Price and sales volume of sugar-sweetened beverages, diet drinks, sweets and chocolates: Analysis of Danish retail scanner data

Objectives: The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between price and sales volume of non-alcoholic sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), diet drinks, sweets and chocolates, including own and cross price elasticity to further quantify the potential impact of price. Methods: The study was based on retail scanner data for grocery sales from retail outlet chains in Denmark during the year 2008–2015. A fixed-effects model was used to estimate the association between price and sales volume, using own price and cross price elasticity. Results: Sales volume of all sugary products except for chocolates were significantly negatively associated with price. Own price elasticity varied from −0.3 to −0.4 for drinks and sweets indicating that a 10% increase in price would cause a reduction in sales by 3 or 4%. A 10% increase in price of carbonated SSBs would increase sales of diet drinks by 7%. Cross price elasticities for other products were not significant. Conclusions: The results of the present study demonstrated significant negative associations between changes in price and changes in the sale of SSBs, diet drinks and sweets.