Increasing the purchase intentions for suboptimal products: Comparing potential marketing strategies

• We present two new marketing strategies for suboptimal products: tasting and show. • We compare consumer responses to 6 marketing strategies for suboptimal products. • Multiple of those strategies increase purchase intentions for suboptimal products. • Naturalness communication and show experience positively affect product perceptions. • The effects of the strategies depend on consumers’ value orientations. To reduce food waste, motivating consumers to purchase suboptimal (imperfect) products seems a promising strategy. Yet, two recent literature reviews show that it is challenging to motivate consumers to purchase suboptimal products. Moreover, the effects of the most promising marketing strategies thus far – pricing and communication strategies − have hardly been directly compared. Our research addresses these issues by 1) presenting two novel strategies that can increase purchase intentions for suboptimal products, and 2) comparing the effects of pricing strategies, communication strategies, and the two novel strategies. In a survey and an experiment, consumer responses to pricing (discounts or multi-item promotions), communication (concerning products’ naturalness or sustainability), and experience strategies (providing tasting or a show) were compared, revealing varying effects on product perceptions and purchase intentions. Consumers’ value orientations influenced consumer responses to marketing strategies. These findings provide valuable suggestions for future research on minimizing suboptimal food waste.