Eugene Jones

An Analysis of Consumer Food Shopping Behavior Using Supermarket Scanner Data: Differences by Income and Location

tionwide Food Consumption Survey (NFCS). Elasticities derived from NFCS data are generally viewed as reasonable measures of consumer behavior because the data are quite comprehensive, being collected from thousands of households across the forty-eight contiguous United States. Users of these data sets employ different econometric models (e.g., AIDS, CBS, LES, and Rotterdam) and often derive elasticities that differ widely in magnitude (Park et al.; Gao, Wailes, and Cramer). A few researchers have employed several models within a single study and found own-price and expenditure elasticities that differ in magnitude from model to model by as much as three to four times.

Purchasing behaviour of higher-and lower-income shoppers: a look at breakfast cereals

Scanner data for breakfast cereals are used to estimate demand elasticities for six supermarket stores in two distinct socioeconomic areas. Three stores are in lowincome locations and three are in high-income locations. A time series cross-section model is estimated for five product categories across six cross sections over forty-two weeks. Results show lower-income shoppers to have more elastic demands for four of the five product categories: private label cold cereals, the top ten brands of cold cereals, all other brands of cold cereals, and hot cereals. Price is not statistically significant for a fifth product category, snack cereals.

Determinants of price elasticities for private labels and national brands of cheese

An Almost Ideal Demand System model is developed and used to estimate price elasticities for US cheese sold at retail. Growing consumption of cheese coupled with fierce competition between private labels and national brands serves as motivating factors for this study. Per capita consumption of cheese grew by 75% during 1980–2004 and private labels captured a rising share of this growth. Private labels today account for 35% of market share; national brands, for the remaining 65%. Kraft accounts for 45% of national brands, but price increases for Kraft brands led to a sizeable price gap between its brands and private labels. This gap helped to stimulate growth of private labels. Marketing managers seek to capitalize on both growing cheese sales and price gaps for brands. Relevant information for marketing managers is consumer sensitivity to price changes. This study uses 69 weeks of scanner data, with consumers segmented by income levels to derive price elasticities for both lower-and higher-income consumers. Results show lower-income consumers to be more price sensitive. If large price gaps are maintained, the results suggest continued growth of private labels. Yet, meta-analyses for this study suggest that Kraft could lower the price gap and regain market share.

Effectiveness of generic and brand advertising on fresh and processed potato products

Since 1973, potato producers have used commodity advertising to increase the demand and value perception of fresh potatoes and processed potato products. Advertising dollars for generic promotion currently total

Estimating demand elasticities for cereal products: A socioeconomic approach using scanner data

3.7 million annually, and these funds are generated from a check-off program which assesses producers 2.3 cents per hundredweight. Potato processors allocate an additional

Farm Accounting Systems and Information Usage

46 million annually to advertise branded potato products. This research examines the effectiveness of these advertising dollars in increasing demand for potatoes. Results show that both brand and generic advertising are effective in stimulating demand for all processed potato products. Generic advertising does not positively impact the demand for fresh potatoes.

Consumer demand for carbohydrates: A look across products and income classes

Scanner data are used to estimate demand elasticities for breakfast cereals in two socioeconomic areas. Five groups of cereals are identified and the own-price elasticities for four of these are negative, statistically significant, and in the elastic range. A fifth group, snack cereals, is shown to have a statistically insignificant own-price elasticity and this is hypothesized to be related to impulse buying. Lower-income shoppers are more inclined to purchase the lowest-priced products within a product group; they are also more predisposed to select purchases from lower-priced product groups. Lower-income shoppers purchase private label cereals with twice the frequency of higher-income shoppers. ©1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Consumer Preferences for Coffee: Hot and Wet, or Quality and Flavor?

Multinominal logit regressions were used to analyze differences in farmers accounting methods. Accounting methods differed by farm types, farm size, farmer education level, and accounting report uses. Farms using accounting reports for decisionmaking tended to have more complex accounting systems and produced more reports.

Consumer Preferences for National Brands and Private Labels: Do Business Cycles Matter?

Many researchers have used Nationwide Food Consumption Survey (NFCS) data to estimate price and expenditure elasticities for various food groups. Results reported by these researchers have shown own-price elasticities to be negative, inelastic, and statistically significant; cross-price and expenditure elasticities have been shown to be positive and statistically significant. Further, some researchers have used NFCS data to try and estimate differential price responses of lower and higher income groups, and these authors have found no statistically significant differences in the magnitude of own-price elasticities. This study, using supermarket scanner data for several carbohydrates, finds significant differences in the price sensitivity of lower and higher income groups. These differences, however, are reflected more in purchase selections than in the magnitude of own-price elasticities. Also, regardless of income status, most expenditure and own-price elasticities are found to be elastic and statistically significant, and most cross-price elasticities are found to be positive and statistically insignificant. An important conclusion of this study is that the elasticities reported here provide a more accurate measure of consumer behavior than those reported in studies using NFCS data.

Computer Use by Ohio Commercial Farmers

ABSTRACT An econometric model is developed and estimated for all brands of coffee sold at the retail level in four supermarkets in Columbus, Ohio. These brands are segmented into 24 categories, and the four stores are classified into two groups, inner-city and suburban, based on 2010 census tract data. Using estimated measures of price-sensitivity, these 24 categories are further segmented into four groups to help guide and clarify the discussion. Estimated results show different purchasing patterns and different levels of price-sensitivity for inner-city and suburban shoppers. Further, these purchasing patterns and levels of price-sensitivity suggest alternative marketing strategies for retailers. Private-label coffee brands are shown to be quite competitive with many national brands, and indeed private-label brands command a market share among inner-city shoppers that is more than double that for the nation (21.95% vs. 9%).