Exploring the impact of recipe cards for seafood at the point of sale

Sep 4, 2026

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Food consumption and purchase behaviour are highly habitual, so marketers often try to interrupt routine decision processes at the point of sale using strong promotions. For food products, recipe cards are a common POS tactic, yet their effects have been insufficiently studied. This research examines how recipe cards influence seafood purchases using 11 face-to-face depth interviews with fishmongers. Findings show positive effects through consumer risk reduction and enabling variety seeking, and fishmongers perceive improved seafood sales.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryGeneral

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction and background

Habitual food purchasing and POS promotion

Seafood involvement, perceived risk, and information search

Recipe cards as a POS information and risk-reduction tool

Evidence gaps and relevant prior research

Exploring the impact of recipe cards for seafood at the point of sale Meredith Lawley, University of the Sunshine Coast, [mlawley1@usc.edu.au](mlawley1@usc.edu.au)[ ](mlawley1@usc.edu.au)Dawn Birch, Bournemouth University, [dbirch@bournemouth.ac.uk](dbirch@bournemouth.ac.uk) Abstract Food consumption and purchase behaviour are highly habituated, with food marketers often attempting to interrupt routine behaviour and thought patterns at the point of sale (POS) through aggressive sales promotion. In the case of food products, recipe cards are a common POS tactic, yet little research has examined the impact of recipe cards at POS. This research explores the impact of recipe cards at POS, specifically in relation to seafood, with data gathered through 11 face to face depth interviews with fishmongers. Results highlight the positive impact of recipe cards as marketing stimuli for seafood through two key roles: (1) risk reduction for consumers who lack knowledge about how to prepare and serve seafood ; and (2) facilitating variety seeking for consumers who are looking for something different. Regardless of consumers’ motivations for taking recipe cards, fishmongers perceive that recipe cards have a positive impact on seafood sales. Introduction and background Food consumption and purchase behaviour are highly habituated, with food marketers often seeking to interrupt routine behaviour and thought patterns at the point of sale (POS) through aggressive sales promotion (Lawley et al. 2012 ; Thomason 2012) . Generally, food is a product where involvement is low and thus decision making tends to be associated with limited, habitual or routine response behaviour (Mahon, Cowan, & McCarthy, 2006) . Indeed, several studies support the highly habitual nature of food consumption and purchase decisions (Carrasco, Labeaga, & Lopez-Salido, 2005; van’t Riet, Sijtsema, Dagevos, & De Bruijn, 2011) . Seafood consumption is no exception with studies supporting the highly habituated nature of seafood consumption (Price & Gislason, 2001; Scholderer & Trondsen, 2008). The high perceived risks associated with making the wrong decision when purchasing seafood makes seafood a higher involvement product than many other food items (Birch & Lawley, 2012 ; Pieniak, Verbeke, Vermeir, Brunsø, & Olsen, 2007) . The more involved the consumer becomes in the decision making process, the more extensive is the search for both personal and non-personal information during evaluation of alternatives (Cho & Lee, 2006; Gurhan-Canli & Batra, 2004). Marketing tactics, such as the provision of recipe cards at POS, may assist consumers in this search for information on how to prepare and serve seafood. Research has revealed that a lack of familiarity with preparing and serving seafood means that some consumers perceive difficulty in evaluating, selecting, and cooking seafood (Birch & Lawley, 2012; Olsen, 2004; Sogn-Grundvåg & Østli, 2009; Sveinsdóttir et al., 2009) . Some of the inherent risk in a product category such as seafood can be mitigated by purchasing from a reputable supplier (Mitchell, 1999), such as a specialist fishmonger who is perceived to be more knowledgeable and stock better quality seafood than alternative sources such as supermarkets (Altintzoglou, et al. 2010; Birch, Lawley & Hamblin, 2012) . Recipe cards can also assist in mitigating risk by providing consumers with ideas and information on preparing and serving seafood. POS is a promotional tool designed to influence purchases at the point of purchase using collateral such as displays, signage and banners, brochures, display packaging, in-store product demonstration, and in the case of food products, recipe cards. POS is a very appealing promotional tool for retailers as research has revealed that consumers make up to 76% of their purchasing decisions in-store (PoPAI Australia and New Zealand, 2012) . Australian seafood consumption studies have revealed that 73% of seafood buying decisions

FAQs

What positive roles do recipe cards play according to the results?

Recipe cards positively affect seafood purchasing by reducing perceived consumer risk and facilitating variety seeking, regardless of consumers’ motivations.

Sep 4, 2026

Upload by Jiven