Want people to eat more legumes?  Do not place them next to the meat

What is a legume?

The answer includes beans, lentils and chickpeas.

And it seems we still have not become familiar enough with them. Danes are certainly not eating many legumes. On average, they consume 7.1 grams a day, even though the dietary guidelines recommend 100 grams.

So how can we encourage Danes to eat more?

It might seem obvious to present legumes as an alternative to meat, and if you are already considering buying minced beef, perhaps a tin of kidney beans could tempt you as a cheaper and more sustainable source of protein.

But that does not appear to be where Danes can be persuaded.

That is the conclusion of a new study by Maureen Schulze from Leuphana Universität Lüneburg and Meike Janssen, Associate Professor at Copenhagen Business School.

Placement alone increased sales of legumes

They investigated, in online and physical Danish supermarkets, whether something as simple as the placement of legumes could encourage more people to buy them.

The findings were strikingly clear:

Legumes sold better when shoppers encountered them in the vegetable section. When they were presented alongside the meat, nothing happened.

“We were surprised that it did not work at all in the meat section. Previous research had shown that some plant-based meat alternatives sell better when they are placed next to meat, so we were naturally curious to see whether something similar might happen with legumes. But in this case, we simply found no effect,” says Meike Janssen.

50% more shoppers added legumes to their baskets

The clearest result came from a trial with the Danish online supermarket nemlig.com.

Some customers visiting the vegetable section were shown an additional row featuring six of the supermarket's bestselling legumes.

That was the only difference. Prices remained the same and the products could still be found in their usual location.

Even so, the share of shopping baskets containing one of the selected legumes increased by around 50%. 

In absolute terms, the change was more modest. Instead of around two out of every 100 shopping baskets containing one of the selected legumes, the figure rose to around three out of every 100. That corresponds to an increase from 1.93% to 2.98%.

Even so, the researchers considered the result remarkable.

“When you enter a supermarket, an enormous number of things compete for your attention. Products are everywhere, there are special displays, signs and promotions, and shoppers pay close attention to prices. In our trial, we did not offer any discounts. That is why it was a pleasant surprise that we were still able to reach more customers simply by moving the products to a place where they actually noticed them,” says Meike Janssen.

The next part of the experiment presented the biggest surprise.

The researchers conducted a similar trial in the meat section, where legumes were presented as an alternative to meat.

This time, however, nothing happened.

In the standard version, 2.67% of customers bought one of the selected legumes. Among customers who were shown the products in the meat section, the figure was 2.57%.

Statistically speaking, there was no difference.

By the time you reach the meat section, it may already be too late

The study cannot say with certainty why the vegetable section worked while the meat section did not.

However, Meike Janssen points to one possible explanation.

“It is important to remember what it means to be in the meat section of an online supermarket. Customers have actively clicked on that category. They have already made an effort to get there and are probably already in the mindset of buying meat. At that point, legumes may simply not seem like a particularly obvious alternative,” she says.

This is consistent with another finding from the research project.

In a survey of 838 Danes, the researchers found that many consumers do not immediately see legumes as the protein source that should form the main part of a meal. Meals based on legumes were also perceived as more difficult and less convenient than meals based on vegetables.

In other words, beans and chickpeas may fit better into the mental category of ‘vegetables and side dishes’ than into the category of ‘things to replace the steak’.

That may help explain why they performed better in the vegetable section,

however, Meike Janssen cautions against concluding that legumes should always be displayed there.

“I do not necessarily think the conclusion is that the vegetable section is the only place that can work. There may be other places in the store where shoppers are still open-minded and have not yet decided exactly what they want to buy, but the meat section does not appear to be the right moment. If shoppers are already firmly in a 'now I am going to buy meat' mindset, it is probably too late to introduce legumes,” she says.

Legumes are hidden away

It is precisely the moment when shoppers encounter legumes that interests the researchers.

Today, legumes are often placed where shoppers are unlikely to notice them unless they have already decided to buy them.

At nemlig.com, for example, they were listed under the broad grocery category.  In a physical supermarket, they are typically found alongside tinned tomatoes, preserved potatoes and other long-life products.

These are not necessarily places that every customer passes through.

“What we wanted to investigate was whether people could be encouraged to buy legumes even if they were not actively looking for them. They are typically not top of mind and do not appear on many shopping lists, so we wanted to see what would happen if we moved them from the rather hidden location where they are usually placed and made them easier to come across,” says Meike Janssen.

This is a well-known retail strategy.

Products are moved away from their usual shelves, placed on special displays or positioned where large numbers of shoppers pass by. This can encourage people to buy products that were never on their shopping list.

The researchers wanted to find out whether the same principle could work for legumes – a product category that is far less immediately appealing than, for example, sweets and snacks.

It also worked in physical stores

The results were not limited to online shopping.

The researchers also conducted a trial in physical Danish supermarkets. In nine stores, chickpeas were prominently displayed in the vegetable section together with ingredients and inspiration for a simple dish made with pasta, pesto and chickpeas.

During the trial period, these stores sold an average of around 3.75 additional tins of chickpeas per day compared with trends in 13 control stores.

The trial cannot determine whether the effect was driven by the placement, the recipe or the combination of the two.

“What was interesting was that the recipe seemed to make the whole display more inspiring, even if shoppers did not necessarily intend to make that particular dish. However, based on this experiment, we cannot say whether it is the recipe or the placement that makes the difference,” says Meike Janssen.

Legumes are simply not something we think about

So why do Danes buy so few legumes in the first place?

According to Meike Janssen, it is partly a question of food culture. For decades, legumes have not held the same natural place in everyday Danish cooking as, for example, meat and potatoes.

“I would not say that legumes necessarily have a negative image. It is more a kind of indifference. They are simply not on people's radar, and many do not see them as a main ingredient or as the protein source around which you build a meal,” she says.

That is gradually beginning to change. Beans, lentils and chickpeas are increasingly finding their way onto Danish dinner tables through Tex-Mex cuisine, Indian dishes and hummus.

That is precisely why the researchers hope that making legumes more visible in supermarkets can help make them a more natural part of everyday meals.

The supermarkets' dilemma

The study also highlights a challenge.

From a societal perspective, even small changes can make a difference if they are repeated across many stores over a long period. For an individual supermarket, however, prime shelf space is a scarce resource that can also be used for products with a higher commercial return.

“From a societal perspective, we want supermarkets to sell more products that are good for both health and the climate. But those are not necessarily the products that generate the highest financial return for the store. At the same time, supermarkets operate in fierce competition with one another, which makes this a structural issue rather than simply a question of individual stores doing better,” says Meike Janssen.

According to the researchers, this raises the question of whether a broader effort involving public authorities, retailers and food producers is needed.

Meike Janssen points to the Danish Whole Grain Partnership as one possible model. Through long-term collaboration between public and private organisations, whole grains have become a far more common part of the Danish diet.

The study does not identify which policy solution would be the right one for legumes, nor do the researchers suggest that changing product placement in supermarkets alone can drive the transition to more sustainable diets.

For example, they found no evidence that the additional purchases of legumes led customers to buy less meat. They also do not know whether these interventions can change shopping habits over the longer term, however, the findings do show that the way a supermarket is organised matters.

If legumes are to become a more common part of everyday meals in Denmark, the first step may simply be to place them somewhere shoppers are more likely to notice them.