Follow the Leader: Adoption Behavior in Food Retailers' Decision to Offer Fresh Irradiated Ground Beef

During the 14-month period from May 2002 to June 2003, approximately 10 percent of U.S. supermarkets began to offer fresh irradiated ground beef under the stores' own labels. Using a survey of supermarket store managers from this time period, this paper investigates the factors that influenced new product offerings and adoptions. Results from the adoption model show that factors associated with competition and structure in the food retailing industry play a strong role in the decision. Among other results, we find that variables relating to a competitor's adoption status and proximity significantly affect a store's decision to offer fresh irradiated ground beef.Marketing,

Goal-directed visual attention drives health goal priming: an eye-tracking experiment

Objective: Several lab and field experiments have shown that goal priming interventions can be highly effective in promoting healthy food choices. Less is known, however, about the mechanisms by which goal priming affects food choice. This experiment tested the hypothesis that goal priming affects food choices through changes in visual attention. Specifically, it was hypothesized that priming with the dieting goal steers attention toward goal-relevant, low energy food products, which, in turn, increases the likelihood of choosing these products. Methods: In this eye-tracking experiment, 125 participants chose between high and low energy food products in a realistic online supermarket task while their eye movements were recorded with an eye-tracker. One group was primed with a health and dieting goal, a second group was exposed to a control prime, and a third group was exposed to no prime at all. Results: The health goal prime increased low energy food choices and decreased high energy food choices. Furthermore, the health goal prime resulted in proportionally longer total dwell times on low energy food products, and this effect mediated the goal priming effect on choices. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the effect of priming on consumer choice may originate from an increase in attention for prime-congruent items. This study supports the effectiveness of health goal priming interventions in promoting healthy eating and opens up directions for research on other behavioral interventions that steer attention toward healthy foods

DETERMINANTS OF FARMER-TO-CONSUMER DIRECT MARKET VISITS BY TYPE OF FACILITY: A LOGIT ANALYSIS

This study identifies several socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of individuals who visited farmer-to-consumer direct markets in New Jersey. The analysis was performed for each type of direct marketing facility: pick-your-own farms, roadside stands, farmers' markets, and direct farm markets. Logit analysis results indicate that various factors affect visitation to each type of facility. Factors examined include consumers' consumption and variety of fruits and vegetables, price expectation, purpose of buying, age, sex, education, race, income, urbanization, and presence of home garden.Consumer/Household Economics,

Modeling the Influence of Land Use Developments on Transportation System Performance

The growth in the urban population has influenced urban sprawl, congestion, and subsequently, delays on the existing road infrastructure. New land use developments occur in every part of the city due to rapid economic development and to meet the demand for better living standards. The induced traffic volume generated from such land use developments often results in increased congestion and vehicular delay on the existing roads. With recent advancements in the technology, it is possible to capture continuous, and comprehensive travel time data for every major corridor in a city. Therefore, the goal of this research is to model the influence of land use developments on travel time variations to improve the mobility of people and goods. Data for 259 road links were selected within the city of Charlotte, North Carolina (NC). Three years of travel time data, from the year 2013 to the year 2015, were collected from the private agency. Thirty-five different types of land use developments were considered in this research. The spatial dependency was incorporated by considering the land use developments within 0.5 miles, 1 mile, 2 miles, and 3 miles of the selected road link. Forty-eight statistical models were developed. The results obtained indicate that land use developments have a significant influence on travel times. Different land use categories contribute to the average travel time based on the buffer width, area type, and the link speed limit. Developing the models by classifying the links based on the speed limit (\u3c 45 mph, 45 to 50 mph, and \u3e 50 mph) was observed to be the best approach to examine the relationship between land use developments and the average travel time. Also, typically travel time on a selected road link is higher during the evening peak period compared to the morning peak and the afternoon off-peak period. Further, the results obtained indicate that the number of lanes and the posted speed limit are negatively associated with the travel time of the selected link

A Nested Logit Model of Strategic Promotion

Retailers use sales "price promotions" for a number of potential reasons. There is relatively little research, however, on their strategic role among frequently consumed perishable products. Using a two-stage, nested logit model of retail equilibrium, we show that promotion will be most effective (ie. increase store-level sales) if products are highly differentiated, but stores are relatively similar. To test this hypothesis, we an oligopolistic model of promotion rivalry with category-level scanner data from the four largest supermarket retailers in a major U.S. metropolitan market. The results show that promotion has a greater impact on store share than product share, because the elasticity of substitution among stores is larger than the elasticity of substitution among products. Consequently, promotion has its greatest value in driving demand for differentiated products among stores that are similar. This finding supports the observed trend toward premium private label products being offered by supermarket retailers.Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

DATA MINING: A SEGMENTATION ANALYSIS OF U.S. GROCERY SHOPPERS

Consumers make choices about where to shop based on their preferences for a shopping environment and experience as well as the selection of products at a particular store. This study illustrates how retail firms and marketing analysts can utilize data mining techniques to better understand customer profiles and behavior. Among the key areas where data mining can produce new knowledge is the segmentation of customer data bases according to demographics, buying patterns, geographics, attitudes, and other variables. This paper builds profiles of grocery shoppers based on their preferences for 33 retail grocery store characteristics. The data are from a representative, nationwide sample of 900 supermarket shoppers collected in 1999. Six customer profiles are found to exist, including (1) "Time Pressed Meat Eaters", (2) "Back to Nature Shoppers", (3) "Discriminating Leisure Shoppers", (4) "No Nonsense Shoppers", (5) "The One Stop Socialites", and (6) "Middle of the Road Shoppers". Each of the customer profiles is described with respect to the underlying demographics and income. Consumer shopping segments cut across most demographic groups but are somewhat correlated with income. Hierarchical lists of preferences reveal that low price is not among the top five most important store characteristics. Experience and preferences for internet shopping shows that of the 44% who have access to the internet, only 3% had used it to order food.Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

RESEARCH UPDATES

Includes: Price and Distribution Variations for Value-Added Vegetable Products in California. Jim Ahern and Marianne Wolf, Professors, Agribusiness Department, Cal Poly State University SLO. Case Study of Heritage Ranch, "Wolf-Friendly Beef." Helen L. Aquino, Graduate Research Assistant, Agricultural Economics, New Mexico State University. Branding Locally Grown Fruit and Vegetables Via State Logos. John R. Brooker, David B. Eastwood, and Morgan D. Gray; Faculty Members; Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Findings of Strategies Followed by the 28 Past Winners of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, 1988-1996. Robert R. Cangemi and Raymond H. Lopez, Pace University, Lubin School of Business, White Plains, New York. Consumer Opinions Concerning Fresh Potatoes: Delaware, A Case Study. Khari A. Cook, Ulrich C. Toensmeyer, Carl L. German, and J. Richard Bacon; Graduate Student, Professor, Extension Marketing Specialist, and Associate Scientist, respectively; Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Delaware. Country-of-Origin Labeling of Foods from the Consumer's Perspective. Robert L. Degner and Susan D. Moss; Professor and Director, and Economic Analyst, respectively; Florida Agricultural Market Research Center, University of Florida. Attributes Important to Wine Sales in On-Premise Markets. Tim Dodd, Director, Texas Wine Marketing Research Institute, Texas Tech University. The Effectiveness of U.S. Promotion Programs on the Export Demand for U.S. Pecans. James E. Epperson, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Georgia. Evaluating Consumer Use of Food Advertisements: The Influence of Socioeconomic Characteristics. Ramu Govindasamy and John Italia; Assistant Professor and Marketing Specialist, and Program Associate, respectively; Department of Agricultural Economics and Marketing, Rutgers University, Cook College, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Predicting Willingness-to-Pay for Integrated Pest Management Produce: A Logistic Approach. Ramu Govindasamy, John Italia, and Adesoji Adelaja Govindasamy; Assistant Professor and Marketing Specialist, Program Associate, Associate Professor and Department Chair, respectively; Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Rutgers University, Cook College, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Survey Update on Retail Marketing of Fruits and Vegetables Over the Internet. Morgan Gray, David Eastwood and John Brooker; Faculty Members, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Food Quality Management Systems: A Research Update. Neal H. Hooker, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Center for Food Safety, Texas A&M University, and Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts; Maury E. Bredahl, Director, Center for International Trade Studies, and Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri; Julie A. Caswell is Professor, Department of Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts. U.S. Export Demand for Poultry Meat Products: A Bayesian Approach for Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) Model Estimation. Man-ser Jan, Chung L. Huang, and James E. Epperson, University of Georgia. Trade and Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S. Food Processing Industry. Mary A. Marchant, R. Munirathinam, and Michael R. Reed, University of Kentucky. New Uses for WIC Data: The Case of Ethnic Food Preferences. James R. Matthews, WIC Information, Research, and Evaluation Unit, California Department of Health Services. A Food Industry Forecast. John L. Park and Edward W. McLaughlin, Food Industry Management Program, Cornell University. Consumer Selection for and Knowledge of the Nutrient Content of Fresh Meats. Alvin Schupp, Jeffrey Gillespie, and Jose Aguero, Louisiana State University. Produce The Safe Way. Cheryle Jones Syracuse, Christine Taylor, and Barbara James; Associate Professor, Extension Agent, and Professor, respectively; Ohio State University Extension. Impact of Chain Store Expansion on Mexican Produce Distribution Practices. Debra Tropp, Agricultural Economist, Marketing and Transportation Analysis Program, USDA/Agricultural Marketing Service, Washington, DC; Jaime Malaga, Research Fellow, Texas Agricultural Market Research Center, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX; David Skully, Economist, Market and Trade Economics Division, Asia/Western Hemisphere Branch, USDA/Economic Research Service, Washington, DC; John Link, Senior Economist, Market and Trade Economics Division, Asia/Western Hemisphere Branch, USDA/Economic Research Service, Washington, DC; Javier Calderon, Economist, Agricultural Planning Agency, Mexican Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, and Rural Development, Mexico City, Mexico. Potential for Marketing Pacific Northwest Wheat Using Contract Specifications. Thomas Worley and Thomas Wahl, Department of Agricultural Economics, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,