consumption expenditures. In fact, the economic cri-

sis affected European economies and companies more

deeply than any other economic downturn, affecting

companies from all industries to some degree (Rollins,Nickell, & Ennis, 2013).

In this scenario, the present study analyses how

this economic downturn inuences marketing strate-

gies and decisions of food companies, and the result-

ing effects on the marketplace. This economic crisis

CONTACT Cristina Calvo-Porral [email protected] University of La Coruña, Economic Analysis and Business Administration Department, Facultad Economía yEmpresa, Campus Elviña, s/n, La Coruña, , Spain.

caused in Europe policy proposals based on budgetary

austerity and the implementation of rescue packages

for national budgets or country bailouts, with long-

term implications (Moravcsik, 2012; Roubini & Mihm,

2010). Faced with an economic and nancial crisis,

a country would have to act directly to push down

economic activity through wages, business invest-

ment, private consumption, and government spend-ing, imposing immediate costs across the entire soci-

ety, such as restrained wages and a reduction in public

spending (Moravcsik, 2012). Europe’s economies grew

apart, since decit governments, like the Greek govern-

ment, immediately came under pressure from interna-

tional markets; interest rates rose, external debts bal-

looned, and growth plummeted. In contrast, Germany

enjoyed an unprecedented economic boom (Moravc-

sik, 2012).

The global economic recession has caused a decline

in customer demand and depress in product sales andprotability, accelerating deep organizational changes

(Bamiatzi et al., 2014 ; Hampson & McGoldrick, 2013).

Consumers tighten their belts, while companies engage

in marketing strategies to encourage demand and over-

come consumers’ propensity to save (Cundiff, 1975)

and to preserve their market share (Ang, 2001). In fact,

© Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2015.1122138http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2015.1122138https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254089324_Believing_the_news_From_sinking_trust_to_atrophied_efficacy?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254089324_Believing_the_news_From_sinking_trust_to_atrophied_efficacy?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259098320_The_impact_of_economic_downturns_on_marketing?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259098320_The_impact_of_economic_downturns_on_marketing?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259098320_The_impact_of_economic_downturns_on_marketing?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==mailto:[email protected]://www.researchgate.net/publication/259519814_Does_business_group_affiliation_help_firms_achieve_superior_performance_during_industrial_downturns_An_empirical_examination?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251511455_A_typology_of_adaptive_shopping_patterns_in_recession?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251511455_A_typology_of_adaptive_shopping_patterns_in_recession?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222807665_Crisis_Marketing_a_Comparison_Across_Economic_Scenarios?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222807665_Crisis_Marketing_a_Comparison_Across_Economic_Scenarios?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259519814_Does_business_group_affiliation_help_firms_achieve_superior_performance_during_industrial_downturns_An_empirical_examination?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259098320_The_impact_of_economic_downturns_on_marketing?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259098320_The_impact_of_economic_downturns_on_marketing?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251511455_A_typology_of_adaptive_shopping_patterns_in_recession?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254089324_Believing_the_news_From_sinking_trust_to_atrophied_efficacy?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222807665_Crisis_Marketing_a_Comparison_Across_Economic_Scenarios?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==mailto:[email protected]://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2015.1122138


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C. CALVO-POR RA L ET A L.

There are numerous recent publications relating mar-

keting indicators to nancial indicators after the 2008

economic and market downturn (Johansson, Dimofte,

& Mazvancheryl, 2012; Piercy, Cravens, & Lane, 2010).

However, there is a lack of research on how companies

are changing and adapting their marketing strategies to

cope with the new economic context (Barwise & Styler,

2002; Gulati, Nohria, & Wohlgezogen, 2010); especially when the case of the European economic crisis pro-

vides an adequate context to test whether the marketing

strategies of food companies vary during a recession-

ary period. More specically, there are limited studies

comparing European countries that received nancial

support, the so-called rescue packages, from countries

that did not receive this support. That is, there is no

research comparing marketing strategies across Euro-

pean countries, highlighting the relationship between

their nancial and economic situation—stressing the

fact of receiving nancial support and suffering auster-ity measures–and the marketing strategies developed

by food companies.

In this context, the main objective of the present

research is to explore the food marketing strategies

emerging in this economic crisis context. The present

study aims to evaluate the marketing strategies devel-

oped by the food industry and whether these strate-

gies are taking into account the economic conditions

that may alter the consumers’ disposable income. The

main objective of this research is to evaluate to what

extent the economic crisis and the austerity measureshave generated new marketing strategies in food com-

panies. We examine some relevant marketing variables,

such as food product prices, food package content,

and the price per quantity of food products, to ana-

lyze whether food companies adapted them in a down-

turn context. We considered two types of countries; on

one hand, European countries that have received some

nancial support or the so-called rescue package, such

as Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain, and, on the

other hand, countries that had a better economic per-

formance and did not need economic support, such asGermany, United Kingdom, France, and Italy. We will

develop a cross-country comparison, analyzing Euro-

pean countriesthat had been rescued , from not-rescued

countries, to explore the new food marketing patterns

emerging in a downturn context.

For this purpose, we develop a multivariate analy-

sis of variance test (MANOVA) to identify possible dif-

ferences in the marketing variables. Considering that a

signicant number of European countries are still not

over the effects of the recession, analyzing food compa-

nies marketing strategies under crisis conditions pro-

vides important insights for both marketing academia

and marketing managers. To accomplish these goals,

this report is organized in the following manner. First,

a brief review on the literature in the area market-

ing strategies during economic downturns is provided.Next, the research hypotheses are developed, along

with the methodology. This is followed by the results,

discussion, conclusions, and some managerial implica-

tions.

Theoreticalbackground

Marketingstrategies in a downturn context

An economic crisis is a shock to consumers in the form

of fall in incomes and unemployment, while affect-ing consumers’ expectations and inuencing consump-

tion (Kaytaz & Gul, 2014). While those who lose their

jobs face a drop in income, the employed consumers

face uncertainty about being able to keep their jobs

and current salary level. Consequently, during eco-

nomic downturns, companies face reduced consumer

demand, and lower revenues and prots (Johansson,

Dimofte, & Mazvancheryl, 2012). For this reason,

economic downturns cause adjustments in marketing

strategies, such as the offer of more competitive prices,

the provision of better services to customers, or theincrease of the promoting budget (Ang, 2001).

Marketing strategies have a difficult role during eco-

nomic recession because most of the resource adjust-

ments are focused toward short-term cost savings

of resources, without considering the effects on the

longer-term development of the companies’ relations

with customers (Mattson, 2009). Historical evidence

indicates that companies trim expenses during eco-

nomic downturns to protect the bottom line (Ros-

berg, 1979; Shama, 1992 ). Thus, companies tend to

offer cheaper and more functional products, modify-ing their marketing strategies and product decisions to

reduce costs and to maintain protability during reces-

sion, offering price discounts while cutting advertising

expenditures (Ang, 2001).

To reduce costs in the short run when revenue

decreases due to demand decline is often seen as a

company priority; thus, during an economic down-

turn, companies might try to decrease costs by buy-

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ing from those suppliers offering lower prices or better

conditions or by switching suppliers (Mattson, 2009).

Companies’ adjustments might also involve develop-

ing new products, new product packages, or package

sizes, along with the increase of resources, to enhance

demand, such as promotion budgets or sales force

activities. Other marketing strategies during a reces-

sion may be standardizing product compositions orpackaging, as well as reducing the number of sizes

or the offered package size (Kotler & Caslione, 2009).

Nevertheless, many marketers argue that companies

should focus on learning from their customers and

offer superior value in the midst of a recession (Quelch

& Jocz, 2009). Similarly, other authors like Srinivasan,

Rangaswamy, and Lilien (2005) state that companies

that view a recession as an opportunity for change

will achieve superior results after the recession. In

fact, some companies continued investing in market-

ing during the current downturn and saw an oppor-tunity to grow their market share (Rollins, Nickell, &

Ennis, 2013). Numerous researchers suggest that the

economic crisis inuences marketing activities; as a

result, food companies may be rethinking and chang-

ing their marketing strategies to remain viable (Piercy,

Cravens, & Lane, 2010; Rust et al., 2010 ).

An economic downturn is a shock to consumers in

the form of fall in incomes and unemployment, along

with the fact that uncertainty inuences consumption

and demand (Kaytaz & Gul, 2014). For this reason,

economic downturns cause adjustments in marketingstrategies by companies, such as the offer of more com-

petitive prices (Ang, 2001). Considering previous lit-

erature, some marketing variables, such as price or

package content, have been found to be affected by

economic downturns. Thus, because food marketing

strategies would change in a downturn context, con-

sidering the consumers’ seek for lower prices (Hamp-

son & McGoldrick, 2013), we propose that the nan-

cial support received by some European countries, the

so-called rescue package, which increased the austerity

measures developed, will inuence the product pack-age content or price, as well as the inuence of package

content and price on price per quantity. In this vein,

the present study explores the effects of the European

economic crisis on marketing strategies followed by

food companies, since marketing activities and strate-

gies often change during recessions (Kotler & Caslione,

2009; Quelch & Jocz, 2009). Are food companies per-

forming different marketing strategies in the midst of

the economic crisis? And, more specically, is the eco-

nomic crisis is inuencing food companies’ marketing

strategies?

Researchhypothesesdevelopment

Price decisions

Product price increases reect an increase in the cur-rency per unit of product obtained, which can be done

by adding only few pennies to a price without alter-

ing its leftmost digit, thus reducing the product afford-

ability (Kachersky, 2011). For this reason, pricing is

one of the most salient variables affecting both con-

sumer and management decision making during times

of economic downturn. Price typically becomes a con-

cernwhen income declines; and consequently, in reces-

sions, when job security and wealth are uncertain,

price becomes a core attribute in purchase decisions

(Hampson & McGoldrick, 2013). In this vein, previ-ous research suggest distinct changes from the con-

sumers’ standpoint during economic crisis, such as

greater price sensitivity, a higher price-consciousness,

and more focus on low and affordable prices (Hamp-

son & McGoldrick, 2013).

On the other hand, in a downturn context, price

becomes a major concern for companies; for this

reason, companies’ efforts in recessions often shift

toward cheaper product prices (Memery, Megkicks,

& Williams, 2005). Many companies offer price dis-

counts, since consumers may possibly face with job

loss, and thus cut their spending while moving toward

lower-priced products (Ang, 2001). In this context,

companies tend to offer cheaper products, modifying

their marketing strategies and product decisions to

reduce costs and to maintain their protability when

there are economic constraints (Ang, 2001). That is,

companies may try to defend their prot margins in a

context of enormous nancial pressure and economic

crisis, which depresses the sales of products (Hampson

& McGoldrick, 2013).

Our main consideration is that during economic

crisis, consumers tend to reduce their expenditure in

durable and nondurable goods, changing their con-

sumer behavior for food products, seeking lower and

affordable prices. More specically, we suggest that

consumers will decrease their demand and increase

preferences for cheaper or less-expensive food prod-

ucts (Hampson & McGoldrick, 2013). Moreover, when

faced with price increases, consumers tend to infer that

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5/12

C. CALVO-PORR AL ET AL.

companies are trying to increase or at least to maintain

their prot margins (Bolton, Luk, & Alba, 2003). These

considerations make us hypothesize the food products’

price reduction in countries with greater economic cri-

sis.Consequently, we propose the following hypothesis:

H0: Food companies are reducing the price of products

in the economic-rescued countries.

Package contentdecisions

Consumers tend to use a larger product amount from

larger packages, because they use the package size or

content as an anchor (Brown, 1953). Also, consumers

tend to perceive larger packages as having a lower

unit cost (Wansink, 1996); thus, larger package size

induces greater consumption and usage amounts. On

the other hand, small food package sizes entice some

consumers to buy food products that they would not

otherwise purchase (Jain, 2012). Additionally, small

package sizes may be marketable to cater to the needof consumers who do not want to spend much money

on a single purchase (Pornpitakpan, 2010). Regard-

ing package content, it should be stressed that con-

sumers are less responsive to package content than to

price; since the demand elasticity with respect to pack-

age content is quite lower than respect to price (Jain,

2012). This result implies that marketing managers can

use downsizing–that is, reducing the package size or

content as a hidden price increase to pass through

increases in costs, mainly production costs–and main-

tain or increase prots (Cakir & Balagtas, 2014). In

fact, implementing unit price changes using the pack-

age content has worked for so long because most con-

sumers do not notice the change (Kachersky, 2011).

On the other hand, food companies had to make

signicant changes in their marketing mix as a cri-

sis response. Regarding the package content, following

Kachersky (2011), the product total price increase can

be done by reducing the product content while keeping

the price, in a barely perceptible way such as not reduc-

ing the physical package size despite the reduction in

content or reducing the package size proportionate to

the original package dimensions (Chandon & Ord-

abayeva, 2009). In this way, product content reductions

tend to be less transparent and perceptible for con-

sumers, since they can be implemented without chang-

ing the packaging or even by changing slightly the

packaging in a way consumers are less likely to notice

(Chandon & Ordabayeva, 2009). This marketing deci-

sion would result in a stronger tendency of consumers

to infer that the company motive for content reduction

is to increase prot margins (Kachersky, 2011). That

is, consumers feel that a greater prot margin mainte-

nance motivates food product content reductions.

Our research proposal is that food companies con-

sider that consumers should react less favorably to a

price increase in their products than to a product con-

tent reduction, because the latter does not affect theaffordability of food products (Kachersky, 2011). Con-

sequently, reducing the food products content may be

an adequate marketing strategy to maintain food prod-

uct affordability in a downturn context. Thus, the fol-

lowing hypothesis is proposed in our research:

H1: Food companies are reducing package content of

products in the economic-rescued countries.

Price perquantitydecisions

Overall price is the only explicitly provided price cuefor consumers, since consumers are often too dis-

tracted to estimate the price per quantity (Jain, 2012).

However, unit price increases by keeping the price of a

product constant while reducing the product quantity

in barely perceptible way (Kachersky, 2011), directly

inuencing the product affordability. Other relevant

issue would be the package size, since previous litera-

ture shows that consumers use larger product amounts

when the package is larger (Perkins, 1995; Pornpitak-

pan, 2010; Wansink, 1996). Consequently, our main

consideration is that in a context of economic down-turn, food companies would reduce the price per

quantity to not inuence product affordability and to

increase demand. Therefore, the following hypothesis

is proposed:

H2: Food companies are reducing the price per quantity

of products in economic-rescued countries.

Purpose

Based on the discussion of the previous literature, a

series of research questions have been generated:

The rst research question would be: “Is the Euro-

pean economic crisis leading to food product price

reductions?” The rst research question examines the

decisions taken on food product prices in a context of

economic downturn.

The second research question is: “Is the Euro-

pean economic crisis leading to food package content

reductions?” This question aims to determine whether

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the economic downturn is changing the product pack-

ages content.

Accordingly, the third research question would be:

“Is the European economic crisis leading to a reduction

in the price per quantity in food products?”

In addition, we aim to answer a related fourth

research question: “Are food companies developing dif-

ferent marketing strategies inuenced by the economiccrisis?” This question examines whether the food com-

panies are changing their marketing strategies inu-

enced by the severity of the economic downturn.

Methodology

Food product category selection

In our research, for analyzing food companies’ market-

ing strategies, we chose three observed variables: price

in euros per product; package size or content, measuredin grams or milliliters per package; and price per quan-

tity, measured in euros per gram or euros per milliliter.

Our research consisted of 10 different product cat-

egories, which are the most relevant according to the

Mintel database (Mintel Group Ltd.). More specically,

we selected 10 product categories to include the most

prominent product categories, and the aim was to eval-

uate how the marketing variables performed due to the

economic crisis. We believe that if these product cat-

egories did not compare well to the majority of food

product categories, then it is difficult to analyze theinuence of the crisis on marketing strategies. Finally,

the ten food product categories selected were the fol-

lowing: baby food, bakery, breakfast cereals, chocolate

confectionery, dairy, fruits and vegetables, juice drinks,

meal and meal centers, processed sh meat and eggs,

and snacks.

Cross-country evaluation

Responses from food companies to economic down-

turns would differ depending on the country and more

specically on the severity of the crisis and the auster-

ity measures. Responses from food companies to eco-

nomic crisis would differ from countries that received

nancial support and austerity packages to countries

that did not suffer from severe austerity measures.

More precisely, the sample was divided into two sub-

samples according to the nancial aid received by

the countries analyzed: the rescued countries—Greece,

Ireland, Portugal and Spain, and the not-rescued

countries—United Kingdom, Germany, France, and

Italy. All of the former countries received nancial sup-

port programs by the so-called Troika, constituted by

the IMF staff, the European Central Bank (ECB), and

the EuropeanCommission.The rescuedcountries were

subject to severe austerity packages, while the latter

enjoyed a better economic situation. In the presentstudy we would develop a cross-country comparison,

stressing the fact of receiving nancial support and suf-

fering austerity measures as the key variable.

Datacollection

Data were collected from the Mintel database (Mintel

Group Ltd.), providing a detailed record of new prod-

uct launches for different product categories, including

sale prices or packaging sizes. For this purpose, authors

pooled all new products launched in the food marketfrom 2005 to 2011 in the eight considered countries.

The chosen 6-year time period is necessarily arbitrary,

although this period did encompass the main portion

of the economic European crisis. Our main criteria

for selecting this time period is because we wanted to

include a period of time sufficiently long for the after-

math to play out. Regarding the collected data from

product prices, we deated their values considering the

consumer price ination (CPI) rates for each country

for each year, taking into account the Eurostat statistics

database.

Dataanalysisand techniques

This research was conducted in 2012, after the imple-

mentation of the austerity measures in numerous Euro-

pean countries, such as Greece, Ireland, Portugal,

and Spain. On the other hand, the other countries

under analysis—United Kingdom, France, Germany,

and Italy–did not receive any nancial support or suf-

fered from austerity packages and, thus, were in a bet-

ter economic context. Mintel data from prices corre-

sponding to each country were deated considering

CPIratesfor each economy, using the Eurostat statistics

database. Descriptive analyses with means and stan-

dard deviations were rst determined for price, size,

and price per quantity for the 10 product categories,

considering the two types of countries under analysis.

The MANOVA test was used because there are

more than two dependent variables under investigation


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C. CALVO-PORR AL ET AL.

and problems of autocorrelation may arise (Grice &

Iwasaki, 2007; Harris, 2001). So, a factorial MANOVA

was performed, using type of country—rescued or not

rescued–as independent variables and the marketing

variables price, size or content, and price per quantity

as dependent variables.

We carried out the MANOVA procedure to test

the proposed research hypotheses, that the means of variables considered—products price, package content,

and price per quantity–are signicantly different in

the rescued countries—Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and

Spain–from the not-rescued ones—United Kingdom,

Germany, France, and Italy.

Results anddiscussion

Descriptiveanalysis

The means and standard deviations of the three vari-

ables considered in our research—price, package con-

tent, and price per quantity–for each product cate-

gory selected, for 2005 to 2011, are shown in Table 1.

This descriptive analysis demonstrates that the vari-

ables differ substantially between the rescued and the

not-rescued countries. Interestingly, the product price

yield higher values for the rescued countries, with the

exception of only two product categories, namely, con-

fectionery ( M not rescued = 3.166, SDnot rescued = 0.693 vs

M rescued = 2.478, SDrescued = 0.679 ) and juice drinks

( M not rescued = 1.833, SDnot rescued = 0.311 vs M rescued= 1.779, SDrescued = 0.667). However, and contrary to

our expectations, the prices were higher for eight of

the 10 product categories in the European countriessuffering from higher austerity . Additionally, the anal-

ysis of the package size of food products highlights

that the product package content decreases in rescued

countries for three out of ten product categories, such

as baby food ( M not rescued = 274.336, SDnot rescued =

75.108 vs M rescued = 259.322, SDrescued = 84.012), bak-

ery ( M not rescued = 293.921, SDnot rescued = 57.490 vs

M rescued = 269.987, SDrescued = 51.062), and breakfast

cereals ( M not rescued = 419.513, SDnot rescued = 46.085 vs

M rescued = 412.024, SDrescued = 36.565); while increas-

ing for eight product categories—confectionery, dairy products, fruits and vegetables, juice drinks, meals and

meal centers, processed sh, meat andeggs, and snacks.

Finally, regarding the price per quantity for food prod-

ucts highlights that this variables in higher for the res-

cued countries in all the product categories, except

Table . Means and standard deviations for marketing variables both types of countries.

Not rescued () Rescued ()

Variable Indicator M SD M SD

Price (Eur) PR: Baby food . . . .

PR: Bakery . . . .PR: Breakfast cereals . . . .PR: Confectionery . . . .PR: Dairy . . . .PR: Fruits and vegetables . . . .PR: Juice drinks . . . .PR: Meal and meal centers . . . .PR: Processed fish, meat, and eggs . . . .PR: Snacks . . . .

ContentT (g or mL) CONT: Baby food . . . .CONT: Bakery . . . .CONT: Breakfast cereals . . . .CONT: Confectionery . . . .CONT: Dairy . . . .CONT: Fruits and vegetables . . . .

CONT: Juice drinks . . . .CONT: Meal and meal centers . . . .

CONT: Processed fish, meat, and eggs . . . .CONT: Snacks . . . .

Price per quantity (Eur/g or mL) PRperQUANT: Baby food . . . .PRperQUANT: Bakery . . . .PRperQUANT: Breakfast cereals . . . .PRperQUANT: Confectionery . . . .PRperQUANT: Dairy . . . .PRperQUANT: Fruits and vegetables . . . .

PRperQUANT: Juice drinks . . . .PRperQUANT: Meal and meal centers . . . .PRperQUANT: Processed fish, meat, and eggs . . . .PRperQUANT: Snacks . . . .

Source: Own elaboration

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285820380_A_truly_multivariate_approach_to_MANOVA?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285820380_A_truly_multivariate_approach_to_MANOVA?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285820380_A_truly_multivariate_approach_to_MANOVA?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285820380_A_truly_multivariate_approach_to_MANOVA?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50336282_A_Primer_of_Multivariate_Statistics?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50336282_A_Primer_of_Multivariate_Statistics?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50336282_A_Primer_of_Multivariate_Statistics?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285820380_A_truly_multivariate_approach_to_MANOVA?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285820380_A_truly_multivariate_approach_to_MANOVA?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==


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Table . Comparative analysis for price across food product categories.

Indicator df Square mean F value Significance

PR: Baby food . . .ns

PR: Bakery . . .∗∗

PR: Breakfast cereals . . .∗∗

PR: Confectionery . . .∗∗

PR: Dairy . . .∗∗

PR: Fruits and vegetables . . .∗∗

PR: Juice drinks . . .ns

PR: Meals and meal centers . . .∗∗

PR: Processed meat, fish, and eggs . . .ns

PR: Snacks . . .ns

Source: Own elaboration.

for confectionery ( M not rescued = 20.958, SDnot rescued =

4.115 vs M rescued = 17.290, SDrescued = 5.876) and juice

drinks ( M not rescued = 2.524, SDnot rescued = 0.435 vs

M rescued = 2.315, SDrescued = 0.874).

Comparative analysis

Price analysis

To empirically test the differences between the rescued

countries and the not-rescued countries, we devel-

oped the MANOVA to assess the differences in the

mean levels. There are popular tests available to test

the equality of the mean values. In our study, we use

the Wilks Lambda statistic since it is a commonly used

tool for inference in multivariate populations and the

most robust test when two samples are to be compared

assuming normal distribution (Todorov & Filzmoser,

2010). The results showed statistically signicant dif-

ference in the mean levels of six of 10 product cate-

gories, since the corresponding Wilks Lambda was .472

[F (10,1) = 3.016, p < .011].

The MANOVA results indicate that signicant dif-

ferences exist in prices between the two different types

of countries for all product categories, with the excep-

tionof babyfood ( p = .387ns), juice drinks ( p = .722ns),

processed meat, sh, and eggs ( p = .123ns), and snacks

( p = .847ns), as shown in Table 2. Perhaps the reason

for this result is that food products considered indul-

gence products, such as, for example, the juice drinks

or snacks, along with foodproducts with lower demand

and consumption—baby food, are not experimenting

signicant changes in countries suffering from more

severe austerity measures. More specically, for the

product category comprising processed meat, sh, and

eggs, further analysis would require to split this spe-cic product category into three different ones, since

this new analysis may reveal a reduction in prices for

processed meat and sh, while a reduction in eggs. So,

if we consider the results obtained in the descriptive

analysis, it seems that food product prices are signi-

cantly higher for most of product categories in the res-

cued countries, thus, not supporting H0: Food compa-

nies are reducing theprice of products in theeconomic-

rescued countries.

Package contentanalysis

The results showed statistically signicant difference in

the mean levels of eight product categories of 10, since

the corresponding Wilks Lambda = 0.529, F (10,1)

= 2.493, p < .028. More specically, the MANOVA

test showed signicant differences in package con-

tent for the two different types of countries analyzed

for all product categories, except from juice drinks

( p = .496ns) and snacks ( p = .442ns) (Table 3). When

Table . Comparative analysis for package content across food product categories


CONT: Baby food . . .∗∗

CONT: Bakery . . .∗

CONT: Breakfast cereals . . .∗∗

CONT: Confectionery . . .∗∗

CONT: Dairy . . .∗∗

CONT: Fruits & Vegetables . . .∗∗

CONT: Juice drinks . . .ns

CONT: Meals and meal centers . . .∗∗

CONT: Processed meat, fish, and eggs . . .∗∗

CONT: Snacks . . .ns

* p < .; ** p < ..

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46494016_Robust_statistic_for_the_one-way_MANOVA?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46494016_Robust_statistic_for_the_one-way_MANOVA?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46494016_Robust_statistic_for_the_one-way_MANOVA?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/46494016_Robust_statistic_for_the_one-way_MANOVA?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==


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C. CALVO-POR RA L ET A L.

Table . Comparative analysis for price per quantity across food product categories.


Prquant: Baby food . . .∗∗

Prquant: Bakery . . .∗∗

Prquant: Breakfast cereals . . .∗∗

Prquant: Confectionery . . .∗∗

Prquant: Dairy . . .∗∗

Prquant: Fruits and vegetables . . .∗∗

Prquant: Juice drinks . . .∗∗

Prquant: Meals and meal centers . . .∗∗

Prquant: Processed meat, fish, and eggs . . .∗∗

Prquant: Snacks . . .∗∗

considering the descriptive results, it is remarkable that

the product package content increases in the rescued

countries for most of the product categories. The pack-

age content only was reduced in the rescued countries

for baby food, bakery products, and breakfast cereals;

while the package content increased for confectionery,

the dairy products, fruits and vegetables, meals and

meal centers, as well as for processed sh, meat, andeggs. This result does not support our initial research

hypothesis H1: Food companies are reducing package

content of products in the economic-rescued coun-

tries. One possible explanation for this result is that as

some previous research suggests, when food products

packages are larger, consumers use larger product

amount, increasing consumption levels (Perkins, 1995;

Wansink, 1996). This way, food companies would

be trying to potentially increase the demand in a

downturn context.

Price perquantityanalysis

When examining the price per quantity test vari-

able, the MANOVA indicated signicant differences

between the rescued and the not rescued countries

[Wilks’s Lambda = .009, F (10.1) = 411.477, p < .000].

Regarding the food products price per quantity,

the two types of countries emerged as signicantly

different (Table 4). When examining this variable, the

MANOVA indicated signicant differences between

the rescued and the not-rescued countries for all the

types of product categories. Considering the results

obtained in the descriptive analysis, we should stress

that the price per quantity or price per content is higher

in the rescued countries in all product categories and,

thus, food companies are reducing products’ afford-

ability in a quite barely perceptible way for consumers.

Contrary to our expectations, our ndings do not

support H2: Food companies are reducing the price

per quantity of products in economic-rescued coun-

tries, since the descriptive and the MANOVA analyses

highlight that food companies are increasing the price

per content for all product categories in the rescued

countries. Consequently, we can conclude that the

MANOVA results indicate statistically signicant

differences of the mean prices, package content and

price per quantity products between the two types of

countries analyzed, which were differentiated by the

condition of being rescued or by received nancial aid.

Conclusions

Our main research objective was to explore what are the

food marketing patterns emerging in the food industry

in a downturn context; more specically, our research

goal was to examine to what extent the economic cri-

sis and the austerity’s measures developed by some

countries have generated new marketing strategies in

food companies. Studying the crisis from the compa-

nies’ perspective is necessary, to analyze with greater

detail how food companies are reacting to the eco-

nomic downturn. In this vein, there is a lack of pub-

lished empirical research directly evaluating the mar-

keting strategies of food companies across countries.

Our research provides a comparison of different Euro-

pean countries, to facilitate the understanding of the

marketing strategies developed by food companies.

One major conclusion of our study is that the European

economic crisis and the austerity measures taken by

governments have deeply affected in terms of market-

ing strategies, meaning a real challenge for food com-

panies.

This study ts into a broader context of the rela-

tionship between economic downturn and marketing

strategies, focusing on the marketing strategies devel-

oped by the food industry as a reaction to a crisis.

A three variable framework consisting of price, pack-

age content and price per quantity of food products

was developed;andbased on these marketing variables,

two types of European countries were discerned: the

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227344027_Can_Package_Size_Accelerate_Usage_Volume?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227344027_Can_Package_Size_Accelerate_Usage_Volume?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227344027_Can_Package_Size_Accelerate_Usage_Volume?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-0727642a-7f08-4099-87c4-3ed77cf65b29&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI4NDAyMjc3NTtBUzozMzU0Nzk1MTkxMDUwMjRAMTQ1Njk5NTk1ODA3Ng==


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rescued countries, namely, Greece, Ireland, Portugal,

and Spain, and the countriesthat did not need nancial

support, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy.

The MANOVA test results indicate statistically signif-

icant differences of the mean prices, package prod-

uct content, and price per quantity of food products

between the two groups of countries, which were dif-

ferentiated by the condition of receiving nancial sup-port or being rescued . So, our results indicated that the

country type, depending on the nancial rescue, had

some impact on the food product prices, the package

content, and the price per quantity.

Five research questions were put forward, and the

answers are summarized below. Regarding research

question 1, “Is the European economic crisis leading to

food product price reductions?” the answer is clearly

“No. In fact, the downturn context is leading to an

increase in food products.” As explained, during eco-

nomicdownturns differentconsumers’ shopping habitsemerge, increasing the consumer price consciousness

and greater price sensitivity. Consumers seek for lower

prices, to increase products’ affordability. Therefore,

our main proposition was that food companies would

be adapting their strategies to offer higher competitive

prices and to increase consumers’ demand. Neverthe-

less, contrary to our expectations, food companies in

a context of recession would be adapting their market-

ing strategies to increase food product prices, since our

results show higher product prices or a more expen-

sive price in the rescued countries, that is, the countrieswith higher austerity measures. It seems that consider-

ing the total price increases, food companies are trying

to maintain their prot margins in a downturn context,

thus being in line with some previous research (Bolton,

Luk, & Alba, 2003). However, in the midst of a reces-

sion, companies should focus on learning from their

customers and try to offer, if not lower prices, superior

value (Quelch & Jocz, 2009).

Research question 2 was “Is the European economic

crisis leading to food package content reductions?”

and the answer would be “No, the food compa-nies are increasing the food package content.” More

specically, our ndings support that the product

package content clearly increases in the rescued

countries–subject to higher austerity measures–for

most

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