Differences In Purchases Research Articles

Comparison of grocery purchase patterns of diet soda buyers to those of regular soda buyers

The ultimate effect of regular and diet carbonated soft drinks on energy intakes depends on possible relations with other dietary components. With this motivation, this study compared grocery purchase patterns of regular and diet soft drink consumers using a large sample of US single-person households. We tested for differences in food-spending shares allocated to 43 food categories chosen mainly for their desirable/undesirable nutritional properties. We also investigated whether differences in purchased quantity of diet soft drinks are associated with differences in purchases of other food categories. We found a large number of significant differences, virtually all showing that more diet soda prone consumers make better nutrition choices, particularly regarding energy content. The study suggests that use of diet soft drinks does not lead to compensation by increased use of high-energy foods.

Food Purchase Behaviour of Different Consumer Groups in Belgium

Research based on household panel data collected from Gesellschaft für Konsum und Absatzforschung (GfK) in Belgium in 2001 focuses on the three objectives. First, to find out whether the amount of food purchased is different throughout income related social groups. Second, to analyse the relationship between budget share in food expenditure and income. Third, to investigate the impact of socioeconomic variables on food purchase and expenditure between income groups. The basic survey data are adapted specifically for the current research. Further, a three-step methodology is presented. The first step relates to the descriptive analysis of the quantity of food purchased and expenditure. In the second step, regression analyses between total food purchase and food expenditure, and the socioeconomic variables are calculated. As a third, a significant relation between income group and the other socioeconomic variables is tested. The results indicate that there is no significant difference in purchase of various food products (except fish) between the three income groups of households in Belgium. As regard to expenditure on food, the poorer people spend significantly less money on food in general, and specifically less on fish, dairy products and vegetables.

Competitive Equilibrium with Middlemen: An Empirical Study

Public distrust of middlemen frequently occurs in market systems. Boycotts, regulations, and investigations of middlemen are not uncommon [3; 7]. This position of disfavor is somewhat paradoxical since application of economic theory suggests that competition among middlemen can be relied upon to protect consumers and producers. According to received doctrine any differences in purchase and resale prices would reflect the costs involved in market making. Nevertheless public suspicion remains.