IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i2p871-d723869.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Online Pilot Grocery Intervention among Rural and Urban Residents Aimed to Improve Purchasing Habits

Author

Listed:
  • Alison Gustafson

    (Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA)

  • Rachel Gillespie

    (Department of Family and Consumer Sciences Extension, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA)

  • Emily DeWitt

    (Department of Family and Consumer Sciences Extension, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA)

  • Brittany Cox

    (Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA)

  • Brynnan Dunaway

    (Department of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA)

  • Lindsey Haynes-Maslow

    (Agricultural & Human Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA)

  • Elizabeth Anderson Steeves

    (Department of Nutrition, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1920, USA)

  • Angela C. B. Trude

    (Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, New York City, NY 10003, USA)

Abstract

Online grocery shopping has the potential to improve access to food, particularly among low-income households located in urban food deserts and rural communities. The primary aim of this pilot intervention was to test whether a three-armed online grocery trial improved fruit and vegetable (F&V) purchases. Rural and urban adults across seven counties in Kentucky, Maryland, and North Carolina were recruited to participate in an 8-week intervention in fall 2021. A total of 184 adults were enrolled into the following groups: (1) brick-and-mortar “BM” (control participants only received reminders to submit weekly grocery shopping receipts); (2) online-only with no support “O” (participants received weekly reminders to grocery shop online and to submit itemized receipts); and (3) online shopping with intervention nudges “O+I” (participants received nudges three times per week to grocery shop online, meal ideas, recipes, Facebook group support, and weekly reminders to shop online and to submit itemized receipts). On average, reported food spending on F/V by the O+I participants was USD 6.84 more compared to the BM arm. Online shopping with behavioral nudges and nutrition information shows great promise for helping customers in diverse locations to navigate the increasing presence of online grocery shopping platforms and to improve F&V purchases.

Suggested Citation

  • Alison Gustafson & Rachel Gillespie & Emily DeWitt & Brittany Cox & Brynnan Dunaway & Lindsey Haynes-Maslow & Elizabeth Anderson Steeves & Angela C. B. Trude, 2022. "Online Pilot Grocery Intervention among Rural and Urban Residents Aimed to Improve Purchasing Habits," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-17, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:2:p:871-:d:723869
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/2/871/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/2/871/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Melis, Kristina & Campo, Katia & Breugelmans, Els & Lamey, Lien, 2015. "The Impact of the Multi-channel Retail Mix on Online Store Choice: Does Online Experience Matter?," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 272-288.
    2. Alyssa J. Moran & Yuxuan Gu & Sasha Clynes & Attia Goheer & Christina A. Roberto & Anne Palmer, 2020. "Associations between Governmental Policies to Improve the Nutritional Quality of Supermarket Purchases and Individual, Retailer, and Community Health Outcomes: An Integrative Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(20), pages 1-23, October.
    3. Jennifer Sanchez-Flack & Barbara Baquero & Shih-Fan Lin & George Belch & Julie L. Pickrel & Cheryl A. M. Anderson & Elva Arredondo & Maria Elena Martinez & Joni Mayer & Ming Ji & John P. Elder & Guada, 2019. "Evaluation of Store Environment Changes of an In-Store Intervention to Promote Fruits and Vegetables in Latino/Hispanic-Focused Food Stores," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-16, December.
    4. Cho, Clare & Volpe, Richard, 2017. "Independent Grocery Stores in the Changing Landscape of the U.S. Food Retail Industry," Economic Research Report 265463, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Restrepo, Brandon J. & Zeballos, Eliana, 2024. "Who Shops for Groceries Online?," Economic Research Report 346028, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Priyanka Mitra & Yanwu Zhang & Bijon Kumer Mitra & Rajib Shaw, 2023. "Assessment of Impacts and Resilience of Online Food Services in the Post-COVID-19 Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-17, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stevens, Alexander & Cho, Clare & Cakir, Metin & Kong, Xiangwen & Boland, Michael A, 2021. "The Food Retail Landscape Across Rural America," Economic Information Bulletin 327368, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    2. Li, Jing & Liu, XiaoWen, 2024. "An agent-based simulation model for analyzing and optimizing omni-channel retailing operation decisions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    3. Luyao Wang & Hong Fan & Yankun Wang, 2018. "Estimation of consumption potentiality using VIIRS night-time light data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-19, October.
    4. Hu, Tun-I & Tracogna, Andrea, 2020. "Multichannel customer journeys and their determinants: Evidence from motor insurance," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    5. Katherine Consavage Stanley & Paige B. Harrigan & Elena L. Serrano & Vivica I. Kraak, 2021. "Applying a Multi-Dimensional Digital Food and Nutrition Literacy Model to Inform Research and Policies to Enable Adults in the U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to Make Healthy Purchases ," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-25, August.
    6. Harris, Patricia & Dall’Olmo Riley, Francesca & Hand, Chris, 2021. "Multichannel shopping: The effect of decision making style on shopper journey configuration and satisfaction," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    7. Rahman, Syed Mahmudur & Carlson, Jamie & Gudergan, Siegfried P. & Wetzels, Martin & Grewal, Dhruv, 2022. "Perceived Omnichannel Customer Experience (OCX): Concept, measurement, and impact," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(4), pages 611-632.
    8. Tagashira, Takumi & Minami, Chieko, 2019. "The Effect of Cross-Channel Integration on Cost Efficiency," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 68-83.
    9. Sodero, Annibal C. & Namin, Aidin & Gauri, Dinesh K. & Bhaskaran, Sreekumar R., 2021. "The strategic drivers of drop-shipping and retail store sales for seasonal products," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(4), pages 561-581.
    10. Richard, James E. & Purnell, Fruen, 2017. "Rethinking Catalogue and Online B2B Buyer Channel Preferences in the Education Supplies Market," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 1-15.
    11. Prateep Puengwattanapong & Adisorn Leelasantitham, 2022. "A Holistic Perspective Model of Plenary Online Consumer Behaviors for Sustainable Guidelines of the Electronic Business Platforms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-38, May.
    12. Hernant, Mikael & Rosengren, Sara, 2017. "Now what? Evaluating the sales effects of introducing an online store," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 305-313.
    13. Namin, Aidin & Dehdashti, Yashar, 2019. "A “hidden†side of consumer grocery shopping choice," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 16-27.
    14. Xu, Xun & Jackson, Jonathan E., 2019. "Examining customer channel selection intention in the omni-channel retail environment," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 434-445.
    15. Rachel Gillespie & Emily DeWitt & Stacey Slone & Kathryn Cardarelli & Alison Gustafson, 2022. "The Impact of a Grocery Store Closure in One Rural Highly Obese Appalachian Community on Shopping Behavior and Dietary Intake," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-12, March.
    16. Ilyuk, Veronika, 2018. "Like throwing a piece of me away: How online and in-store grocery purchase channels affect consumers’ food waste," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 20-30.
    17. Ellen Van Droogenbroeck & Léon Van Hove, 2021. "Adoption and usage of E-grocery shopping: A context-specific UTAUT2 model," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/324918, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    18. Frasquet, Marta & Ieva, Marco & Ziliani, Cristina, 2021. "Online channel adoption in supermarket retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    19. Maier, Erik & Bornschein, Rico & Manss, Rico & Hesse, Damian, 2023. "Financial consequences of adding bricks to clicks," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 609-628.
    20. Ratchford, Brian & Soysal, Gonca & Zentner, Alejandro, 2023. "Multichannel customer purchase behavior and long tail effects in the fashion goods market," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 46-65.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:2:p:871-:d:723869. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.