Store choice behavior of processed food shoppers: The effect of information and time-sensitivity

This study investigates drivers of consumers’ store choice for processed food focusing on how information-obtaining sources and types of interested information on food can differently affect the consumer’s choice behavior in purchasing places. We have five categories for purchasing places (hypermarket, supermarket, grocery store, convenience store and other stores). We empirically analyzed survey data on the Consumer’s Attitudes for Processed Food by using a Multinomial Logit model. Using the survey questions, time-sensitivity variable is constructed by using K-means clustering analysis to test our hypothesis. Time-sensitivity affects the decision-making of purchasing places and the results indicate that time-sensitive consumers are more likely to purchase processed food from hypermarket. Our empirical results show that information-obtaining sources (e.g., TV/radio, newspaper/magazine, and internet) and types of interested information on food (e.g., recipe and nutrition) are important factors for consumers who make purchases from hypermarket and supermarket in comparison to grocery store, the base category. However, those who purchase from convenience store and other stores are only significantly affected by socioeconomic characteristics.