Fast Food Online Delivery Purchase Behaviour in the Presence and Absence of Price-based Incentives

April 30, 2026 updated by: University of Liverpool
Consumption of out-of-home (OOH) food is associated with significantly greater energy and less-healthy nutrient (i.e. fats, salt and sugar) intake. The price of food is a key consideration of food choice, particularly for individuals of lower socioeconomic position (SEP). Little research to date has examined the causal effect of removing price-based incentives on purchasing behaviour in OOH food settings. One online randomised controlled trial explored the effect of removing three types of price-based incentives individually and in combination, on food choice through a virtual food delivery platform. This study found that energy selection was 7-8% lower when price incentives were removed. While not statistically significant, Bayes factors indicted that data comparing control vs "all promotions removed" conditions were inconclusive (BF10 = 0.55) and therefore could not provide support for the alternative or null hypotheses. A limitation of this study is that the outcome was hypothetical food choice. As participants would not pay for or receive their selected meals, the prices of foods may have been less salient, thus reducing the potential for impact. In the present study, exploring real-world consumer behaviour (as opposed to hypothetical choice) will better determine the potential impact of removing price-based incentives in the OOH food sector.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

See attached study protocol for detailed information

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

600

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Able to order and pay for a takeaway pizza for delivery today or tomorrow

  • Currently reside in select postcode areas

    • Manchester (M13 store): M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M11, M12, M13, M14, M15, M16, M18, M19
    • Liverpool (L3 store): L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L6, L8, L13, L15
    • Birmingham (B27 store): B9, B10, B11, B12, B13, B25, B26, B27, B28, B33, B90, B91, B92
  • Over the age of 18 years
  • Report having used food delivery services in the last year

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Partaking in a fast or other restrictive eating (e.g. for religious or health reasons) at time of participation
  • A previous eating disorder diagnosis
  • Currently on appetite-suppressing medication

  • Dietary restrictions/intolerances including:

    • Gluten-free
    • Dairy-free
    • Sugar-free

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Other: Control condition
Participants will choose from a food menu with regular pricing, and three price-based incentives present (value pricing, bulk-buy incentives, and price reductions).
Behavioral: Control
Participants will be asked to select a meal from a pizza outlet with all price-based incentives present (value pricing, price reductions, bulk-buy incentives).
Experimental: Experimental condition
Participants will choose from a menu with no price-based incentives present.
Behavioral: Experimental
Food menus will provided with all three types of price promotions removed

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Energy consumed per household member
Time Frame: The morning after food orders are placed.
Main participants will select a food order on behalf of their household. The day after receiving their food order, all participants will be asked to estimate the amount of each ordered item that they ate. This information will be used to estimate energy consumed by each household member.
The morning after food orders are placed.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Total monetary spend per household member
Time Frame: Immediately after food choice
Participants will select their food order. The total monetary value of the food order will be divided by the number of reported household members to get a value of monetary spend per household member.
Immediately after food choice
Energy content per household member
Time Frame: Immediately after food choice
Participants will select their food order. The total energy content of the food order will be divided by the number of reported household members to get a value of energy content per household member.
Immediately after food choice

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Liverpool

Collaborators

University of Bristol
Liverpool John Moores University
Economic and Social Research Council, United Kingdom

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

February 24, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 20, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 20, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

January 27, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 1, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 30, 2026

Last Verified

January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Pizza promotions study
  • ES/W007932/1 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Economic and Social Research Council)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Study data (anonymised) will be shared on the Open Science Framework (OSF)

IPD Sharing Time Frame

On publication, indefinitely

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Open website

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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