Ryanair-style supermarkets. Dynamic pricing could reduce waste
A Ryanair model for the supermarkets of the future? No, no measuring your grocery bag to fit within strict width and weight standards. We are talking about commodity pricing policies, which to reduce waste could adapt to the algorithms used by low-cost airlines (but now also by national airlines) to create variable tariffs: in short, the so-called “dynamic pricing” is a cross and a delight. of anyone who wants to spend a weekend in Formentera.
We throw away 19% of purchases
Every year, 19% of the food we buy is wasted around the world. Products purchased in excess or on impulse, which we forget once we get home and are then forced to archive, leftovers from lunches and dinners that we disciplinely cram into airtight containers and then abandon them in the fridge. In Italy alone, we throw away 9.2 billion worth of food annually, at least according to the international Waste Watcher/Zero Waste Observatory, according to which the countries that do the worst are Germany and the United Kingdom. And one of the solutions to overcome this plague is the possibility of reducing the price of goods as the date on which they are no longer consumable approaches. In short, it is not so science fiction to imagine that in a refrigerated counter the same salad could have three or four different prices, and that the same cut of meat could cost even half as much a couple of days before the expiry date.
Strategy, not emergency measure
A recent study by the Rady School of Management at the University of San Diego, cited by eater.com, demonstrates that this innovation could be very useful for reducing edible waste. The study’s author, Robert Sanders, used economic modeling to show that if food retailers continually adjusted the prices of perishable foods based on how long they spent on shelves, they would likely dramatically reduce food waste. In short, not simple last-minute sales, an emergency measure that many supermarkets here also adopt, but a real long-range strategy, with “gradual discounts for the entire shelf life of the product”.
Prevention at all costs
The study starts from the assumption that it is more effective, both from an economic and environmental point of view, to reduce waste as much as possible at the source of the supply chain. And that dynamic pricing could reduce food waste by shops by 21 percent. Helping to lower the weight of the receipt and reduce the cost of disposing of food waste in landfills or with other methods. Different food waste recovery programs are already being implemented in many US states and in many advanced countries. More or less effective strategies but which still have a cost. From this point of view, however, prevention is the best policy: and dynamic pricing could be accompanied by intelligent labels that help the consumer to make the best use of the product and above all to distinguish between the words “use by” and “best before” . Anyone who doesn’t know the difference risks throwing away a mountain of still edible food.
Objections and criticisms
However, there is no shortage of voices against the Ryanair model in the “super”. On the one hand it is a policy that takes up time and personnel or that involves the purchase and training in the use of dedicated technology, on the other hand many companies fear seeing their resale reputation undermined by aggressive pricing of quality and fresh food. But the problem of food waste is too big to stop the fight to reduce it with simple objections. “When prices work correctly – explains Sanders – they allocate all goods and services. But when they don’t work in the right way we pay a social cost.”
This article is originally published on gamberorosso.it
