How retail marketing levers influence demand for plant-based products: a revealed preference analysis across food categories and urbanization levels

Purpose We aim to investigate how retail marketing levers influence the market share for different plant-based alternative (PBA) product categories compared to conventional counterparts across varying levels of urbanization. Design/methodology/approach The study analyzes four years (2020–2023) of panel data on sales of PB and conventional products in the Italian modern grocery distribution sector. The data, aggregated at a provincial level, is segmented into three urbanization levels (predominantly urban, intermediate and predominantly rural) defined based on consumers’ residential locations according to the Eurostat urban–rural typology. The analysis employs fixed effects regression models to examine the influence of marketing levers (assortment, price and price-based promotions) on the market share of PBAs. Findings The results indicate that there is a significant association between store assortment and PBAs market share across all urbanization levels, with the strongest correlation in rural areas. Price-based promotions have the most substantial correlation in urban areas, while relative price differences are not significant drivers of market share. Product category-specific analysis reveals significant variations: assortment consistently improves PBAs demand, whereas relative price and price-based promotions exhibit mixed effects depending on the product and urbanization level. Practical implications Findings suggest that retailers should differentiate their strategies to the specific urbanization context to effectively promote PBAs. Deepening the assortment of PBAs is effective, especially in rural areas, while targeted price-based promotional activities are more effective in urban settings. Originality/value To our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the role of the retailer in influencing consumer behavior toward PBAs using an actual sales dataset. Moreover, it is the first to analyze how consumer behavior changes according to different levels of urbanization.