title: Impact on alcohol purchasing of a ban on multi-buy promotions: a quasi-experimental evaluation comparing Scotland with England and Wales.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of the 2011 Scottish ban on multi-buy promotions of alcohol in retail stores.
  
  
  METHODS
  Difference-in-differences analysis was used to estimate the impact of the ban on the volume of alcohol purchased by Scottish households, compared with those in England and Wales, between January 2010 and June 2012.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 22 356 households in Scotland, England and Wales.
  
  
  METHODS
  Records of alcohol purchasing from each of four categories (beer and cider, wine, spirits and flavoured alcoholic beverages), as well as total volume of pure alcohol purchased.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Controlling for general time trends and household heterogeneity, there was no significant effect of the multi-buy ban in Scotland on volume of alcohol purchased either for the whole population or for individual socio-economic groups. There was also no significant effect on those who were large pre-ban purchasers of alcohol. Most multi-buys were for beer and cider or for wine. The frequency of shopping trips involving beer and cider purchases increased by 9.2% following the ban (P < 0.01), while the number of products purchased on each trip decreased by 8.1% (P < 0.01). For wine, however, these effects were not significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Banning multi-buy promotions for alcohol in Scotland did not reduce alcohol purchasing in the short term. Wider regulation of price promotion and price may be needed to achieve this.
authors.affiliation: Behaviour and Health Research Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Health Economics Group, Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK; School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
authors.forename: Ryota
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suhrcke
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pechey
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morciano
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roland
authors.forename: Theresa M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Marteau
mesh_terms: D000434:Alcoholic Beverages / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003132:Commerce / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004739:England; D005191:Family Characteristics; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D012606:Scotland; D014852:Wales
keywords: Alcohol consumption; Scottish ban on multi-buys; alcohol purchasing; difference-in-differences analyses; price promotions; regulation