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ITC/USA 2008 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Fourth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 27-30, 2008 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / This paper explains the development of a wireless network system implemented to streamline grocery store checkout procedures. The design employs a wireless telemetry network consisting of a base station and wireless motes (Micaz MPR2400) that will be located on certain aisles, and attached to shopping carts. This system allows customers to scan items while they shop and uses cashiers for payment purposes only. The objective is to minimize the amount of processing performed by cashiers in order to reduce waiting times in line. The system was tested in a simulation environment and waiting times were reduced by 65%.

abstract: This study was designed to influence consumer habits, specifically those relating to purchases of fruits, vegetables, and junk food. Previous studies have clearly shown the ineffectiveness of simply describing the health benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables (F/V). In contrast, this study aimed to change the result by changing the message: providing participants with insight into the hidden agendas of food companies and grocery stores, provide useful tips on how to include children when selecting F/V, and emphasizing the importance of parental modeling in regard to food purchases. Participants of this study were separated into two groups, the tour group and the education group. The tour group was guided through a grocery store where they learned about sales tactics and manipulations used by grocery stores and food companies to influence purchases. Education group participants were provided with an education session focusing on USDA and FDA handouts displaying current educational suggestions for increasing F/V consumption. Grocery store receipts were collected and analyzed to track the progress of both groups. The goal of the study was to identify a method of informing consumers that will produce a significant change in behavior. Increasing F/V consumption, even in relatively small amounts, would be an important step forward in improving the diet and overall health of Americans. This study was the first of its kind to measure purchasing patterns objectively (through analysis of purchase receipts, rather than personal opinion/evaluation surveys) and in a wide-scope retail environment that includes all grocery store purchases by participants. Significant increases or decreases in the amount of money spent on F/V, or the amount (pounds) of F/V purchased were not seen, however a small correlation (r = 0.133) exists when comparing the weight of F/V purchased pre/post intervention. Data from Food Frequency Questionnaires shows participants consuming significantly higher amounts of F/V post intervention (p=0.043). The tour group and education group experienced an average increase of 0.7 servings per day. Future interventions might benefit by extending their scope to include cooking demonstrations, in-home interventions, and education on healthy eating outside of the home. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Nutrition 2013

Au-delà de replacer les transformations du paysage commercial alimentaire dans deux contextes urbains différents, cette thèse a pour objectif de montrer qu’à travers le renouvellement de l’appareil marchand de proximité dans les centres-villes, il est possible de mettre en perspective les évolutions plus générales de la ville contemporaine. Qu’elle soit considérée compacte (Saragosse), ou au contraire diffuse (Toulouse), celle-ci présente des points forts et des faiblesses qui révèlent la difficulté de trouver une fabrique idéale de la ville ou plus modestement de promouvoir une organisation commerciale plus qu’une autre. La proximité redessinée au spectre du temps laisse ainsi entrevoir des réajustements incessants qui initiés par les mutations des formes, des formats, et des règlementations restent surtout insufflés par les aspirations versatiles des chalands. Exogènes ou endogènes, mobiles ou «assignés à résidence», ils restent au final, les principaux artisans de la reconfiguration globale de la ville par leur façon d’entreprendre l’espace urbain en général, mais aussi les territoires du quotidien. L’observation des pratiques les plus banales, permettent alors de pointer les disparités socio-spatiales les plus stigmatisantes. / Commercial activities are key indicators of social and urban changes. Studying the evolution of grocery stores located in city centers, we concentrate our work on the geographic and social analysis of these commercial mutations in two different metropolitan areas. We compare and analyse these dynamics in Zaragoza (Spain), described as a compact city, and  in Toulouse (France), considered as a critical example of uncontrolled urban sprawl. The weaknesses, forces and sustainability (in a social and environmental way) of these two urban morphologies are confronted. The contemporary idea of impulsing a perfect urban model, in a sense where all part of cities would be "close" in space and time by controlling the location of commercial activities, emerge as another urban utopia. Even if national and local authorities produce planning documents to reduce commuting related to shopping, consumers habits explain the major part of the urban recombinations observed. Finally, using a common indicator such as grocery stores enhance the usual social and spatial segregation our urban societies have to deal with.

Customer Reward Programs (CRP) have increasingly been used in many industries and markets worldwide with the purpose of gaining customers and retaining their loyalty through repeated purchases in exchange of rewards. Currently, most of the retailers in the Swedish grocery store sector have implemented CRP of different types, from simple discount-based programs to complex multipartnership structures. Previous works have been carried on the competitiveness of the grocery retail market in Sweden, but these haven’t addressed the role of the CRP. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to analyze the performance of the CRP offered by Ica, Coop, Citygross, Willys and Hemköp from a customer loyalty perspective. The discount store Lidl was also included although they haven’t implemented a CRP. The retailers included in our study covered approximately 93% of the market share in Sweden.   Data was collected through anonymous online surveys that included 12 questions addressed to households living in several Swedish cities. The online surveys allowed us to gather demographics data and info about CRP memberships, purchasing habits, customer loyalty, reward preferences, and customer awareness. In total 134 households replied the survey.   We found high store loyalty among the respondents. However, the strong preference for conveniently located stores indicated that most customers enroll in the CRP to take advantage of the repeated visits they already do to a certain store, which has a favorable location. In other words, we suspect customers become store loyal and then they enroll in the CRP. This attitude is masked as true loyalty but in fact it only implies a behavioral loyalty. Further deeper analysis shall be performed to confirm this finding.   We observed a clear increase of the customer loyalty (measured by share of wallet and purchase frequency) in respondents enrolled in CRP compared to not-enrolled counterparts. Households with children and households with high income had a greater tendency to participate in CRP and these two groups exhibited higher customer loyalty. Our results showed that the package of benefits and rewards offered by the CRP alone does not capture many customers into the CRP. Instead, customers looked for store location, quality and price as the appealing factors to enroll a CRP.   The survey results confirmed the dominance that Ica has over the Swedish grocery retail market. Further analysis combining level of expenditures and frequency of purchase showed that Lidl, Hemköp and Citygross performed quite similar within a group that does not capture great portion of the customer expenditure combined to a low purchase frequency. An output of our research showed that Lidl compete quite well with retailers that have CRP in place like Citygross and Hemköp, or on the contrary, that Hemköp with an advanced CRP does not attract customers sufficiently when compared to Lidl. An analysis based on the double jeopardy effect theory showed that Willys exhibits an “excessive loyalty”. This means, Willys had a higher frequency of purchase and level of expenditure than expected when compared against its market penetration level. Therefore, we identified that Willys overachieve results compared to the others retailers and also to Coop, its closest competitor. We concluded that a CRP with larger benefit scheme does not necessarily increases the customer loyalty to the store. Moreover, boosting CRP with multi-partnership programs that offer several experience rewards (spa, ski resorts, music events and travel tickets) could be inefficient for the grocery retailers since customers feel primarily attracted to immediate rewards related with groceries discounts.

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Whore Foods is a poetry thesis exploring the life of a cashier at an organic grocery store. To be the cashier is to be exposed. To be a femme gay body in public is to become heterosexual. A community can be formed through isolation. Cashiers and customers made individuals through capitalism form collectives. Through pleasure, through community, the work seeks to gather.

This is my agenda. My "code of ethics". A structure of intentions. I think it's why I'm here. I'm not serious but take me seriously. Cheez Whiz and potted meat, fluorescent lights and vinyl siding. I'm not laughing at it. I fall for the hype. I'm down with the bonus buys. I don't get anywhere pretending I'm above all that. I'm just having fun with it. Siphoning off some of its energy. Borrowing it indefinitely. Everybody does it. It's best when it's an unlikely source. Metallica borrows from West Side Story and Jay-Z makes Annie a rap star (Don't Tread on Me/ Hard Knock Life). Rework my sources. A dash of Shopper's Food Warehouse and a taste of 425 Monroe Avenue blended with an (un?)healthy dose of (un)popular culture and some (nutra)Sweet's for flavor. / Master of Architecture

Grocery store associates in the deli-bakery departments serve and prepare an increasing amount of ready-to-eat foods. This increases the need for a detailed, effective food safety training program in retail grocery establishments to prevent food borne illness. This research examines food safety knowledge, training preferences, needs, and current practices of grocery stores deli-bakery employees in Southwest and Southern Virginia. This research had two phases. Phase I: employees completed a thirty-four question needs assessment survey concerning background, food safety training needs, preferences and knowledge. Phase 2: 15 employees (from phase 1 locations) food behaviors were observed for approximately six hours each (89.05 hours total). Observational data collection focused on glove use, cross-contamination, and hand washing. The results showed that most grocery food handlers desired hands-on, interactive and one-on-one training that occurs frequently, but is short: less than two hours in length. Overall, most grocery food handlers had general safe food handling knowledge; however, the observational behavior data indicates behaviors do not reflect their knowledge. Greater than 95% understanding was found on the subjects of hand washing and glove use; however, these items were observed practiced incorrectly the most with bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods and lack of hand washing prior to glove use. The creation of short, hands-on or interactive trainings for retail grocery food handlers that focuses on changing food handling and preparation behaviors may be more effective than current training. / Master of Science in Life Sciences