While there is a large segment of the population always looking for healthier, lower-calorie food options, there are some shoppers who like the things they buy just the way they are — and who react negatively when their favorite foods are tweaked. Is there a way to get these folks consuming fewer calories? [More]
grocery shopping
Costco Exec: We Beat ‘Amazon Go’ To The Punch “Literally 20 Years Ago”
By 12.8.16
In response to the arrival of Amazon Go — a checkout-less store design the Seattle ecommerce giant is planning for next year — one might expect that other food purveyors would be nervous. Not Costco, though. It’s already been there and done that, a company executive claims. [More]
After Worker Backlash, Instacart Decides To Not Get Rid Of Tips
By 10.14.16
A day after we told you about workers’ unhappy response to Instacart’s plan to do away with tips and replace them with a “service amount,” the online grocery delivery service has decided to keep the tip option open. [More]
Instacart Shoppers Say Getting Rid Of Tips Will Ultimately Hurt Customers
By 10.13.16
Last month, thousands of Instacart shoppers and drivers — the people who get paid to collect and then drop off grocery orders for customers of the online service — were notified that they would soon be seeing a difference in their paychecks as the company overhauled its tipping and scheduling policies. This announcement hasn’t exactly gone over swimmingly, and now several Instacart workers are telling Consumerist why they have misgivings about the change. [More]
Jolly Green Giant Goes Shopping, Picks Up Some Spices
By 9.21.16
B&G Foods owns familiar supermarket brands like Cream of Wheat, Emeril’s, Ortega, and Polaner. Now it’s picked up a few ingredients to spice up the rest of its pantry with the purchase of the spice brands of ACH Foods for $365 million. That’s another company whose name you probably don’t recognize, but you probably know the spice brands that have been sold: Durkee, Spice Islands, and Tone’s. [More]
Target Isn’t Going To Have Full-Service Grocery Stores, Still Wants To Sell More
By 9.15.16
Target CEO Brian Cornell has a message for you if you’ve tried to buy groceries at the discount chain in the past and found the selection or products disappointing: things are better now, and you should give the section another chance soon. Unless you want sushi or rotisserie chickens. Then you should go somewhere else. [More]
Jet.com Testing Delivery Of Fresh Groceries To Some Markets
By 5.10.16
A year into the existence of Jet.com, we’re still not really sure whether it’s the future of retail or a doomed wacky scheme. Now, in addition to taking on Amazon in the Everything Store sector, Jet is experimenting with the delivery of fresh groceries. That would mean the company is competing with urban grocery delivery leaders like Peapod and Instacart, but with its own warehouses. [More]
Turkey, Pumpkin Supply Issues Won’t Impact Thanksgiving Meal Prices
By 11.12.15
While the aftershocks of this summer’s avian flu outbreak and the recent loss of pumpkin crops to high rainfall have led to higher prices for the products, analysts say those costs shouldn’t affect this year’s Thanksgiving dinner. [More]
Online Grocery Ordering And Self-Checkout Still Bad For Candy Companies
By 11.9.15
Back in January, we shared the news that Hershey was looking toward the future and thinking about ways to make impulse candy purchases part of consumers’ shopping routines we use more self-checkout options, or have entire orders prepared for us to pick up or have delivered. They’re not alone, it turns out. [More]
Every Regular Grocery Store Is Already A Downmarket Whole Foods
By 5.14.15
The idea of a lower-priced version of Whole Foods aimed at younger consumers is intriguing, but there’s already a hugely popular downmarket alternative to Whole Foods for people seeking natural and organic groceries. It’s called Walmart. [More]
Remembering Reusable Grocery Bags Makes Us Buy More Junk Food
By 3.24.15
Reusable shopping bags: they’re environmentally friendly, earn you a discount, and let you express your loyalty to your favorite grocery store when there isn’t a Wegmans available within a two-hour drive. Yet here’s an interesting question: do they have an effect on our behavior? Are there any major differences between shoppers who bring their own bags and those who don’t? [More]
How Dollar-Store Shoppers Saved Single-Serve Velveeta
By 2.5.15
It’s a matter for some debate whether the continued existence of single-serving packages of Velveeta is good or bad in general for humanity. America narrowly avoided last year’s threatened Velveeta shortage, and its manufacturer Kraft considered taking the smallest packages of their processed cheese product off the market. Then they looked more closely at their sales numbers and noticed something interesting. [More]
Walmart Cashier Bails Out Customer Who Can’t Afford Groceries
By 12.9.14
We’re going to guess that Walmart cashiers see plenty of customers in the course of a day who can’t afford all of the items that they’ve selected and must put something back. Yet something made a cashier in upstate New York stop and reach into her pocket when an older man at her register couldn’t afford to buy all of his food, contributing forty dollars of her own. [More]
Grocery Shoppers Ignore Stabbing Victim’s Blood, Just Want Their Milk
By 10.8.14
The grocery shoppers of Philadelphia are a determined bunch. Well, that, or they really want some cereal. Police say that after a stabbing at a Pathmark supermarket yesterday evening, customers weren’t really fazed. Mostly, they were annoyed that they couldn’t get to the dairy case. Unobservant shoppers walked and pushed their carts through the puddle of blood. [More]
Shopping Healthier & Without Lists, Millennials Are Changing The Supermarket Game
By 8.29.14
Grocery shopping used to be a rather easy experience: you’d look in the cupboard, make a list and drive to the store to collect your goods. Simple right? Well, times they are a changin’ and it’s millennials who are pushing the supermarket industry in new directions.. [More]
Your Wrapped Meat Leaks Bacteria-Laden Juice Everywhere
By 8.11.14
The poultry that you buy at the grocery store is securely wrapped up specifically so consumers don’t spread traces of chicken juice on everything that they touch, right? Well… about that. For a new study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the government agency in charge of making sure that our meat doesn’t kill us, scientists followed shoppers around and checked surfaces that they touched for poultry proteins. Guess what they found? [More]
Yes, You Can Use Grocery Coupons While Avoiding Junk Food
By 5.1.14
Clipping coupons can be a fun hobby and effective money-saving strategy, but a recent study shows that the coupons that come stuffed in your local paper are often for unhealthy or pre-made foods and brand-name products. Does this mean that coupons are completely useless if you don’t want to eat junk? No, not necessarily. [More]
The Changing Face Of Grocery Shopping: From Downsizing Supercenters To Brand Identity
By 4.17.14
Completing your weekly shopping trip used to mean going to one store and purchasing the one brand of tomato sauce offered. Today, consumers are bombarded with a plethora of decisions before they even write up their grocery list, from hitting up the health food store or the supercenter to going with the tired and true name brand of the generic store brand products. [More]
