BYOB: How Bringing Your Own Shopping Bags Leads to Treating Yourself and the Environment

Abstract

As concerns about pollution and climate change become more mainstream, the belief that shopping with reusable grocery bags is an important environmental and socially conscious choice has gained prevalence. In parallel, firms have joined policy makers in using a variety of initiatives to reduce the use of disposable plastic bags. However, little is known about how these initiatives might alter other elements of consumers' in-store behavior. Using scanner panel data from a single California location of a major grocery chain, and controlling for consumer heterogeneity, the authors demonstrate that bringing one's own bags increases purchases of not only environmentally friendly organic foods but also indulgent foods. They use experimental methods to further explore the expression of these effects and to consider the effects of potential moderators, including competing goals and store policies. The findings have implications for decisions related to product pricing, placement and assortment, store layout, and the choice of strategies employed to increase the use of reusable bags.