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This article examines the information-seeking behaviors of grocery shoppers. Beginning with a review of the historical development of supermarkets in America, it then synthesizes information-seeking behaviors of shoppers in grocery stores with everyday life information-seeking theories. Grocery stores and supermarkets have changed dramatically over time, and business practices evolved in order to meet consumer demands for information. Shoppers' information-retrieval behaviors, including information seeking, information gathering, and information acquisition, were employed in novel ways as information resources emerged but remained largely unchanged over time.
Consumers in the United States have shopped at grocery stores for more than a hundred years. In many places, grocery stores that were once considered cozy and personal have developed into major supermarkets serving thousands of patrons per day. In large and small markets alike, numerous factors have affected the information-seeking behavior of these shoppers.
Indeed, several significant themes recur throughout the history of supermarket development. First, the use of labels on product packaging as a means to provide consumer information developed in multiple stages over time. Second, the government-imposed standards used to maintain and ensure quality in food production, processing, and marketing not only improved goods but also established a consistent vocabulary for package information. Third, advertising was used to convey information to broad audiences, target audiences, and even specific individuals. Finally, outside the grocery industry itself, food culture- the ways in which a society thinks about food and eating-consistently changed over time and often influenced shoppers' interests, purchasing decisions, and relevant information needs.
Information-retrieval theories help us understand the behaviors and motivations of information seekers in the context of supermarket grocery shopping. While everyday life information-seeking theories were only identified and published during the latter years of the time frame considered here, many of the behaviors observed have been prevalent for centuries. Thus, this article will apply modern academic thought to historical perspectives in order to analyze and better understand the information-seeking behaviors displayed by shoppers. Regardless of the technologies available at any given time, grocery shoppers have employed active methods of seeking (e.g., information horizons and warm experts) and gathering (e.g., berrypicking and behind-the-eyes knowledge) while also passively receiving information through knowledge acquisition via sources such as mass media, government initiatives, and in-store prompts. Each of these methods,...